Senate to Take Up Mysterious ‘Jobs Bill’ — Is Infrastructure in the Mix?
The notion of a “front-loaded” infrastructure bill to counter the rising U.S. unemployment rate has been circulating in Washington for some time, though solid details on such a measure have yet to emerge.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (Photo: LV City Life)The
talk took a new turn yesterday, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(NV) told fellow Democrats that he would call up a “jobs bill” before
the end of the year. From The Hill:
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) told The Hill that Reid (D-Nev.) made the
announcement about a new jobs bill at the Senate Democrats’ weekly
lunch.Reid said he was looking at an initiative focused on job creation “and that our caucus will take it up,” Cardin said.
Reid didn’t specify
what would be in the bill, but he said that it was going to be “one of
the priorities” for the Senate, Cardin added.
The political urgency behind Democrats’ job-creation push is obvious;
the “generic ballot” question, a polling staple that measures support
for congressional re-elections, shifted in favor of the GOP today for the first time in months.
But what’s less clear is how open senators are to the perspective of Reid’s No. 2, Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has emphasized
the importance of new transportation spending, and whether any new
spending would be targeted to repair the nation’s aging roads and
bridges before building new capacity.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) found earlier this year [PDF]
that crumbling, rickety roads cost the average American about $400 a
year in repair and maintenance, with the average city dweller paying
nearly double that amount. Still, a “fix-it-first” rule for
transportation spending is in place in only some states, such as New Jersey and Maryland, and was shot down during this year’s stimulus debate.
Will
transportation reformers and environmental groups publicly press for a
“fix-it-first” approach in the Democrats’ jobs bill, once it
materializes? That may be the million-dollar (or billion-dollar) question.
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