Over the weekend, in his weekly address, President Obama stresses the importance of infrastructure investments. Republicans disagree, although one notable GOP figure seems to think Obama's on to something.
"For months, I've been calling on Congress to take half the money we're no longer spending on war and use it to do some nation-building here at home," Obama said. "There's work to be done building roads and bridges and wireless networks. And there are hundreds of thousands of construction workers ready to do it."
And while Republicans generally oppose this kind of talk -- the notion of creating jobs through public investments simply does not compute in the 21st century -- two days after the president's comments, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) took an identical line.
Now, Christie's call for Obama and Congress to invest in infrastructure is almost certainly unrelated to the president's weekly address, but the coincidence is nevertheless striking. Here we have a high-profile Republican governor, and leading surrogate for the Republican presidential candidate, endorsing the Democratic line on spending money and creating jobs.
I guess the question for Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans is, do you agree with Chris Christie about creating jobs through spending public funds?
Of course, there's a related problem: Christie has argued the opposite during his term in office.
You'll recall, for example, that in 2010 he inexplicably rejected federal funds for anew train tunnel planned to relieve congested routes across the Hudson River, widely seen as one of the nation's most important infrastructure projects. Less than a year later, the New Jersey Republican complained about Obama's emphasis on -- you guessed it -- infrastructure investments.
Still, I'm glad to see Christie come around to Obama's position. Whether the GOP will demand penance for his heresy remains to be seen.
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OMG ! Something intelligent and sane from a Republican ??? Remember when this kind of Statesmanship was the goal of Republicans and Democrats both ???
Doing what is best for America and ALL Americans -- we can dream can't we ???
Gad. If and only if, Govt is going to blow money on jobs, infrastructure is better than crony capitalism, green jobs, money to states to support DMV workers, or payroll tax cuts.
Because blowing it on handouts to Big Oil is better than green jobs... at least, to you and the other lackwits who think Exxon is going to just take their ball and go home if we don't give them their welfare.
Seems like the Gov. opposition to infrastructure spending has been fairly to high speed rail and wireless internet. I don't think he has been opposed to spending on roads, bridges, and the like.
Most Republicans aren't oppose to these spending projects, the difference has been on where to get the money.
and just a small tunnel between NY and NJ
think that might fall into spending on roads.
so just more BS as most all teapublicans oppose anything that will help Americans! if not we would be sailing into calmer waters.
Bull. The tunnel Christie rejected (and as evidence has shown, repeatedly lied in his reasons for rejecting it) was a badly-needed tunnel to provide additional capacity for commuter trains, not a high-speed rail project.
While Republicans may talk a good game about supporting highways, the reason little has gotten done is that they insist that any deal include only the things they want. And as for "where to get the money," for all their talk about "running government like a business," any business owner would know that it's nuts to insist on cannibalizing existing programs to get money for capital investment when borrowing costs are at historic lows. This shows that it's not an argument about where to get the money, it's that they don't give a damn about the infrastructure spending, but they know that Democrats want it and they're trying to use that as leverage to get cuts they otherwise can't justify.
Our defense spending is greater than the next 26 nations in the world combined. We have 8 carrier groups - only two other countries have 1 - China now makes 3. Reduce the number of bases we have in foreign countries - do we need 662 bases overseas. Our carrier groups can get anywhere in the world quickly and our sub fleet is well dispersed. Either cut the defense budget or cut foreign aid as it is apparent we have issues at home that need addressing.
Foreign aid is not that big as people think. Defense spending is a big chunk and a lot of defense work being done by contractors supporting the military can be eliminated and replaced by military personnel. This would save a lot of money. But it will not happen because of the amount of defense spending with these contractors. They have scads of lobbyists.
Redshift is correct that it would be very cheap to borrow money for infrastructure spending but Republicans are trying to force drastic cuts in domestic spending and the end of Social Security and Medicare. These two programs represent the greatest Dem achievements of the last century and Ronald Reagan cannot be canonized as the greatest president of the 20th century as long as these programs exist. If SS were eliminated, consider how much money would be handed over to Wall Street and the banks who would charge commissions and then gamble with that money. Second, SS is partially funded by your employer so ending SS would be a windfall to companies who are certainly not going to improve pension plans with those savings.
What a dumb comment.You are better than the crap you just wrote.
USA is in desperate need of mass transit high speed rail and fast wireless internet.We can't even think pass our shallow mindset.
So now that he has switched,where do you think the money will come from?
I'm not saying I agree with the Gov. or not, just that to say he is NOW for infrastructure but was previously against it may not be completely accurate. He seemed to be against some very specific infrastructure.
Not only did Christie reject the tunnel project but he smugly insisted he would use those funds for OTHER projects, only to find out that those funds were specifically tied to THAT project. Rather than admit he goofed, he killed the project anyway, changing his excuse to that NJ would be responsible for any overages, which a: we don't know more federal funds would have been coughed off if the need presented itself and b: even if they didn't materialize from the fed, this was a badly needed project that would have brought more than enough New Yorkers to move into NJ that their state taxes would have paid for it and then some. A real cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face jerk move.
didn't he also mess up Educational funds as well, something about not sending in correct paper work.
guys just a lose, lose for NJ
slappy, if you assessment is true, I am sure the voters of NJ will vote him out.
He's caught the Mitt virus! He's flip-flopping wildly! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!
All we get from the GOP is lip service on these types of issues. His comment plays well to the independents in the run up to the election. Look at the boardwalk video to understand how fast and loose the Christie mouth is.
Never mind that his actions have already shown that all he cares about is to obstruct progress in America because the black president might get some of the credit.
Here's what would happen if Republicans were to take over in Jan. 2013: a call for a big stimulus package to rebuild the infrastructure that the irresponsible Kenyan Keynesian Socialist let crumble during his four years of destroying the country.
Let the vomiting commence.
Right, "fairly to high speed rail and wireless internet."
1) Congestion on the NorthEast Corridor Line is expected to triple within the next decade or so, and as the Line is already overtaxed (no pun intended), we can expect more delays and more labor hours lost due to those delays in the coming years. Christie's cutting of the tunnel project simply will exacerbate an already bad situation.
2) Christie cut the funding because he made a case that it would cost us more than the projected budget. All subsequent studies have shown that he was essentially lying, as the tunnel would come in not costing the exorbitant amount Christie stated it would,
3) Christie used the money from the tunnel budget to close the budget surplus - essentially taking money allocated for one thing and simply diverting it to something that would make him look good. Additionally, the money he diverted was Federal money, not state money. So if you live outside New jersey, he used your money to fix his budget problem.
4) Wireless internet - So the new GOP mantra is that we protect corporations who charge an arm and a leg to do something instead of allowing communities to do something whihc comes in cheaper and works better? Corporate profits over common good? Really?
You know what else gets me about that tweet from Christie (besides the breathtaking hypocrisy of a governor who destoyed a major infrastructure project) -- Christie PRETENDS that the President hasn't called for infrastructure investment from the earliest days of his presidency, and he pretends his own party in Congress hasn't systematically squashed every bit of proposed infrastructure funding that's been proposed by the President. Infrastructure is a large part of the American Jobs Act that Republicans refuse to vote to implement, and yet, here's Christie - as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, calling for the Prez to do what he's already done - lay out a plan for investing in infrastructure.
He'll have to "clarify" that, obviously, now that the White House tricked him by endorsing his idea.
He's crying "Uncle" after turning down funds to construct the tunnel to Manhattan just two years ago? Could the Wall of Jericho finally be tumbling down? "Enough with the austerity already" for even conservatives?
Christie does have a problem with his patience, doesn't he? Four years of denying this President any concessions on stimulus spending so he could fail isn't working for all Republicans in this election in swing states.
You always see the cracks at the state level first except with the Dixiecrats. Scott, Jindal, and Perry believe the masses need to be punished. God and greed decrees it.
Glad to see that someone in the GOP has finally said something that makes sense. I'm marking this day on my calendar.
"Spend it on infrastructure". Seems he just ran out of characters cos he wanted to say "Spend on infrastructure that is politically good for me".
He would be stupid to complain about funds for pothole repair, bridge repair and the like.... OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES SUCK!!!!
If he actually DID complain about that spending in NJ, he wouldn't make it past the primary next year (when he is up for re-election)...
This morning it took me half an hour for my Amtrak train to get from Secaucus to Penn Station in New York City because the tunnel was backed up, and there are only two tunnels (one into NYC, one out). That trip should take less than five minutes. Governor Christie contributed to the ongoing damage to our economy by killing the construction of a third tunnel, which would help alleviate such delays and improve our country's economic competitiveness in the long run, in addition to the obvious benefits (i.e., immediate jobs) such projects have in the short run. The irony of his request for infrastructure spending is not lost on those of us hurt by his behavior.
I kind of remember the hypocrite that is Chris Christie killing that NJ-NY tunnel project. Wasn't that infrastructure???