Can Democrats and Republicans at Least Agree to Fix the Roads?

It’s no surprise that President Obama’s jobs bill did not make it through Congress. It is now being broken into smaller bills so that each proposal can be considered individually, which is probably what should have been done in the first place. Now that both parties have done their political posturing, I hope that some items in the bill will get the consideration they deserve.
Like the original stimulus bill, the new jobs bill proposes spending on infrastructure projects. This is spending that creates immediate jobs and provides long-term benefits to businesses.
“The Cost of Doing Nothing” by Kathy Caldwell, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, in the Oct. 2011 issue of  Science points out that deficient surface transportation infrastructure would cost U.S. businesses an added $430 billion in transportation costs by 2020, and billins more in export revenue would be lost. “Nearly all sectors will suffer, but those associated with technology and innovation would probably be the hardest hit,” Caldwell wrote.  She continued:
“To meet the many infrastructure challenges, more financing is needed. Now that the American Jobs Act has failed to pass Congress, there is discussion of breaking the bill into pieces that should be easier to pass. The proposed act includes $50 billion to modernize road, rail, and air transportation systems, and it would establish a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage public and private capital toward these endeavors. This level of priority and investment is needed, or the United States will continue its downward slide.”
 I agree. If Democrats and Republicans can’t even agree that we need to fix the roads, then our democracy truly is broken.
“The Cost of Doing Nothing” by Kathy Caldwell. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6054/289.full

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