Infrastructure pulled off table as component of coronavirus relief

As the federal government continues to neglect infrastructure, more states have stepped up of late to provide necessary funding for roads and bridges. Photo: iStockphoto.com/Juan-Enrique

Within recent weeks, President Trump called for infrastructure to be part of a Phase 4 of coronavirus relief funding from the federal government.

On Tuesday, however, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) stressed that Congress will not pursue infrastructure as part of the ongoing stimulus talks in Washington.

According to The Hill, McConnell described infrastructure as “unrelated” to the coronavirus pandemic. As an alternative to including highway funding within a Phase 4 package, McConnell says this hot-button issue will be addressed separately – and potentially soon.

“We have an equal interest in doing an infrastructure bill,” says McConnell, during a Fox News interview. “We don’t have an equal interest in borrowing money from future generations to pay for it. In other words, it’s unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Specifically, The Hill reports that McConnell wants to pass a “more modest” infrastructure bill in the Senate. He sees an opportunity to continue building off legislation the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee passed in 2019.

The president, of course, called for a major infrastructure bill with an attention-grabbing tweet March 31: “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill. It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4”

Fox Business reported this week that Phase 4 of coronavirus relief funding could exceed $1 trillion. A payroll tax holiday and a negative payroll tax are reportedly at the center of discussions.

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