Trump's potentially trillion-dollar infrastructure plan has reportedly leaked — here's what it says

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January 23, 2018 1:16 PM

The apparent draft document does not cite specific dollar amounts but details how money would be allocated to programs designed to improve US infrastructure.

President Donald Trump touted fixing America's crumbling infrastructure on the campaign trail.
The news website Axios on Monday published what it said was a leaked draft document laying out the White House's infrastructure plans.

President Donald Trump seems close to addressing one of his biggest campaign promises, with the news website Axios on Monday publishing what it said was a leaked draft document detailing the White House's infrastructure plans.

Though the document does not list specific dollar amounts, it details more broadly how funding would support various programs designed to improve the US's lagging infrastructure.

Half of the money appropriated would go to a program called the Infrastructure Incentives Initiative, which the document said would encourage "state, local and private investment in core infrastructure" by providing grants to cover up to 20% of a project's costs.

A quarter of the money would seek to improve infrastructure in rural areas by incentivizing investment in transportation or utilities like water treatment and broadband.

Ten percent of the money was set aside for "exploratory and ground-breaking ideas that have more risk than standard infrastructure projects but offer a larger reward profile," wherein the government would offer to pay 80% of capital construction costs, 30% of trials to demonstrate the technology, and 50% of post-demonstration planning costs.

Largely built decades ago, US infrastructure is falling apart. One-third of roads are in poor condition, 56,000 of the 612,000 bridges are structurally deficient, and 14,000 of the 83,000 dams in the US have "high hazard potential."

Trump campaigned on promises to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure over 10 years. Because the document released by Axios appears to be a draft document, some details could still change before a plan is publicly revealed.

A White House spokeswoman told Axios that she wouldn't comment on the document and that the administration would present its plan in the "near future."

Read the full document at Axios »

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