“This is our ‘New American Moment,'” President Trump said in the State of the Union speech. “There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.” He talked of building “gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways across our land.”
But based on an outline released last week, the President’s plan to rebuild our collapsing bridges, roads, and water systems is not the American Dream, it is an American nightmare, said FLOW founder Jim Olson.
“President Trump in his State of the Union gloated about rebuilding our infrastructure for our economy and people. What he really meant was he wants a law passed that will undermine public infrastructure grants to towns and cities, so the people will have no place to go but the banks and private investors to restore the collapsing municipal water systems across the country. The result is obvious — already unaffordable water rates for millions of Americans, poor and middle class, will skyrocket because of the added private interest and profits. And rebuilding our public water infrastructure will cost more than $500 billion.”
Here is a detailed analysis of the water portion of the Trump infrastructure plan, prepared by Mary Grant, Public Water for All Campaign Director, Food and Water Watch.
