If Trump Wants to “Fix It First,” a Big Spending Spree Won’t Cut It

It's hard to pin Donald Trump down on policy issues. Witness Press Secretary Sean Spicer's quickly rescinded trial balloon for a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports yesterday. But let's take one of Trump's recent infrastructure pronouncements literally and see where the implications lead.

At the GOP retreat in Philadelphia yesterday, Trump said he wants to fix existing infrastructure before building new infrastructure. Here are his remarks as relayed by Politico:

This is actually a good way to approach the problem of decrepit infrastructure. It's also completely inconsistent with the infrastructure white paper Trump's team put out during the campaign, which would favor toll road construction and overlook decrepit infrastructure that can't generate user fees and profits.

State transportation agencies could get their infrastructure into good condition without much new funding -- they just have to stop spending the money they have on road expansions. In total, states spent more on road expansion than maintenance from 2009 to 2011, according to Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense [PDF].

A real commitment to fixing transportation infrastructure would have to put a stop to expensive highway expansions, which only increase long-term maintenance obligations. A spending surge won't get the job done -- what's needed is a campaign to impose fiscal discipline on state DOTs.