Pelosi calls for $2tn to be spent on US infrastructure

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said an infrastructure bill under development by Democrats will cost in excess of $1tn.

Pelosi told reporters at a House Democratic meeting in Virginia that the amount that must be spent "has to be at least $1tn, I’d like it to be closer to $2tn" and said that the issue of how to pay such enormous costs was "to be discussed".

Democrats are optimistic about the legislation gaining the support of Donald Trump and their Republican colleagues, with the President himself having promised a $1tn investment in new roads and other infrastructure projects during his election campaign, though he has not yet come close to fulfilling this pledge.

Trump’s latest budget proposed $200bn in federal dollars for infrastructure, a figure that Pelosi castigated as "too small", but the issue appears to be one of few that could garner bipartisan support in an increasingly fractured Washington.

Any funds secured could be arriving at a vital time as an annual report by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), released just last week, said that 47,052 of the nation’s 616,087 bridges, or 7.6%, are "structurally deficient and in poor condition".

The same report, said the pace of bridge improvements is at its slowest point in five years, meaning that it would take more than 80 years to make all necessary repairs and bridge replacements.

The Highway Trust Fund, which receives money from a federal fuel tax, is responsible for more than 50% of highway and bridge capital investments made annually by state transportation departments but is facing major financial difficulties that could leave states facing a 40% drop in federal investment from 2021 if no congressional action is taken.

ARTBA President Dave Bauer said: "Since the 2016 election, leaders on both sides of the aisle have regularly cited upgrading America’s infrastructure as an area for common ground. This report makes clear that it’s about time Congress and the Trump administration stop talking and start solving this national problem."