Story highlights Doug Holtz-Eakin: Infrastructure plan is a part of Trump's greater economic strategy

Trump will be judged by plan's contributions to Americans' overall prosperity, he says

Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the president of the American Action Forum. He is a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and former chief economist of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. He was the top economic adviser to Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) The Trump administration has just completed "infrastructure week." Though it drew little media attention and produced few details, it's worth considering how it will play into President Donald Trump's overall economic strategy.

Make no mistake about it. Everything the President does should be viewed through the lens of making the economy work better. Trump is President and Republicans control Congress because the American electorate wants to experience better economic growth and improved prosperity.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin

A Trump infrastructure initiative will therefore be judged by its contribution to prosperity, but it would be unrealistic to portray it as a strategy in and of itself.

The key components of the American economic revival are now clear. The initial success in stopping the Obama-era regulatory onslaught will be paired with legislative reforms to transform the regulatory state fundamentally. The Affordable Care Act will ideally be relegated to the dustbin of domestic policy history and replaced with a law that passes muster as good economic policy, budget policy and sensible support for a private sector-driven, cost-control effort. And the outmoded and complex US income taxes will be replaced with permanent and strong incentives to innovate, invest, hire and increase wages in the United States. None of this will be easy politics, of course, but the policy portfolio is clear.

Infrastructure can contribute in two unique ways to this portfolio. First, carefully chosen projects can improve national connectivity and economic efficiency. The best example is the one that kicked off infrastructure week: a 21st-century air traffic control system. National air traffic is uniquely a federal policy role, and a modern system would address congestion, shorten routes, save fuel and lower transport costs. Similar, if less dramatic, benefits would accrue from dredging waterways, repairing dams and locks, and other projects.

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