Expectations Trump's "big statement on infrastructure" will rely on private cash

President Trump has promised "a big statement on infrastructure" during his speech to Congress tonight amid reports that despite a campaign promise to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure he would delay unveiling proposals until next year.

Trump said yesterday he would press ahead given the U.S "spends $6 trillion in the Middle East and we have potholes all over our highways". His critics in the liberal media had urged him to overcome opposition to a stimulus from the Republican-controlled Congress and the Senate and make good on his promises to "restore the country's crumbling bridges, potholed roads and rust-bucket trains". Trump said that a friend in the trucking business complained that his lorries were "destroyed" by the nation's roads and action had to be taken. 

Libertarian-minded commentators said that Trump's reported plans entail getting the private sector to pay for infrastructure by offering $137bn in tax credits to investors and should therefore be backed by Republican critics of 'big government'.