Pelosi signals willingness to work with Trump on infrastructure

In the aftermath of Republican Donald’s Trump stunning victory, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled that Democrats would be willing to work with the president-elect on a major infrastructure and transportation package.

“As President-elect Trump indicated last night, investing in infrastructure is an important priority of his,” Pelosi said in a Wednesday statement. “We can work together to quickly pass a robust infrastructure jobs bill.”

{mosads}The statement suggests that Pelosi, whose longevity in Washington is the topic of speculation every two years, will return as Democratic leader in the next Congress.

Democrats were trounced across the board on Tuesday, picking up just a handful of House seats, failing to retake the Senate and losing the White House. 

But Pelosi was quick to push back against any notion that Trump and the Republicans will therefore have a mandate next year. While Trump won the electoral vote, she noted, Clinton is projected to win the popular vote. That means “we have a responsibility to come together and find common ground,” Pelosi said.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, even giving the issue a nod in his acceptance speech early Wednesday morning.

“We are going to fix our inner cities, and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools hospitals,” he said. “We are going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none, and we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”

Trump has said sweeping infrastructure investments are a “golden opportunity” to create jobs and boost the economy.

The real estate mogul’s plan would invest $1 trillion in infrastructure over a decade and seek to cut through the regulatory red tape that can delay transportation projects.

The proposal, which Trump claims would be revenue neutral, would be paid for by leveraging revenues from public-private partnerships and offering tax credits to spur private investments.

There was a flood of support from infrastructure advocacy groups on Wednesday, applauding Trump’s victory and sounding optimistic about the chances for massive infrastructure investments under the new administration.

“President-elect Trump will have a ‘can do’ industry as his partner in rebuilding and expanding the nation’s transportation infrastructure to make it again second to none,” said Pete Ruane, president of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Republicans in Congress should heed the call of their party’s leader and make urgently-needed improvements of national infrastructure networks a top priority in early 2017.”

Mike Lillis contributed.