The Oklahoma Republican acknowledged that the government shutdown, with its focus on immigration, slowed the timetable for getting infrastructure bills started in Congress. | Micaela Rodriguez/POLITICO POLITICO Money Podcast Where is Trump’s infrastructure plan? Republicans grow tired of waiting.

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Republicans are getting tired of waiting for the White House to deliver its infrastructure proposal.


In the latest edition of the POLITICO Money podcast, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chair of a key subcommittee on the issue, said he would like to see President Donald Trump’s formal proposal “yesterday” and expects new, specific details in the State of the Union address next week.

“I’m a little frustrated because by this time I’d like to know a little bit more about some of these things that are not resolved yet,” Inhofe said, referring to how the White House expects to turn $200 billion in federal money into $1 trillion in overall spending on roads, bridges, ports and other major projects.

Inhofe was largely dismissive of a recently leaked draft White House memo on infrastructure, saying it included few new details and did not clearly lay out how to leverage a relatively small amount of federal money.

“If you were clear on it, you might be the only one who is clear,” he said of the funding mechanisms. “I have talked to really good people in the White House, and they are, right now, not talking about the specifics.”

Inhofe said Republicans and Democrats should look at “whatever it takes” to fund an infrastructure bill and take an “all of the above” approach to potential sources of funding, including a potential increase in the gas tax despite opposition to that approach from Trump.

“I think while he has made the statement that the gas tax is not something that he is pushing, I have a feeling that’s still on the table. Whatever it takes to get this done, we are going to get it done.”

The Oklahoma Republican acknowledged that the government shutdown, with its focus on immigration, slowed the timetable for getting infrastructure bills started in Congress. But he said he still hoped to have legislation passed and signed by the president by summer.

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“We were going to be moving right on to infrastructure, but because of this shutdown, that’s kind of moved that issue to the front of the line,” Inhofe said of the immigration debate. “We are going to have to spend some time on that before we get on to infrastructure.”

Inhofe declined to criticize Trump’s approach to other matters, such as his communications on Twitter. The senator said he found the president’s bellicose reference to the size of his nuclear button “helpful” in chastening North Korea.

He also said he wasn’t terribly bothered by allegations that Trump slept with an adult film star while married to his current wife.

“It wasn’t that long ago that Bill Clinton was in the White House and we had a lot more accusations of this type of thing, but somehow people didn’t think that was so bad,” Inhofe said. Clinton was impeached in the House and acquitted in a Senate trial.

The Oklahoman also said he continues to dispute the consensus scientific view that human activity is contributing to global climate change. “The science is not settled,” he said. “The climate is changing. The climate always has changed.”