White House Backs $50B For ‘Merit-Based Infrastructure Investment’

President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new
transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in
Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and
ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure
investment that leverages federal dollars."

President Obama gave a high-profile jobs speech today. (Photo: NYT)

During his speech in Washington, Obama revisited his past acknowledgment of the trade-off
between the goals of creating transportation jobs quickly and focusing
on projects that substantially improve America's built environment. 

"I recognize that by their nature these projects often take time, and
will therefore create jobs over time," Obama said. "But the need for jobs will also
last beyond next year, and the benefits of these investments will last
years beyond that."

Obama
offered no details on the costs of his new economic recovery effort,
which also includes rebates for energy-efficient home retrofits (the
so-called "cash for caulkers"
concept) and tax incentives for small businesses. But a senior
administration official told reporters after the speech that the
infrastructure portion of Obama's jobs proposal is expected to cost $50
billion.

The administration also suggested that it would seek
to offset the new legislation with repaid financial bailout money,
running counter to a report
this morning that the White House would be limited in its ability to
use funds from Wall Street's Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

But
as Congress sifts through lengthy -- and so far non-specific -- lists
of "ready-to-go" projects from highway and transit planners, the day's
biggest transportation reform news came buried in a White House release
outlining details of its plan. Under the infrastructure section of the
jobs bill, the White House stated:

The $1.5 billion TIGER grant program, added to this year's first stimulus law as a means to promote competitive and accountable transportation decision-making, has attracted $57 billion in applications from the states. Many TIGER grant proposals feature transit, bike-sharing, freight rail, and other cleaner transport modes.

The
administration's release offered no proposals for how merit-based
project selection would play into the jobs bill, but several
transportation industry players have proposed an expansion of the TIGER grants.

Two
senior Democratic senators, Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (CT)
and transit panel chief Robert Menendez (NJ), said they would press to
make sure transit played a substantial role in the jobs bill.

"Rail
modernization investments in a jobs bill will create jobs, and reliable transit
systems will help create economic growth and better public safety in the long
run," the duo said in a statement after today's House hearing on safety.

Republican
reaction to the president's jobs speech was largely negative, with GOP
leaders warning of the rising federal deficit and pointing to the
already-approved stimulus money that remains unspent. Of the nearly $48
billion in transportation investment authorized by the first stimulus,
the U.S. DOT has reported spending $6.5 billion.

The
prospect of using TARP money for new economic legislation met with
particular condemnation from the GOP. House Minority Leader John
Boehner (R-OH) released a statement accused Obama of turning the
bailout into a "slush fund" and called for repaid Wall Street aid to
"be used for deficit reduction, not more of the same ‘stimulus’
spending."

Late Update: Laura Barrett, executive director of
the Transportation Equity Network, said in a statement that the new
jobs bill should ensure that minority workers get equal access to
economic recovery contracts: