On Tuesday, a dozen Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, headed to the White House for a frank talk with President Donald Trump about the ‘‘I’’ word: infrastructure.

This was Democratic leaders’ first huddle with Trump since December, a testament to both sides’ desire to address the shabby state of America’s public works. Most everyone recognizes the critical need for an overhaul. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the system a dismal grade of D-plus, and there is broad public support for more federal investment. Since Trump’s election, Democrats have repeatedly cited infrastructure as one policy issue in which they see potential for working with him to get something done.

Lawmakers emerged from Tuesday’s talks in an atypically upbeat mood, full of praise for the president.

Indeed, infrastructure is the rare issue where the public interest aligns with both the Democrats’ and the president’s political instincts. Better still, the prospect of rebuilding the nation appeals to the president’s fondness for constructing large tangible monuments to his eminence.

All of which lays the foundation for progress on a sorely neglected issue.

As part of branding himself an economic populist, Trump campaigned in 2016 with a vow to spend $1 trillion to make America’s roads, airports and transit systems the envy of the world. He blew into office with grand visions of launching development projects across the nation. In March of last year, in a speech promoting his administration’s new $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, Trump boasted that building was in his blood. ‘‘That’s what I do,’’ he declared.

But, thus far, Trump has proved very bad at building. Highways, bridges, pipelines, water systems, even beautiful steel border walls — all have turned out to be more complicated than he anticipated. And his administration’s 2018 plan fell flat. The $1.5 trillion package provided a paltry $200 billion in federal funding, relying heavily on public-private partnerships and state spending.

With Democrats now in charge of the House and the 2020 campaign well underway, Trump is looking to give it another try. But the odds for success remain long, and no one is looking to make this easy for him.

In addition to dealing with skeptics in his own party, the president is facing a Democratic Party emboldened by the midterms and looking to play hardball. Democrats went into Tuesday’s meeting with an aggressive set of ‘‘priorities’’ ranging from labor protections to green-energy investment — a bold bid guaranteed to prompt pushback.

While the details of any plan are open to negotiation, the basic issue of how to pay for one remains.

The president is facing resistance even from his own aides. Even as he was meeting with Democrats, his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney — a fierce budget hawk — was at a conference in Beverly Hills, talking down the prospects of a deal. As Mulvaney sees it, the cure for crumbling bridges is deregulation.

The next move is up to Trump. Tuesday’s group agreed to reconvene in three weeks, at which time the president will discuss how he intends to pay the $2 trillion bill. Then everyone will get a clearer sense of his commitment to this crucial issue, and how willing he is to take on his own party to make it happen.

New York Times