President Donald Trump, in his second State of the Union address, called for a bipartisan infrastructure push on Tuesday night.
“Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure,” Trump told Congress and government leaders. “I know that Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill, and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment.”
“This is not an option. This is a necessity,” Trump added. During his presidential campaign, Trump called for spending $1.5 trillion over a decade for infrastructure projects, but major funding has not been forthcoming.
The bipartisan call comes more than a week after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended. After a 35-day partial shutdown, Trump and Democratic leaders in Congress on Jan. 25 agreed to reopen the government for three weeks. However, they have not been able to agree on funding for Trump’s demand a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Wall Street strategists said ahead of the speech that Trump’s comments on trade, infrastructure and drug pricing could be market-moving. Stocks that could benefit from such the infrastructure push include Vulcan Materials, Jacobs Engineering and Fluor Corp.
But Wall Street strategists warned that the passing of an infrastructure bill would be a long shot.
“It is likely President Trump will push an infrastructure bill at the State of the Union,” Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas Research Partners, wrote in a note ahead of the speech. But unless “President Trump specifically backs raising the gasoline or corporate tax rate, it is unlikely to see an agreement on a large deal.”
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