President Donald Trump's call to shorten the permit process for infrastructure projects will go a long way toward saving money on them, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said Monday.
"The president is talking about this to reform the permitting process," the House Majority Whip told Monday's Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "There is no reason why it should take 10 years to get a permit to build some of these projects . . . by shortening the permit process you save a lot of money, billions of dollars on some of these big projects."
Trump's budget proposal, released Sunday, includes a $1.5 trillion plan for the nation's troubled infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Scalise defended the budget agreement that was reached Friday, including hiking defense spending to make sure the military gets the money it needs.
"It has taken years to get to a budget agreement," Scalise said. "That is ultimately what we got. But the main thing we've been focused on is trying to increase the defense spending . . . they have not had tools they needed. Our generals told us that."
Trump said funding the defense was the top priority, but for years, Congress could not do that, Scalise added.
"At least this gives real certainty to our defense and men and women in uniform" he said. "Let's make sure they have the things not only to protect our country but safe training."
Meanwhile, Congress needs to get control of mandatory spending, Scalise said, as that is the "driver" of the national debt.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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