Obama Calls for $50 Billion Spending on Public Works

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times

06 September 10

President Obama, looking for ways to jump-start the sagging economy and create new jobs, called on Congress on Monday to approve a far-reaching plan to rebuild and modernize the nation's transportation networks - roads, rail and airport runways - over the next six years.

With Democrats facing increasingly bleak re-election prospects, Mr. Obama used a Labor Day visit to a union festival here to lay out the plan, which the White House says could begin creating jobs as early as 2011 if Congress moves quickly. But prospects for a hasty passage seem unlikely, given that lawmakers have only a few weeks before they go home to campaign and Republicans have little interest in giving Democrats any pre-election legislative victories.

"Over the next six years," Mr. Obama promised "we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads - that's enough to circle the world six times; that's a lot of road. We're going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways - enough to stretch coast-to-coast. We're going to restore 150 miles of runways and advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers - I think everybody can agree on that."

Mr. Obama vowed that the plan, which would include work on high-speed rail lines, would be "fully paid for" and not add to the deficit.