John Garamendi: “Well, if you take a look at Superstorm Sandy--I don't know what they're going to call the storm that is occurring in…”

“Well, if you take a look at Superstorm Sandy--I don't know what they're going to call the storm that is occurring in Colorado, but we're also seeing the necessity to prepare for climate change and these new very strong, very dangerous storms that we now have seen repeated. There's going to be a major infrastructure investment rebuilding Colorado, just as there was a major infrastructure investment in rebuilding the east coast following Superstorm Sandy. As that investment is made, we will see the economy begin to pick up as men and women return to work, if we take--what I think we ought to do is to spend that money on American-made concrete and steel and the like. As we rebuild these necessary infrastructure works we will add to the economic potential of that rebuilding. Now, how are we going to pay for it? Let's get down to what has been, I think, the most common complaint here: oh, you're just going to borrow the money and we're going to run up the deficit. Well, Martin Feldstein was very clear today that if you make an investment in infrastructure, you're going to immediately employ people, and you will be making a major step towards solving the deficit problem. You do that now, he said. Begin that investment now. Yes, you're going to borrow the money, not all of it, and there are ways that we can get, that we'll deal with that. But there is a necessity of enhancing the economy. His suggestion was the infrastructure as one of the principal ways of doing that.…”