As helicopters flew overhead and security patrolled the Ohio River, President Donald Trump visited Ohio for the first time today since taking office to promote a proposal he says should pump $1 trillion in public and private investment into the nation's aging infrastructure. The fact that infrastructure now appears to have turned into a partisan exercise, too, underscores the poisonous atmosphere in Washington as an undisciplined president courts controversy over Twitter and an angry liberal base goads Democratic lawmakers to battle him at every turn.
Trump said the families - one from OH and another from Kentucky - are going through "turmoil" along with millions of other consumers who are facing rising premiums and limited choices for health coverage under the 2010 law.
Whatever overall plan Trump and the Congress can bolt together to overhaul America's crumbling infrastructure, the results will be anticipated eagerly by Caterpillar Inc.
"The president aims to give states and localities the ability to address their own critical infrastructure needs and to collaborate with private enterprises where it makes sense, " the White House said this week. "Deductibles have gone insane, the costs of the plans have gone insane, and what I've done is I've absorbed most of the increases just so I can keep happy employees".
"This is just a private money-making operation for the big business buddies of the president", Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said. "While it's very early in the administration, I think everyone has noticed", he said. "One of the biggest broken promises ever".
"Obamacare is in a total death spiral and the problems will only get worse if Congress fails to act", Trump said.
"Maybe they can start talking to members about a specific product next week, but I would not be surprised if we don't", a Republican aide said.
The details of the president's plan remain scarce but according to what Mr. Trump has put forth so far, the plan would theoretically leverage $1 trillion in construction through $200 billion in tax breaks spanning nine years.
Trump had scored a victory last month in his bid to repeal and replace key parts of the Affordable Care Act when the House of Representatives, by a margin of just a single vote, passed a major health-care bill.
3 top Penn State officials get jail time related to Sandusky case
Paterno was sacked but never charged with a crime; he died of lung cancer at age 85 two months after Sandusky's arrest. A graduate coaching assistant said that in 2001, he witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in a football team shower.
Trump has denied the allegations and called the Russian Federation story "fake news".
Trump mentioned that people around the country are anxious there are bridges "so risky they are afraid they are going to fall down".
Schumer said the president's focus on privatization indicates that Americans will get slapped with tolls while the pockets of financiers are lined at the expense of average Americans.
At 7:44 a.m. Wednesday, Trump tweeted out his choice to replace Comey as Federal Bureau of Investigation director - Christopher A. Wray, a former assistant attorney general under former President George W. Bush.
Behind the president during his remarks was a barge of West Virginia coal.
US inland waterways are mainline routes for transporting agricultural products, but officials say they've fallen into disrepair.
"A difference between the President's proposal and Barack Obama's Stimulus is the focus on accountability of how federal tax dollars will be spent", the White House official said, referencing Obama's 2009 spending bill.
Superville contributed from Washington.
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