Obama urges more federal spending on infrastructure
WASHINGTON — President Obama urged Republican lawmakers Thursday to approve billions of dollars in new federal spending on roads, bridges and ports as he continued for a second day to try to build momentum for his stalled economic proposals.
Speaking at the port in Jacksonville, Fla., Obama laid out a broad case for spending on infrastructure, arguing that it would ripple through the economy, boost the still-struggling middle class and make U.S. businesses more competitive.
“If we don’t make the necessary investments to ensure that America’s a magnet for good jobs — investments in education, manufacturing, research, and transportation and information networks — we’re just waving the white flag of surrender to other countries as they forge ahead in this global economy,” Obama said.
The president offered no new proposals or strategies for passing his familiar plans through a Republican-led House that has rejected such spending for two years.
Obama’s remarks were part of a new White House effort to return to economic themes after months of focus on immigration, leak investigations, upheaval in the Middle East and other issues.
As he did Wednesday, when he launched the new push in Illinois and Missouri, Obama said he would outline more detailed plans in the weeks to come and vowed not to wait for Congress.
“The world can’t wait for Congress to get its act together,” he said.
Obama’s visit to Jacksonville was intended to highlight his previous attempt to speed up infrastructure projects without congressional consent.
Last year, as part of his “We can’t wait” initiative, Obama ordered federal agencies to expedite a study of the environmental impact of a project to deepen the port to handle super-sized cargo tankers.
Obama’s move cut 14 months off the review process, according to the Florida Ports Council, but the Army Corps of Engineers did not meet the president’s April 2013 goal for completing the study.
“Apparently we can wait,” said Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said he would introduce legislation to authorize such water projects and streamline the environmental review process.
Ports around the country will be competing for the supertanker traffic starting in 2015, when the Panama Canal is expected to complete its expansion.
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, North America’s largest cargo complex, didn’t wait for Congress. They already are accommodating the world’s biggest container ships, after starting two years ago to dredge where needed and spend $6 billion on new piers, wharves and rail yards in a bid to secure their positions as the nation’s top two ports.
“If we’ve got more supertankers coming here, that means more jobs at the terminals. That means more warehouses in the surrounding area. That means more contractors are getting jobs setting up those warehouses. That means they’ve got more money to spend at the restaurant. That means the waitress has more money to spend to buy her iPod,” Obama said. “It starts working for everybody.”
Legislation in the Senate would help pay for upgrades to ports, as well as bridges, roads and other infrastructure projects. The Senate transportation funding bill would increase spending by $2.3 billion in fiscal 2014. The House version proposes cuts of $7.7 billion.
House Republicans called Obama’s remarks another misguided attempt to use costly stimulus spending to boost the economy, saying that peeling back federal regulation, expanding energy exploration and cutting taxes would do more.
“It should be clear that government borrowing and spending isn’t how you build a durable economic recovery and create lasting jobs,” said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
The familiar back-and-forth foreshadowed another budget battle set to begin in the fall, when lawmakers must pass legislation to keep the government operating past Sept. 30 by voting to raise the nation’s debt ceiling or risk default.
Obama’s remarks Thursday indicated he was primed to take a hard line in the debt-limit debate.
“Threatening that you won’t pay the bills in this country when we’ve already racked up those bills, that’s not an economic plan,” Obama said. “You know, that’s just being a deadbeat.”
