President’s budget a concern to industry associations

Industry associations have expressed concerned with President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to cut $2.4 billion from the Department of Transportation (DOT) budget – a 12.7 percent reduction from FY 2017. The cuts come as part of the president’s call to reprioritize federal spending by recommending $54 billion in cuts from the non-defense discretionary accounts in order to boost the defense and homeland security programs by equal amounts in FY 2018.

The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) says the president’s proposed budget reflects a streamlined DOT that focuses on performing vital federal safety oversight functions and investing in nationally and regionally significant transportation infrastructure projects by reducing or eliminating programs that he suggests are inefficient, duplicative or involve activities that are better delivered by states, localities or private sector.

In a conference call, Office of Management & Budget Director Mike Mulvaney said, “What we’ve effectively done is try to move money out of existing, more inefficient programs, and hold that money for what we expect to be more efficient infrastructure programs later on.”

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association says that while it continues to support and advocate for a large infrastructure package along the lines of what the president promised on the campaign trail, the association does not support cutting current infrastructure investment as a down payment to some future infrastructure measure.

The president’s budget blueprint also proposes cutting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget by $1 billion, down from $6 billion in FY 2016.

As NSSGA notes, Congress will have the final say on the budget.