Heidi M Przybyla

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Democrats want to preempt President Trump on a major unfulfilled campaign promise: a plan to create jobs and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

A coalition of progressives is holding events in 20 cities this week to highlight a plan they say would create millions of jobs by taxing Wall Street. It stands in contrast to what Trump is likely to do: proposing public-private partnerships they say will enrich banks and foreign corporations while potentially neglecting some of the neediest urban and rural communities and projects.

Their ideas stand no chance of becoming law given Republican control of the House and Senate.

Yet it’s an opportunity for Democrats to outline to the American public their contrasting vision for creating jobs — through major public investments — with a Republican approach that would likely be heavy on tax incentives for big corporations and Wall Street.

The White House is gearing up to push for its own infrastructure plan — in addition to Obamacare replacement and tax reform — before the summer congressional recess. In his budget proposal, Trump included $200 billion over 10 years including incentives for states, cities and private investors, as well as efforts to reduce federal regulations.

“Progressives are fighting to create millions of jobs, build a 21st century economy, and pay for it by taxing the big banks that still never paid the bill for crashing the economy almost a decade ago,” said Dan Cantor, national director for the Working Families Party.

“Trump’s so-called infrastructure plan will be nothing more than a massive giveaway to Wall Street, and he'll stick our children with the bill for generations to come,” he said.

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Putting Americans back to work through a massive infrastructure bill was a central issue in Trump’s outsider, populist-themed campaign that was waged against a backdrop of collapsing bridges in Minnesota, lead-laced drinking water in Michigan and flooded cities across the south. He also made infrastructure a centerpiece both during his election-night speech and a Feb. 28 address to Congress, vowing to create millions of lobs.

According to a fact sheet included in Trump’s proposed 2018 budget, his plan would leverage private-sector spending to focus federal dollars on “transformative” projects that are priorities at both the federal and regional level. It is also likely to include a controversial provision for adding tolls to existing interstate roads.

Last week the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced a resolution outlining the progressive alternative. “Our plan offers a path toward a fairer economy in which we can all thrive,” the coalition said in a statement. “It is proof that our country’s complex infrastructure challenges can be guided by a simple principle: public money should go toward the public good,” it said.

The plan calls for investing $2 trillion over ten years, which it estimates would employ 2.5 million Americans in the first year to rebuild transportation, water and energy systems while also focusing on unsafe schools, homes and public buildings. With minimal potential for big investor profits, these are areas big companies may shun.

On Wednesday and Thursday members of the "Millions of Jobs" coalition are holding events highlighting some of the most critical projects their plan would address, including a water tower in Flint, Mich.; New York City’s Penn Station, which has seen massive delays due to aging systems; and a power plant in Lakeland, Fla., where an explosion recently knocked out a large, 40-year-old power unit.

The plan is the product of a partnership with outside progressive groups including the Working Families Party.

Trump’s Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, has said Trump’s plan will include some kind of public-private partnerships and perhaps the sale of some government assets. He’s also rolling back environmental regulations and supports tax reform funded in part by repealing the Affordable Care Act.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the need for $4.6 trillion in infrastructure investments over 10 years, with more than half of that sum currently unfunded. As progressives frame their approach to the economy, a common thread is the comparison to Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the coalition calling the plan a “New Deal for Jobs.”