Vote Against Infrastructure Repair Also Hurts Job Creation

Last week's vote against the president's Rebuild America Jobs Act could prove perilous given the extent of erosion across every element of our infrastructure. The vote also means that hundreds of thousands of jobs will not be created over the next six years.

Part of a Series

Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

Who condemned America’s infrastructure to further deterioration? And who made sure that hundreds of thousands of unemployed construction and manufacturing workers across our nation remain without decent work? Take a look inside Congress for the culprits.

Last week a minority of conservative senators blocked President Barack Obama’s proposed Rebuild America Jobs Act, which would have created a National Infrastructure Bank to finance anywhere from $50 billion to $500 billion of urgently needed repairs and upgrades to our increasingly dilapidated national infrastructure. This shortsighted vote could prove perilous given the extent of erosion across every element of our infrastructure from roads, to bridges, to rail systems, to our transit networks. The vote also means that hundreds of thousands of jobs will not be created over the next six years.

For more on this topic, please see:

Not Fixing Our Infrastructure, Not Creating Jobs by Donna Cooper

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