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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - October 14, 2010
Obama Pushes Infrastructure Plan to Create Jobs
by: Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers - Report
Washington - With the weak economy driving voter discontent
three weeks out from congressional and state elections,
President Barack Obama Monday renewed his call to spend an
additional $50 billion on improving the nation's transport-
ation infrastructure.
His plan calls for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads ?
"enough to circle the world six times" ? laying and main-
taining 4,000 miles of railways, restoring 150 miles of
airport runways and advancing a new air-traffic control
system.
Obama said that America's crumbling infrastructure weakens
our economy and leaves the nation trailing foreign
competitors in investment, including China, Russia and
Europe. By embarking soon on the infrastructure buildup,
he said, "we will create good, middle-class jobs right
now."
Obama's push comes with the nation's overall unemployment
rate stuck at 9.6 percent. Voters are upset about the
economy and job losses, but they're also unhappy about
federal budget deficits and the skyrocketing national
debt. The deficit for fiscal 2010, which ended Sept. 30,
was $1.3 trillion, the second highest since World War II,
according to an estimate last week from the Congressional
Budget Office. The highest came the preceding year, at
$1.4 trillion.
Obama said "this plan will be paid for. It will not add to
our deficit over time," but that depends upon Congress,
which hasn't taken the plan up yet.
Obama spoke upon release of a new report by the Treasury
Department and Council of Economic Advisers, which
concluded that U.S. infrastructure "is not keeping pace"
with economic demand and Americans' expectations, and that
now would be a "particularly timely and beneficial" time
to spend more.
The report said Obama's plan would create middle class
jobs, primarily in construction, manufacturing and retail
trade. The report also said for 9 in 10 Americans today,
transportation costs eat up nearly 17 cents of every dollar
of income.
"Nearly 1 in 5 construction workers is still unemployed and
needs a job," Obama said. "And that makes absolutely no
sense at a time when there's so much of America that needs
rebuilding."
With Congress out until mid-November, then back only brief-
ly, there's no realistic prospect for action on the
president's proposal this year.
Some Republicans are openly hostile, saying that Obama's
$814 billion stimulus program, which passed last year,
was supposed to improve infrastructure and create jobs,
but hasn't done enough.
Rep. John Mica of Florida, the top Republican on the House
of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, called the new report "pitiful." He also said
that more than 60 percent of infrastructure funding in the
stimulus act has yet to be spent. He said he'd be happy
to work with Obama and his advisers "when they return to
planet Earth with both feet on the ground."
Obama insisted that America's outdated highway, air and
rail systems are taking a toll on the economy in lost
productivity.
As a percentage of GDP, Obama said, U.S. investment in
infrastructure is less than half of Russia's and a third
of Europe's. He said that China will build dozens of new
airports in the next decade. He said such investments
show that other countries are "creating jobs today, but
they're also playing to win tomorrow."
"So there's no reason why we can't do this," Obama said.
"This is America. We've always had the best infrastruct-
ure."
In Congress, a highway and public transit bill has been
stymied largely because of disagreements over how to pay
for it. The 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline
isn't yielding the needed revenue, and some Democrats are
pushing for a higher gas tax. The White House has balked
at that.
House Democrats want a six-year bill that would cost about
$500 billion. Previous authority for highway projects
expired about a year ago, but has been funded by a series
of short-term extensions that run out on Dec. 31.
(David Lightman contributed to this article.)
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