Obama's Weakly Address: America's Infrastructure Needs Repair To Keep 'Recovery' Moving Forward

                               Dung-Shoveler-In-Chief

(The White House) -- Over the past three years, we’ve been clawing our way back from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. And we know it will take longer than any of us would like to fully recover all the jobs and savings that have been lost. But there are things we can do — right now — to help put people back to work and make life a little easier for middle-class families. For months, I’ve been pushing Congress to help us along by passing common-sense policies that would make a difference.

 Democrats and Republicans have already done some important work together — like passing a tax cut that’s allowing working Americans to keep more of their paycheck every week.

But Congress has refused to act on most of the other ideas in my jobs plan that economists say could put a million more Americans back to work. There’s no excuse for inaction.

Right now, we are seven days away from thousands of American workers having to walk off the job because Congress hasn’t passed a transportation bill.

We are eight days away from nearly seven and a half million students seeing their loan rates double because Congress hasn’t acted to stop it. This makes no sense.

We know that one of the most important things we can do for our economy is to make sure that all Americans get the best education possible. Right now, the unemployment rate for Americans with a college degree or more is about half the national average. Their incomes are twice as high as those who don’t have a high school diploma. So, if we know that a higher education is the clearest path to the middle class, why would we make it harder to achieve?

 So much of America needs to be repaired right now. Bridges are deteriorating after years of neglect. Highways are choked with congestion. Transportation delays cost Americans and businesses billions of dollars every year. And there are hundreds of thousands of construction workers who have never been more eager to get back on the job. So why would we let our transportation funding run out? This is a time when we should be doing everything in our power — Democrats and Republicans — to keep this recovery moving forward.

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