That less-than-effusive enthusiasm for the plan centered on, of course, money: the Trump Administration's infrastructure plan would only spend $200 billion in new federal funds, while the rest would come from already cash-strapped state and local governments, and possibly private sources.

"Just like the previous version, the plan amounts to empty talk," said Hunter Blair of the Economic Policy Institute. "To understand why, one must examine the fiscal year 2019 proposal, released alongside their infrastructure proposal. While the administration trumpets an infrastructure plan, their budget radically cuts federal investments. Even their trumpeting of the stand-alone infrastructure plan is hugely misleading. Instead of the $1 trillion being claimed by the administration (already pared back from the $1.5 trillion they claimed they’d be investing in infrastructure in earlier discussions), the plan only calls for $200 billion in federal funds. Finding the rest of the $1 trillion will be left overwhelmingly to states and localities, despite the fact that they already bear the brunt of paying for public infrastructure spending."

Trump made the long-awaited roll-out of his infrastructure plan on Feb. 12. He offered only generalities, without any specific funding mechanism like an increased gasoline tax to pay for the work. He pledged "new investments in rural America, a "streamlined and shortened" process for permitting projects, the return of decision making authority to state and local governments, and an American workforce that will be "supported and strengthened." The plan would also leverage the use of private investment, which is often proposed in the form of increased use of toll roads.

Ominously, one of the first tenets of Trump's plan is to remove "regulatory barriers that needlessly get in the way of infrastructure projects," which could easily be construed as the federal Davis Bacon prevailing wage law, which has been suspended in the past, most recently by President George W. Bush during post-hurricane work.

"We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways all across our land," Trump said in a statement during the plan's rollout. "And we will do it with American heart, and American hands, and American grit."

The AFL-CIO acknowledged Trump "has rightly noted the urgency and scale of America’s infrastructure crisis," and pledged to work for a bipartisan plan to "step up with trillions of dollars" in new federal funding.  “Unfortunately," said AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, "today’s proposal relies more on accounting gimmicks and Wall Street investors than on a new federal commitment.”

Both North American's Building Trades Unions and the Associated General Contractors welcomed the new spotlight as a conversation starter on public works construction - which few would argue has been sorely and even dangerously under-funded for decades. Infrastructure spending has simply been a non-starter in Congress for decades.   

"The most significant aspect of today's release is that it signals the start of what should be a timely, bipartisan and bicameral process to identify the best ways to fund and finance desperately needed improvements to our public infrastructure," said Associated General Contractors of America CEO Stephen Sandherr. "As the President's own proposal makes clear, Congress must identify ways to address chronic funding shortfalls affecting the federal Highway Trust Fund that have put needed highway, bridge and transit improvements at risk too many times during the past decade. And Congress must also identify effective and long-term ways to fund other infrastructure improvements that are just as vital to our continued economic success as is the surface transportation program."

Said a statement from North America's Building Trades Unions: “American infrastructure is in dire need, and President Trump’s initiative in recognizing this challenge should be acknowledged. NABTU looks forward to a constructive debate on this critical issue and working with the Administration and Congress on a bipartisan basis to ensure the passage of a broad, robust and responsible infrastructure package that addresses our nation’s present infrastructure challenges and that will lay the foundation for long-term economic prosperity for Americans in communities large and small.”