Tom Harkin: “I thank the Senator. Investments such as these, investments such as what Abraham Lincoln did or what Eisenhower did or…”

“I thank the Senator. Investments such as these, investments such as what Abraham Lincoln did or what Eisenhower did or Franklin Roosevelt did, investments that were led by Lyndon Baines Johnson to educate our workforce and to retrain our workforce, to make sure every child had a good education in America, all of these helped people who were unemployed, helped them to get jobs, helped them to become taxpayers, and it set the stage for economic growth in our country. To me, the most obvious and quickest way to dramatically ramp up our Federal investments in infrastructure is to pass this jobs bill. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that America faces a $2.2 trillion infrastructure backlog. Bringing the U.S. infrastructure into the 21st century would rapidly create millions of private sector jobs, especially in the hard-hit construction industry, while modernizing our arteries and veins of commerce. There could be no economic recovery without robust, forward-thinking investments to boost our competitiveness and put people back to work. This means to invest in education, innovation, the infrastructure in America. It means restoring a level playing field with fair taxation, a good ladder of opportunity to give every American the education they need to gain decent employment and achieve the American dream. Again, it is all wrapped up in the Rebuild America Jobs Act that we will be voting on here tomorrow.…”