Huckabee Sanders: ‘I don’t know’ if infrastructure bill will happen this year

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that she isn’t sure there will be an infrastructure bill this year, dealing another blow to lawmakers clamoring for a sweeping infrastructure package.

“I don’t know that there will be one by the end of the year,” Sanders said during the White House press briefing.

{mosads}Her remark is in line with President Trump’s own statement earlier this year that an infrastructure overhaul would likely come after the November midterm elections. 

“I don’t think you’re going to get Democrat support very much. And you’ll probably have to wait until after the election, which isn’t so long down the road. But we’re going to get this infrastructure going,” Trump said in late March.

While the administration formally unveiled its infrastructure framework in February, it failed to gain traction in Congress, as lawmakers shifted to other priorities like immigration and a large government spending bill.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in early March also cut short hopes for a large package, saying the president’s infrastructure plan would likely come to fruition in five or six different pieces of legislation. In his explanation, Ryan pointed to two must-pass bills: the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, which Congress passed last month, and the omnibus spending package. He also referenced the Water Resources Development Act, a water infrastructure bill Congress re-ups every two years.

Amid the uncertainty over the future of the rebuilding plan, White House infrastructure policy adviser D.J. Gribbin left the administration, which has yet to announce his replacement.