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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Penny “wise” and pound foolish: Investing in infrastructure cannot be deferred

From the White House:

White House Blog: A Numbers-Based Case for Why It’s Time to Act on Infrastructure

The United States was once known as a leader in infrastructure, and we’re slipping:

When the American Society of Civil Engineers graded our infrastructure systems last fall, they gave our road and transit systems a D, our bridges a C+, and our levees a D-.

But here’s the real problem: The funding we have in place to fix them is set to run out by fall. That puts at risk more than 112,000 active projects that are currently paving our roads and building our bridges, as well as approximately 5,600 projects that are actively improving our transit systems – not to mention the nearly 700,000 jobs that these collective projects support.

It’s time to get this done. That’s why this week, the President is calling on Congress to pass a bill to put Americans to work repairing our crumbling roads and bridges – avoiding a crisis in the short term, and helping to position our economy for long-term growth.

And today, we’re releasing a new analysis that makes a numbers-based case for exactly why we need to invest in infrastructure right now – and what it’s going to mean for all of us if Congress fails to act.

Take a look at the new analysis that the White House released today – we guarantee you’ll learn something you didn’t know. And when you do, you should pass it on.

More …

The Economic Importance of Investing in our Infrastructure (PDF)

President Obama and his administration are focused every day on what we can do to expand opportunity for every American. In today’s economy, that includes building first-class infrastructure that attracts first-class jobs and carries goods from American businesses all across the world. That’s why President Obama has laid out a vision for a 21st century transportation infrastructure that would support current investment plans in all 50 states and build the foundation for lasting economic growth – while avoiding Highway Trust Fund insolvency. That proposal is fully paid for through one-time revenue from business tax reforms that will spur investment and create jobs by closing loopholes that reward companies for moving jobs overseas.

The Grow America Act addresses this:

The GROW AMERICA Act, or Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America, will do exactly what its name implies:

   It will support millions of American jobs repairing and modernizing our roads, bridges, railways, and transit systems;

   It will help ensure that American businesses can compete effectively in the global economy and grow; and

   It will pave the way forward by increasing access to the ladders of opportunity that help Americans get ahead.

We visited eight states and 13 cities as part of our Invest in America, Commit to the Future bus tour this month and everywhere we went, we heard the same thing -people want more transportation options and better roads and bridges to get them where they need to go. Failing to act before the Highway Trust Fund runs out is unacceptable and unaffordable.

The GROW AMERICA Act offers the kind of job creation and certainty that the American people want and deserve. It represents a number of proposals that have historically attracted bipartisan support.

More information is available from the GROW AMERICA Act fact sheets.

 

This is the Moose Mid-Week Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.


11 comments

  1. princesspat

    UW researchers: Polar ice sheet doomed, but how soon?

    The collapse of massive portions of the Antarctic ice sheet now appears inevitable and could trigger far more sea-level rise than once projected, according to a major new University of Washington study and another from NASA researchers.

    It may be too late to stop the entire West Antarctic ice sheet from eventually sliding into the ocean – no matter how the U.S. and other nations respond to climate change, the studies concluded.

    But taking major steps to combat warming temperatures soon could determine whether the initial collapse ultimately takes a geologically speedy 200 years – or a thousand or more.

    I hope this country will regain it’s collective sanity re science soon…..seems we have been lost in an ideological wilderness for some time now.

  2. Why Is It So Important to Rebuild America’s Roads and Bridges?

    In remarks today from Tarrytown, New York, the President explained why investing in our nation’s infrastructure is so important:

       Building a world-class transportation system is one of the reasons America became an economic superpower in the first place. But over the past 50 years, as a share of our economy, our investment in transportation has shrunk by 50 percent. Think about that. Our investment in transportation has been cut by half.

       You know what other countries are doing? European countries now invest twice as much as we do. China invests four times as much as we do in transportation. One study recently found that over time, we’ve fallen to 19th place when it comes to the quality of our infrastructure — 19th place. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like America being 19th. I don’t like America being second. I want us to be first when it comes to infrastructure around the world, because businesses are going to come where there’s good infrastructure to move businesses, move people, move services.

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