Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic Senator from Maryland, named infrastructure as an issue of possible bipartisan compromise in 2019 in an interview Wednesday with Yahoo Finance. The problem, he said, is "we haven't seen anything real from the White House."
"This was a major theme of the president's campaign. I think it was one line, maybe two last night," he noted about the State of the Union, adding that the Senate is working on the issue and "it'd be nice if the president joined that conversation."
The Senator spoke with Adam Shapiro, Julie Hyman, and Scott Gamm on "On the Move" on Yahoo Finance.
During his address before Congress on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said he was "eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment" but didn't offer many specific details beyond saying "This is not an option. This is a necessity."
Trump had made infrastructure a higher priority issue in his 2018 address but it was less prominent this time around compared with other issues like immigration.
Funding is a major sticking point for Senate Democrats. While discussing the plan, Van Hollen added, "I don't think the president's proposal began to reach the investment level that we're hearing that we need throughout the country."
Money was the issue with another White House priority: paid family leave. "Ivanka Trump has been pushing for paid family leave," the Senator said "but when you look at the details of that proposal, the only person paying for the family leave are the employees."
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Ben Werschkul is the Washington, DC producer for Yahoo Finance.
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