Trump: We Won’t Let ‘Our Nation Become a Museum of Former Glories’

President Donald Trump pledged his administration will scale back burdensome federal regulations, during a speech Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio, to give state and local governments “the freedom and flexibility they need to revitalize our nation’s infrastructure.”

The president said his administration will deliver on the “promise of a safe, reliable and modern infrastructure.” Trump blasted the Obama administration for allocating a mere seven percent of its $836 billion stimulus spending package to rebuilding the country’s dilapidated and depleted transportation system. In order to keep that promise, Trump said he would speed up permitting and advocate for substantial new investments, in addition to deregulating infrastructure projects.

“I heard the pleas from the voters who wanted to know why we could rebuild foreign countries … but we can’t build a road, a highway, a tunnel, a bridge in our own nation. And we watch everything falling into disrepair,” Trump said. “It’s time to recapture our legacy as a nation of builders and to create new lanes of travel, commerce and discovery. And we’re going to see all the way into the future, and our future’s going to be beautiful, and our future’s going to be bright.”

[lz_ndn video=”32521537″]

“It’s time to rebuild our country to bring back our jobs to restore our dreams, and yes, it’s time finally to put America first, and that’s what I’ve been doing, if you haven’t noticed,” Trump added.

Trump outlined an ambitious plan, noting that he would slash the permitting process from 10 years to two years while continuing to cut stifling regulations. As part of his $1 trillion budget, the president allocated $200 billion for infrastructure revitalization. In addition, states and cities will receive grants to aid their rebuilding projects and help bring the country fully into the 21st century.

“Our infrastructure program will be based on forging new partnerships and demanding new accountability for every federal taxpayer dollar,” Trump said. “Under this vision, the federal government will drastically reduce its burdensome regulations — which we’ve already been doing — we have some more to go, but it’s going rapidly.”

“We will work directly with state and local governments to give them the freedom and flexibility they need to revitalize our nation’s infrastructure,” Trump added. “Taxpayers deserve the best results from their investments, and I will ensure that this is what they get. The last administration passed the stimulus package of which only a tiny seven percent went to infrastructure, and much of that was just wasted money.”

“We too will see jobs and wealth flood into the heartland and see new products and new produce made and grown right here in the USA,” Trump promised.

[lz_related_box id=”806812″]

In order to achieve his ambitious infrastructure goals, the president called upon members of Congress — both Republicans and Democrats — to come together and work with him.

“American lives and livelihoods depend on our action together. That’s why I’m calling on all Democrats who honestly have really been obstructionists — boy have they tried. I mean every single thing,” Trump said. “Honestly, if I were in that Party, I wouldn’t be doing it that way. I’d be doing positive things. That’s why they lost the House, they lost the Senate, they lost the White House. People don’t want to see what’s going on. They want to see us all come together. But I just don’t see them coming together.”

“I’m calling on all Democrats and Republicans to join together — if that’s possible — in the great rebuilding of America,” Trump added. “America must have the best, fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world. We cannot accept these conditions any longer.”

The time for action is now, Trump said, and the ball resides firmly in Congress’ court.

“We will not —so importantly — be content to let our nation become a museum of former glories,” Trump promised. “We will construct incredible new monuments to American grit that inspire wonder for generations and generations to come. We will build because our people want to build and because we need them to build … And above all, we will build because that is how we make America great again.”