Wisconsin's Robin Vos and Paul Farrow meet with Trump on infrastructure

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WASHINGTON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow met Thursday with President Donald Trump and White House officials as the administration emphasizes the importance of investing in transportation.

The infrastructure summit involving state and local officials from across the country took place as Washington was consumed with the Senate testimony of ex-FBI Director James Comey.

Both Republicans said they welcomed the administration’s message of giving more power and flexibility to states on infrastructure issues.

“A lot of the issues I know are important — returning more power to the states, trying to streamline the process … that was their entire focus,” said Vos, of Rochester.

“I had lunch with (budget director) Mick Mulvaney, and he agreed with me that we need to devolve more power back to the states. Let us make the decision if we want to have a toll — we shouldn’t have to do ‘mother, may I?’ with the federal government,” said Vos.

Farrow said for many local officials, the sentiment is “if we’re going to get (federal) funding, give us fewer strings (and) if you’re going to ask us to do more, then empower us to do that” with fewer regulations.

The meeting came amid a serious dispute in the Wisconsin statehouse over how to fund road and bridge construction. Looser federal rules could eventually help the state address transportation, but won't do much in the short term, Vos said.

FULL COVERAGE:Wisconsin state budget updates

"If they give us flexibility in the long run, it’s not going to solve our budget deficit (in Wisconsin) today, but it’s certainly going to help with the transportation deficit long-term," he said.

Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature are deeply divided on transportation, with Assembly Republicans saying Walker isn't doing enough to keep road projects on schedule over the long haul. They want to raise taxes on gasoline to pay for highways and then offset that increase by deeply cutting income taxes, which pay for other services such as education and health care.

Walker strongly opposes increases in gas taxes or registration fees and GOP senators generally back the governor's position.

Walker has said he could turn to tolling to solve Wisconsin's road funding problems, provided the tolls were placed on Wisconsin's borders and the state's gas tax was lowered.

Jason Stein reported for this story in Madison with Craig Gilbert in Washington. Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.