It was an honor to join President Obama yesterday at Virginia's largest Recovery Act project, the Fairfax County Parkway Extension. There, we noted the milestones reached since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
- More than 8,000 road projects funded
- Nearly 5,000 road projects underway
- $19.5 billion of the $27 billion available provided to projects
- Largest investment in our nation's infrastructure since President Eisenhower
Projects like the one we visited in Virginia are not only putting the economy back on track by creating tens of thousands of jobs each month. They are also improving safety and convenience for motorists. In congested Northern Virginia, that's a big deal.
As the President said:
"What makes these kinds of projects so important isn’t just that we’re creating so many jobs. It’s that we’re putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done."
Under the leadership of the Obama Administration, we have done a lot of work and put a lot of people back to work in a very short amount of time, but the benefits to our communities of strengthening America's infrastructure will be lasting.
Now, the President is right when he says that "hardworking Americans have borne the brunt of this recession." But he's also right when he credits the Recovery Act for creating jobs and stimulating economic growth that we would not have achieved otherwise.
Together, we are getting the economy moving again.
The President's recovery program has been a rare bright spot for our economy. It is a foundation to build fuller economic recovery on in 2010. The latest report on railroad freight movement shows an increase in freight for the second month in a row and that is another sign of good news because people are buying what is in and on the freight cars. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.
Posted by: Michael E. Bailey | October 19, 2009 at 01:29 AM