Reports suggest that President Elect Donald Trump is considering an olive branch to Republicans in the form of nominating Mitt Romney as Secretary of State.
I suspect this overture is just a bit of showmanship, to appear as if he is willing to mollify elements of his own party. But it may be a real gesture. And if so, and if Romney was willing do the job, it could lessen the level of foreign policy apprehension.
On the domestic front, a similar effort may also be just window dressing, but would be welcome if true.
Trump was big on rebuilding the infrastructure during the campaign, even implying a $500 Billion effort may not be adequate to the job.
He points out that historic low interest rates make such an investment timely. Of course, that is what Obama and others have been saying to the deaf ears of a Congress that is more focused on the size of the national debt.
Still there is hope. Such an investment could win votes from the Democratic side of the aisle. And as such offer a chance for the Trump administrations to start their efforts with a bi-partisan win. Assuming, the Republican hardliners would avoid fouling their own nest from the get go.
In the big picture of things, I have little real hope that will happen.
Trump is also calling for increases in military spending and the end of sequestration, which was the barrier to prior infrastructure spending.
Dems wanted new revenues in the form of higher taxes to help pay for both military and domestic needs. The Republicans, lower taxes to spur growth and to use reduced rather than more spending to deal with the deficit.
Trump has proposed all of the above, except for significant lower spending. His campaign promises seem to assert continued support for Social Security and Medicare. And while he wants to cut Obama Care, the facts will likely prove that doing so, will hurt the trust fund that supports medicare more than it could save in dollars to the treasury to remove it. Especially as he maintains a desire to retain children to age 26 on their parents and the most difficult of all, the pre-existing condition conundrum.
Of my, it turns out actual policy making will prove more complicated in reality than on twitter post.
Which is all the more reason, Trump needs to support a serious move to update America’s infrastructure. If there is anywhere we need to make America great again, it is in our own roads, bridges, airports and power grid.
Now there may well be ways of thinking outside the box on some of this.
Can there be ways to use other than national debt to finance some of this?Perhaps. It may be hoping for lemonade, but a series commitment to the infrastructure would be most welcome.
