Democrats Supporting, GOP Ready To Fight Obama's Public-Works Initiative

President-elect Barack Obama talked in his Saturday radio/web address about the bold national-infrastructure initiative he will send to the new Congress as soon as it convenes next month. It's a plan that the new president believes will boost the economy, provide millions of new jobs during the current recession, while also making tangible repairs and improvements to the country's roads, bridges and schools.

Obama's plan will be the biggest public-works effort since the Interstate highway system was built in the 1950s and it's the kind of ambitious leadership he promised when running for president.

Here's a reminder of what the president-elect said on Saturday:

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We'll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we'll set a simple rule -- use it or lose it. If a state doesn't act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they'll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

And Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) took to the Senate floor on Monday to immediately support Obama's initiative.

"I believe it's very important to do as President-elect Obama has suggested... You need to invest to try to get the economy moving again," said Dorgan. "And it makes a lot of sense to me to invest in the kinds of things that can produce an asset for the future. We should build roads and bridges and repair infrastructure and schools and libraries and water projects -- the kinds of things that invest in this country's future."

"Because all of that puts American people back to work."

Here's Dorgan:

Of course, Obama will get support from Congressional Democrats -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for up to $500 billion for the package -- and the nation's Governors have expressed rabid enthusiasm at the thought of billions in federal dollars finding its way into their cash-strapped states.

And we also know that after years of supporting hundreds of billions of dollars on George W. Bush's war for nothing in Iraq, the Republican party will balk at anything that will actually help the American people and fall back on their old stand-by of tax cuts for the wealthy trickling down to the little people.

"Anyone who has talked to the American people knows that while they are hurting, they don't believe that more Washington spending is the answer," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner.

But Obama is talking about big stuff here -- calling it "unacceptable" that the U.S. ranks 15th in the world in high-speed-Internet adoption -- and saying that to be competitive he wants every school and library in every state equally wired and connected.

"Every child should have the chance to get online and they'll get that chance when I'm President," said Obama. "Because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

The new Congress starts on January 6th and, while you could argue that Democrats still need some degree of across-the-aisle cooperation to get Obama's plan enacted, a whole bunch of these Republicans need to get reelected in just two short years -- and is this really the kind of Roosevelt-like plan they want to oppose and explain to voters in 2010?

I bet not.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

Comments

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

Herbert Hoover gave all sorts of high-faluting Republican reasons to not lift a finger as the 1929 economy went to hell. He got voted out in 1932. Then FDR came in, gave people jobs that accomplished useful things, and FDR stayed in office sixteen years. In 1936 the Republicans won only two states in the presidential election, for a total of seven electoral votes.

So Republicans, I urge you to often tell Americans that you oppose creating jobs. Herbert Hoover and Alf Landon demand no less of you.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

"Anyone who has talked to the American people knows that while they are hurting, they don't believe that more Washington spending is the answer."

He's using Sarah Palin's definition -- only the people of the Republican base are "American," so "the American people" means "the far-right base, and I don't care about the other people."

(Assuming he even believes what he's saying. Republicans sometimes lie.)

Well, Republicans, if Washington doesn't help us out of this jam, who will? The Chinese? The "wealthy"? After 28 years, we're all still waiting for the wealthy folks to go on a spending spree with their tax-cut money so that wealth can trickle down to the rest of us.

[vote4eugenedebs]

Go ahead, repubs... Vote against jobs. When people can take care of their families after being put to work on public projects after getting canned by private business--see the folks in the sit-down strike in Chicago--and those who are lucky enough to still have jobs see real, tangible, physical things being constructed (a different kind of wealth you can't stash in an offshore account and we all can enjoy, like bridges that don't collapse, faster and easily accessible internet, parks, schools that don't leak, energy that's not counted in barrels), they will learn--actually, relearn--that government can do good, especially when its used by people who both have faith in it and don't use it to line their own pockets. Then your message of big, bad government will fall on deaf ears.

Wait, it seems it already has.

[PATina]

I'm telling you... the Repubs plan on fighting Obama and the Dems every step of the way. And for those of you who think that it's to their own detriment... that really depends on what the Dems do in response. If they act in the typical spineless, "bi-partisan" way.... they will end up watering down the infrastructure programs until they have little effect on the general populace... and then the Republicans will use that to show how the Dems just waste taxpayer dollars. On the other hand... if they STAND UP for what they believe is right and fund it appropriately... they could show the American people just how great it is to have government on their side.

Let the show begin !!!!

[vjoseph]

Why do you think Obama hired pitbull Emanuel for? Its for that kind of BS that he knew was coming

[VikingQuest]

What is the deal with Democrats and light bulbs?

We're talking about some massive spending package and of course light bulbs are part of it . . . GE must have a hand in this some place.

[jorge4u]

This is funny:

"Anyone who has talked to the American people knows that while they are hurting, they don't believe that more Washington spending is the answer," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Clearly, Republicans have not talked to the American people. That's why they lost so many seats. God! They never stop amazing me how much they like to obstruct anything that may benefit anyone other than the 1%.

[timm0]

Obama's making me nervous with this. Demanding that states rush into spending money on infrastructure is a horribly bad idea. It's a practice that has resulted in massive waste already over the last 6 years.

We've sunk hundreds of millions into slapdash "solutions" for national security by way of federal grants after the homeland defense color code system was adopted (priorities...). If some actual planning and thought occurred, it would have been FAR FAR more effectively spent. As it is, whatever ideas were on the table when the money wagon rolled down the street were funded - and many had virtually nothing to do with security.

Bridges should be repaired/replaced - not blindly added to. More lanes = more maintenance and upgrade costs in the future. It is a purely unsustainable approach that was ignored before because we were told that future technology innovations would SURELY reduce these costs over time. After 40 years, it's still oil and stones or concrete... and more expensive than ever.

EVERY reasonable rail and light rail project should take precedence over highway projects. Only exception are bridge repairs.

This is the time to truly FIX transportation problems - not continue doing the same "planning" and building that has fed unsustainable sprawl development and destruction of urban centers. Let's not just throw $500 billion in the air for the sake of the economy, we can't keep throwing more lanes at people complaining about traffic. It's good money after bad.

[dfranz]

The Republicans would make a huge mistake by being obstructionists. The Republican Party is widely blamed for the problems we are experiencing and the Voters have made that perfectly clear that they want something else. This will be a difficult time for the Republicans because they ruled with such impunity in the past. Obama was elected for change and if the Republicans are perceived as the same old same old same old they will pay dearly. As long as the Repubs think they can do things just as they have in the past they will remain the minority party. The Corporate world reaped the benefits of the last 26 years. Now it's time for the ordinary people of the United States to receive some.