President Donald Trump recently broke out a chart that he says shows how difficult it is to start an infrastructure project.
At a town hall event with CEOs on Tuesday, Trump called a man onstage to unfurl a flowchart that started above his head and stretched down to the stage at his feet. With the enormous prop, which shows a variety of permitting processes and steps to starting a project, Trump aimed to show how tough the infrastructure process is and justify his push to reduce regulations at federal agencies.
Here is the chart Trump referenced, which was provided to CNBC. It is not clear who exactly prepared the chart for Trump.
Trump riffed on what he said the flowchart showed: "So this was just something — this is sort of incredible ... this is to build a highway in the United States. ... But you start up here and this is anywhere from a 10- to 20-year process. You have — is it 17 agencies. You have hundreds and hundreds of permits. Many of them are statutory, where you can't even apply for a second permit until six months go by. So, this is to build a highway. This is a simple highway."
He then pulled it out again at a separate public appearance Tuesday.
The president has pledged to fix failing parts of American infrastructure with a $1 trillion private and public funding plan. However, he has seemed to make little progress on it, as Republicans focus on replacing the Affordable Care Act and reforming the U.S. tax system.