Panel Creation
Created on June 25, 2017
Policy Summary
One of President Trump’s major campaign promises was a refurbished infrastructure plan to replace our aging infrastructure. As a result, Trump has convened a board to develop the new infrastructure plan. A group has filed a law suit against this council claiming that it was illegally convened as it goes against the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This act mandates that the public knows about the panel’s members and meetings. Trump’s panel has had no level of transparency as there were no public disclosures on when the meetings occur or who exactly is on the panel.
Analysis
The Infrastructure Panel has a minimal level of transparency in the status quo. As a result, the public is aware that Richard LeFrak, Steven Roth (both real estate developers), Joshua Harris (founder of Apollo Global Management), and William E. Ford (chief executive of General Atlantic) are on the board. Although, there is some disclosure on who the panel members are, there is little information about the substance of their meetings and their agenda. This is where the true problem lies, as the Trump team continues to be very general with their goals and meetings by claiming that a new “a great national infrastructure program” will be made. Any lack of disclosure is always an immediate attack on our democracy. Specifically, this lack of transparency shows that Trump’s team may be hiding something when it comes to the ins and outs of the infrastructure plan. Furthermore, a lack of information-sharing with the public leads to mistrust in the government, as many citizens get a sense that the government is trying to hide something from us.
Engagement Resources
- Town Hall Project– This project compiles the open-to-the-public events held by state and local representatives. This provides a great opportunity to tell them that this executive order will do more bad than good. You can also dial 1-844-6-RESIST to be redirected to the office of your local member of Congress.
- US Senate – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation.
- US House of Representatives – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation.
- Sunlight Foundation – The Sunlight Foundation is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses civic technology, open data, policy analysis and journalism to make our government and politics more accountable and transparent to all.
This brief was compiled by Vaibhav Kumar. If you have comments or want to add the name of your organization to this brief please contact vaibhav@usresistnews.org.
