This week, President Trump released his fiscal year (FY) 2018 Budget. The Budget proposes $4.1 trillion in spending, including a $54 billion increase in base discretionary defense spending in 2018 offset by a similar cut in nondefense discretionary spending. The Budget also included $396.9 million for Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), no additional funding for Secure Rural Schools (SRS), and a blueprint for a $1 trillion infrastructure investment funded through a combination of $200 billion of new federal funding, incentivized non-federal funding, and newly prioritized and expedited projects.
While the Budget request does not contain a lot of details on the plan, it does provide a list of key principles the Administration will focus on in the infrastructure proposal, including:
- making targeted federal investments;
- encouraging self-help communities;
- aligning infrastructure investment with entities best suited to provide sustained and efficient investment; and,
- leveraging the private sector.
Soon after the release of the Budget, Republicans and Democrats both stated federal funding in FY 2018 will look very different from President Trump’s FY 2018 Budget.