Tom Harkin: “later this week--I assume sometime tomorrow--the Senate is expected to vote on the Rebuild America Jobs Act. This is a…”

“later this week--I assume sometime tomorrow--the Senate is expected to vote on the Rebuild America Jobs Act. This is a practical, commonsense piece of legislation that does two urgent and important things: It will help to modernize America's crumbling infrastructure, and it will help to put Americans back to work and get our economy going again. Not surprisingly, this bill enjoys overwhelming popular support among the American people. Every day, Americans see the infrastructure crisis with their own eyes. They see interstate highways increasingly overwhelmed--potholes everywhere. They see bridges and overpasses that are structurally unsound and in danger of collapse. Need I mention the gridlock in some of our major cities because of inadequate roadways and access points for automobiles? China and Brazil are building world- class seaports, while ours are left over from early in the last century. We know we need to make major Federal investments in modernizing America's infrastructure, so why not do it now, at a time when our Nation is suffering from the most protracted period of joblessness since the Great Depression. The construction sector is the hardest hit part of our economy. We can put those people back to work renewing our infrastructure and, again, as I said, boosting our economy. Why aren't we doing this?…”