South Dakota Republican John Thune, Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, will be very involved with President Trump’s $1 billion plan to overhaul the nation’s infrastructure in January.
A Pro Transportation report says Thune, a rural-state senator, has valuable insights on what farmers and Ag businesses will be looking for in infrastructure investments.
Thune says there were few problems with the president’s approach to updating the nation’s infrastructure. He says the bigger question is how the nation will fund it. “There are probably some states that could do more (in terms of funding),” he says, “but I think if states are willing to step up and become bigger partners in the project, there should be some kind of matching benefit to that.” In terms of funding, he told Pro Transportation that, “As a conservative, I think you should be offended by the idea of borrowing money to pay for infrastructure. If we’re going to build things in this country, we need to figure out a way to pay for it.”
He thinks lawmakers should be willing to listen to other people’s ideas about how the country will go about paying for such a large project.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.