Obama Eyes Infrastructure Spending to Stimulate Economy
President-elect Barack Obama may put spending on roads and bridges at the top of his agenda for stimulating U.S. economic growth, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Obama, who won the U.S. presidential election Tuesday, has identified infrastructure as a key way to strengthen the economy, Janet Kavinoky, transportation infrastructure director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told Bloomberg in an interview.
Obama was elected as the U.S. is in, or heading into, a recession that may be the deepest in more than 20 years, and he promised in his campaign to use infrastructure spending to create jobs, Bloomberg said.
He said last month that infrastructure rebuilding, including roads and bridges, could create 2 million jobs, Bloomberg reported.
Norman Mineta, a Democrat who headed the Transportation Department at the beginning of the Bush administration earlier this decade, said he discussed infrastructure needs with Obama during the campaign, Bloomberg reported.
The economic downturn may give Obama and federal lawmakers a reason to make infrastructure spending a high priority, in the model of President Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts following the Great Depression, Leslie Blakey, executive director of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors, told Bloomberg. That group advocates for money for freight projects.
