Obama to outline plan to fix crumbling roads, rail, bridges

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama will fly to St. Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday to propose a four-year, $302 billion plan to create jobs by fixing the nation's crumbling roads, bridges, rail and transportation infrastructure.

Congress faces a September 30 deadline to renew federal funding for transportation programs, a deadline that has made state governors concerned about planning projects that typically run through September and into the fall months.

Obama will propose ending some tax breaks to provide a one-time $150 billion infusion of cash into transportation funding, the White House said.

....

Obama has long called for using savings from tax reform to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which relies on an 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax on gasoline to pay for the federal share of spending on roads. But it seems unlikely that a major tax overhaul could pass Congress in an election year.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/us-usa-transportation-obama-idUSBREA1P0MO20140226

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Republicans plan to counter offer: no money for roads but slashing food stamps and social security instead.

[SummerSnow]

1. Why are Republicans even here? They serve no purpose.

Can't wait until they lose the House and the Whitehouse again.

[myrna minx]

2. I can't believe it's already 6.5 years since our I-35 Bridge collapse.

I'm grateful that the President is coming here to highlight the need to care for our crumbling infrastructure. We have the money to do this.

[Botany]

6. Rule # 23

You don't use a bridge until it breaks.

[deutsey]

8. I happened to be there on a business trip when this happened

My hotel room actually overlooked the scene. I could see the first responders around the edge of where the bridge used to be. Reporters would do their live reports on the top level of the parking garage right below the window of my room.

Not to sound melodramatic, but I could've been on that bridge when it collapsed. My co-workers and I had just decided to go out to dinner that evening (we had just checked into our rooms an hour or so earlier) and we would've had to cross the bridge to get to the restaurant we had chosen.

[pangaia]

3. "...ending some tax breaks ...'' on whom, what?

[AllyCat]

4. You mean fixing our infrastructure might create jobs and spur the economy?

Whooda thunk it??

They tax the gasoline to use the system, so lets use that money to repair the system...great idea!

And the Republicans offer...(crickets. cut crickets)

[azurnoir]

5. and we could use it too along with many other places n/t

[deutsey]

7. We've needed something like this for a while now

I'm also wondering what tax breaks will be ended, but I hope this gets through. I think the same should be done to help protect people against the fallout of climate change (in particular, along the coasts and in the heartland--e.g., tornadoes), assuming that's even possible now.

[ProfessorPlum]

9. About F*ing Time, Obama

[Divernan]

11. Agreed. We needed this in 2008 as much as we need it now.

Just like legislation, Presidential initiatives may need years and repeated introductions to build up momentum for majority Congressional support. Hope he's not too late on this one.

[dipsydoodle]

15. I was thinking "so soon" too.

In a similar fashion both Cameron, Brown and Blair conveniently ignored updating of the UK's flood defenses until it was too late.

[ieoeja]

16. Sorry you had to wait until 2009 for the stimulus.

But then Bush was unlikely to do it in 2008.

As long as we are on the topic, I would like again to thank all the states that refused their share of the stimulus money. Illinois and Wisconsin are currently replacing every railroad bridge between Chicago and Milwaukee thanks in part to the extra money we received due to other states' refusals.

[bigdarryl]

17. He has been calling for infastructure since his first term

It's not his fault Congress holds the money to do this he can only propose.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

19. I've been asking for this since Clinton ...

Back when the economy was in better shape and Freespan was talking about fears of PAYING off our national debt *TOO QUICKLY*.

Jesus, best time to dig a well is while you still have water. Our roads and bridges were already hurting 20 years ago.

And the dams and electrical grid are in even worse shape.

[ProfessorPlum]

28. has he, though?

Rachel Maddow has been making much more noise, and much more sense, about infrastructure than Obama has.

It's his deafening silence on this issue, which should have been a drumbeat, that made me notice the headline in the first place.

[sdfernando]

22. Come on, you know better than that.

Congress, or more exactly the House of Representatives, has been the one keeping this from happening. President Obama has pushed this since his first term. Congress owns this not the President.

[FSogol]

10. K & R. n/t

[Kelvin Mace]

12. Simple solution

Cut Pentagon budget for new weapon systems 25%. Cut all subsidies to oil, coal, gas and nuclear industries. Charge a realistic rate for leases of public land with escalating fees if the land is not actually used.

That should raise about $100 billion a year.

[riversedge]

13. Potholes are already horrible this year!

[riversedge]

14. "will also announce more funding for the federal grant competition that helped fund St. Paul’s newly

Minneapolis is into light rail--expanding to St. Paul. Good things happening in MN vs WI.


http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/247227101.html



Obama to unveil $300 billion transportation infrastructure plan

Article by: COREY MITCHELL , Star Tribune
Updated: February 26, 2014 - 8:10 AM

The president also plans to announce more funding for the federal grant competition that helped fund the renovation of St. Paul’s Union Depot.

24
comments



Washington – During his visit to St. Paul on Wednesday, President Obama will unveil plans for a burst of spending on transportation and infrastructure projects, a proposal the White House says will save middle class jobs and provide an overdue investment in the country’s foundation.

Obama will detail his four-year $302 billion proposal that calls for building, fixing or maintaining thousands of miles of roads and rail lines. The president wants to use revenue from closing tax loopholes to raise the necessary funds.

The president will also announce more funding for the federal grant competition that helped fund St. Paul’s newly renovated Union Depot, which will serve as the backdrop for his visit. After a $243 million renovation, the Union Depot reopened late in 2012 as a new transit hub that will handle buses, light rail, taxis, bicycles and passenger trains.......

[Auggie]

18. I wonder if this what he met Boner about yesterday?

[Aristus]

20. Damned socialist highways, railroads, bridges and stuff...

We rugged individualists need to get out there with shovels and each of us, all alone, needs to build our OWN roads and bridges and things to get to work and for recreation and stuff like that. That's real American know-how and initiative! None of these government roads for us, no sir! It's in the Constitution1 And the Bible! And...and...and...well, I guess that's about it...

[AlbertCat]

21. Railroads don't need fixing.... they need major upgrading.

I got caught at the RR crossing the other day....1st in line.... and as I watched the big clunky train lumber by with old box cars covered in graffiti, I thought: "This scene is exactly the same as when I was 7 years old." I'm 57. I bet it looked the same in the 1930's.

The US is a joke when it comes to trains/1st world counties.

[awoke_in_2003]

23. Too bad the fuckheads

in the house will kill it.

On edit: then they will blame Obama for the crumbling infrastructure.

[Botany]

24. They killed Donna Edwards' "Green Storm Water Management" program

http://donnaedwards.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=270:reps-edwards-carnahan-driehaus-introduce-green-water-infrastructure-bill-that-will-create-jobs-reduce-costs&catid=6&Itemid=39

one of the best ideas I have ever seen ..... lots of good jobs, less pollution, cleaner water ways and oceans,
less flooding, less erosion, tons of carbon sequestration, and much more supportive ecosystem .... I cried
when I first saw it but it was killed by those "fucktards."

I think the democrats road to take back the house is to show the American people just how anti American
the republicans really are.

[notundecided]

25. Repugs say not real jobs

effing roadcrew jobs.

[Politicalboi]

26. Only "real jobs" are

Building tubes to carry sludge across the states in the eyes of the GOP.

[MindMover]

27. Tax the oil companies that want to continue selling us dinosaur fuels ....