This week President Trump hits the road touting a $1 trillion investment plan for infrastructure, with privatization of air traffic control first on the agenda.
The President has inviting airline executives to the White House on Monday to unveil plans to spin off ATC as a nonprofit corporation.
The air traffic control proposal will be based on legislation put forward by Rep. Bill Shuster who is chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
It calls for a new user fee for air operators which would replace taxes currently paid on aviation fuel and airline tickets.
The president’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn said there would be money made available and protection for rural airports which have warned they would be overlooked by a nonprofit entity dominated by large commercial airlines.
"We know that in many of these areas we’re falling behind and the falling behind is affecting economic growth in the United States. The president wants to fix the problems, and he doesn’t want to push these liabilities into the future," Cohn said.
Later in the week Trump travels to Ohio to discuss upgrades to the inland waterways system and then before the end of ‘Infrastructure Week’ plans to push for the streamlining of regulatory approvals to speed up investment in road and rail projects.
