President Obama proposed a $50 billion plan Monday to fix roads, rail lines and airport runways, part of an effort to deal with high unemployment less than two months before pivotal congressional elections.
"This will not only create jobs immediately, it's also going to make our economy hum over the long haul," Obama said in outlining the plan to union members at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee. The announcement came less than a week after the U.S. Labor Department reported a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, now at 9.6%
The White House is planning several jobs initiatives leading into the Nov. 2 elections. On Wednesday in Cleveland, Obama is scheduled to propose an extension of tax credits for business owners who invest in research and development.
Questions about the economy also are likely to surface Friday, when Obama holds a news conference at the White House.
Republicans hope to win control of the U.S. House and Senate by blaming the poor economy on Obama's policies, and they called Monday's announcement more of the same.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the roads, rails and runways plan is a "doubling down" on the $862 billion White House stimulus plan that he dubbed a failure, given the high rate of joblessness. "We don't need more government stimulus spending, we need to end Washington Democrats' out-of-control spending spree," Boehner said.
Obama spoke at length about the campaign Monday, mocking Boehner as "the man who thinks he's going to be (House) speaker." The president said GOP members have worked against his economic initiatives because "they just think it's better to score political points before an election than to solve problems."
The infrastructure plan will help the economy in long run by making it easier to transport goods, Obama said, while creating construction jobs in the near term. It calls for ambitious six-year goals, building or repairing 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of rail lines, and 150 miles of airplane runways.
The plan also includes a new air-traffic-control system designed to reduce flight delays, and an "infrastructure bank" that will help determine the worthiest projects.
The president did not mention costs, but a White House fact sheet cites an "up-front investment" of $50 billion. The White House did not release an estimate of how many jobs the proposal would create.