The Hill News

It’s an election year and every presidential and congressional candidate will crisscross the country over the coming months, asking citizens for their votes. These candidates will travel thousands of miles on U.S. roads and bridges, passing U.S. manufacturing plants where hardworking men and women lucky enough to have jobs are producing made-in-America equipment that must get to market. With each jarring pothole hit and every deteriorating bridge crossed, these politicians will brainstorm policies about ways to create more jobs for their next town hall speech.

If it isn’t painfully obvious during their travels that our early-20th century infrastructure can’t keep pace with modern-day demands of traffic, then voter polling should be the flashing yellow light getting their attention. Voters across the nation strongly believe that rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads, bridges and highways is essential to the future of our economy and the creation of! U.S. jobs. In fact, a recent nationwide poll shows that most voters â€"a solid 65% - would be more inclined to vote for a presidential candidate with a strong position on rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. Even 60% of voters who self-identify as fiscally conservative believe this is exactly the type of work the federal government should be doing. And for those who look closely they will find the bill has no earmarks, is paid for, does not raise taxes and is a significant transition to reform a federal program by eliminating and consolidating outdated programs. In short, it satisfies all the concerns that budget hawks have expressed. This bill should be a unifier in Congress and a road map for responsible and wise investment-oriented spending.

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