Not Just About Jobs

Katz and Puentes write, "[T]he pressure for jobs in the near term is intense. At minimum we should focus any additional investments on repairing the nation's existing crumbling infrastructure, helping transit agencies avoid drastic cutbacks in their workforce and their service, and holding the states and metropolitan entities responsible for their performance.

But to truly produce real prosperity, federal leadership, as with the interstates in the 1950s, is more necessary than ever and should advance an updated vision identifying strategic, transformative infrastructure investments of critical importance to national economic competitiveness. That vision should include robust plans for freight movement, the electric grid, and water infrastructure across state borders and between metropolitan areas."