Trump’s infrastructure push to be featured in State of Union

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump plans to use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to build momentum for sweeping legislation on infrastructure and immigration that could buoy the White House and fellow Republicans ahead of crucial midterm elections.
Emboldened by a booming economy and victory in his stare-down with Senate Democrats over government funding, Trump will make the case that the Republican tax cuts passed in December and his administration’s efforts to curb regulations are drawing investment to the US and creating jobs, said a White House official who discussed the speech on condition of anonymity.
There are few obvious areas for compromise, and little incentive to do so among increasingly polarized lawmakers whose chief concern remains an upcoming election season primed for a wave of votes protesting Trump. Yet the president also aims to strike a bipartisan tone, the official said — a stark departure from his address to Congress a year ago. That speech delighted supporters, who saw his on-script performance as evidence that Trump, a mercurial political novice, could seize the power of the bully pulpit.

Future-Focussed Vision
This year, aides say, he’ll offer a future-focused vision. His agenda, the official said, includes a long-anticipated plan to rebuild and improve the nation’s infrastructure, continuing efforts to cut regulations, and an overhaul of the immigration system — campaign promises that got set aside last year as the administration focused on efforts to repeal Obamacare and pass the tax overhaul.
Lawmakers are keenly aware of Trump’s unpopularity. Just 36 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing, according to a Quinnipiac poll released
on Jan. 25. A RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys puts Trump’s approval rating at 40 percent. And the White House remains mired
in the months-long investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
For that reason, Trump is expected to devote much of the speech to an effort that’s so far proven elusive — convincing Americans to give him credit for a booming stock market and
positive employment numbers. Trump’s immigration plan will offer deportation protection and a pathway to citizenship for as many as 1.8 million people who were brought to the country
illegally as children.
In exchange, the White House wants $30 billion for additional border and port security, and the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border — a proposal Democrats have fiercely opposed.
Trump also wants to limit a program that gives preferential status to the families of US citizens and immigrants, and eliminate the visa lottery program.
Critics say the president’s plan would sharply curtail legal immigration and waste money on a barrier that would prove difficult to build and only a slight deterrent to illegal immigration.