Trump's Infrastructure Plan Slow to Materialize Despite New Executive Order, Flow Chart

Hallie Busta reports on the executive order signed by president Donald Trump on August 15, 2016, "concerning the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects."

"The order nixes the Obama-era Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, which set higher resiliency standards for projects that receive federal funds and are vulnerable to sea-level rise," according to Busta. Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason report in a separate article on those features of the executive order.

Busta also notes that President Trump "unfurled a flowchart that he said detailed the new approvals process for federal highway projects," during the press conference.

Although the flow chart was largely unreadable during the press conference, an article by Annalisa Merelli later followed up with an article that presents the flow chart in digital form. "The president had showed this chart in April, and he did so again today (Aug. 15), together with a shorter version without the many steps he plans to cut," reports Merelli.

The infrastructure revelations of a press conference soon became mired in controversy over the president's reactions to the violence in tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia the previous weekend, but according to Busta's take on the executive order and the flow chart, there is still very little detail about the $1 trillion investment President Trump has repeatedly promised for the nation's infrastructure.