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Curbelo: Trump Infrastructure Order Is 'Irresponsible'

Congressman Carlos Curbelo said in a statement that South Florida is already seeing flooding and it "is only going to get worse."
wlrn.org
Congressman Carlos Curbelo said in a statement that South Florida is already seeing flooding and it "is only going to get worse."

President Donald Trump's news conference Tuesday was supposed to be about his executive order on infrastructure.

Most of the attention has gone to his controversial statements blaming "both sides" for violence in Charlottesville during a rally by white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

But the executive order is also receiving some pushback from a South Florida Republican.

The order is supposed to speed up improvements to the nation's roads, bridges and railways.

According to numerous reports, it also will roll back standards requiring federal projects to take sea level rise and climate change into consideration.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, whose district includes the low-lying Florida Keys, issued a statement Tuesday condemning the rollback.

"This Executive Order is not fiscally conservative, it's irresponsible," Curbelo wrote, "and it will lead to taxpayer dollars being wasted on projects that may not be built to endure the flooding we are already seeing and know is only going to get worse."

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Nancy Klingener covers the Florida Keys for WLRN. Since moving to South Florida in 1989, she has worked for the Miami Herald, Solares Hill newspaper and the Monroe County Public Library.