Trump Private Finance Plan for Infrastructure Worries Rural States

"President Trump’s promise to find $1 trillion for infrastructure ran headlong into the senior senator from Wyoming, who said on Wednesday that the White House plan to raise private money for roads and bridges wouldn’t do much to help his rural state.

Sen. John Barrasso (R), who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, represents a state with fewer inhabitants than Washington, D.C. His state’s capital, Cheyenne, has a population not much larger than that of Rocky Mount, N.C.

“Funding solutions that involve public-private partnerships, as have been discussed by administration officials, may be innovative solutions for crumbling inner cities, but do not work for rural areas,” Barrasso, who figures to play a central role in any infrastructure plan, said at a hearing Wednesday. "

Ashley Halsey III reports for the Washington Post February 8, 2017.