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DC strategist to Trump: 'Go for the low-hanging fruit — infrastructure'

President Trump in an 18-wheeler truck. (AP)
President Trump in an 18-wheeler truck. (AP)

Veteran political strategist Greg Valliere has some policy advice for President Trump: aim for the “low-hanging fruit.” At a moment when Trump needs a win after the failure of the Affordable Care Act repeal vote, Valliere believes the low-hanging fruit is reforming America’s infrastructure.

In an email newsletter on Tuesday sent to clients of his firm Horizon Investments, Valliere writes, “We’re puzzled, frankly, why the White House has not shot down reports that infrastructure reform is a year away—or longer… With Paul Ryan under withering fire from Trump’s base, why wouldn’t he go for an issue he feels passionate about.”

Infrastructure reform, which Trump has touted (and which was one of the only issues Trump and Hillary Clinton agreed on during the campaign cycle), “would win support from Democrats and all but the hard-core fiscal hawks in Congress. A bipartisan deal—what a concept!” Valliere adds that infrastructure reform is a “no-brainer.”

It’s an interesting point in light of an Axios report on Tuesday that the Trump administration is “looking at driving tax reform and infrastructure concurrently.

There’s just one problem: Trump will likely first have to deal with a battle over government spending, to stave off a potential shutdown on April 29, the 100th day of his presidency. That means that in practice, nothing is really “low-hanging fruit” for now, including infrastructure reform.

Still, there are those who think Trump can do it. Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster is one of them; he told Axios he believes the Trump administration can get infrastructure reform done in 2017.

Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports, tech, and media. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

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