On the recordSeptember 20, 2012
This week, The Washington Post reported that unless America doubles its spending on port infrastructure, we are on track for export losses of $270 billion by 2020 because our ports do not have sufficient capacity. That translates into a $697 billion drop in the American economy and a loss of 738,000 jobs. But ports are not the only area where our anemic infrastructure investment has become a drag on the American economy. We will lose hundreds of billions of dollars of growth over the next 5 years because of our inability to move goods and people efficiently. Congress just passed a bill to spend $52 billion on roads and bridges in this country, all we can afford according to some Members of Congress. But somehow we found money to spend $150 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of Iraq and Afghanistan. I have introduced a bill, a 5-year, $1.2 trillion investment in roads and bridges, ports, and transit airports because it's time to do nation-building right here at home. ____________________
