DeKalb Commissioner Jester returns to Washington for infrastructure meeting
DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester says she learned about the Trump administration's ideas to rebuild infrastructure and eliminate red tape during a meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
Jester, one of 150 local government officials at the event, said President Donald Trump’s upcoming infrastructure bill would use federal money to incentivize private investment.
“They feel private investment in infrastructure has been discriminated against in terms of their ability to earn federal dollars,” Jester said by phone Wednesday night. “If the federal government can kick in and make it advantageous, they want to do that. All the details of how they’ll do that will be interesting.”
The meeting included a briefing with ]Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. Besides Jester, other Georgians in attendance included Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and local elected officials.
“My overall takeaway is they want a group of local officials to know what is going on,” Jester said. “We have people we can call when we have an issue and they’re asking for our input.”
Jester also attended an previous White House infrastructure meeting in June, which was hosted by Trump.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
