by Mike Hall, Mar 14, 2008

One of the nation’s most pressing needs is the rebuilding and renewal of America’s aging and crumbling infrastructure—including roads, bridges, waterways, transits systems and the electrical grid.

Earlier this week, AFL-CIO chief economist Ron Blackwell told a Senate committee:

Public investment in infrastructure is essential for restoring strong and sustainable economic growth essential for ensuring American prosperity.

Yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced legislation that could be a roadmap to rebuilding. The bill would establish a National Infrastructure Commission to set priorities and seek to achieve consensus at local and federal levels and among public, private, environmental, labor and other groups that agree on the need for revitalizing the infrastructure but are not always in agreement on the best way to go about it.

At a meeting yesterday at the Library of Congress announcing the legislation, Blumenauer said:

Bridges are falling down, levees are breaching, and antiquated water systems are putting both our environment and health at risk….We’ve got to address this for our economic vitality.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the 150 representatives of various groups at the announcement:

As we have seen since the early days of our nation, the long-term benefits of investing in infrastructure far outweigh the costs, by strengthening our economy and creating good-paying jobs here at home. In 2008, it also relates to the national security of our country, the quality of life of the American people and the health of the planet.

Meanwhile, Houses and Senate leaders are exploring the possibility of a second economic stimulus package that includes job-creating infrastructure projects to address nation’s economic slowdown, or as some economists are saying, the recession.

At this week’s Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, Blackwell called for a stimulus package that frontloads:

public investment in infrastructure to maintain our schools and repair crumbling bridges and deteriorating highways. Spending that puts people to work on projects we desperately need is more likely to stimulate the domestic economy than tax cuts that may be saved or spent largely on imported consumer goods.

Click here to read more from the hearing and here for AFL-CIO President John Sweeney’s recent remarks on infrastructure. There is more on the crumbling infrastructure here.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (0)