Pelosi & Trump Call For $2 Trillion Infrastructure Spending During COVID-19 Pandemic

As the country finds itself in the midst of a global pandemic, many leaders from both parties are calling for trillions of dollars in infrastructure spending.

President Donald Trump called for $2 trillion in new public works programs on Tuesday in efforts to support the economy throughout the pandemic, an idea also supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Lawmakers in both parties agree that framing infrastructure would be a good strategy for creating jobs since many have been laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“I think the Speaker’s right that infrastructure would be a good place to start because that’s something that’s the responsibility of the federal government to begin with,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) said Tuesday. He added, “In terms of the recovery, yeah, I think there might be some things that we need to do. What I don’t want to do is to get out ahead of our skis and start making massive policy changes that reflect political extremes.”

This plan has been floating around Capitol Hill for almost a year now, but an argument over how the government would pay for a public works package stalled negotiations. Now with the coronavirus pandemic affecting millions of Americans, the plan has been revisited. 

Trump argued that the current pandemic offers the perfect opportunity to follow through with the plan. “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill,” he tweeted. “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.”