Obama and McCain's stances on using stimulus spending to fix America's infrastructure
Series: Blueprint America: The presidential candidates on infrastructure
From: Blueprint America
Length: 00:02:07
Part four of four Blueprint America reports, produced by Channel Thirteen/ WNET, PBS New York, with support from Rockefeller Foundation, of a series about the presidential candidates' views on America's aging infrastructure. In part two, correspondent Rick Karr reports on how Sens. Obama and McCain stand on using stimulus spending to fix the country's aging infrastructure.
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill talk about a stimulus bill that would spend heavily on infrastructure, Karr speaks with former Energy and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain?s senior economic advisor.
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Piece Description
Part four of four Blueprint America reports, produced by Channel Thirteen/ WNET, PBS New York, with support from Rockefeller Foundation, of a series about the presidential candidates' views on America's aging infrastructure. In part two, correspondent Rick Karr reports on how Sens. Obama and McCain stand on using stimulus spending to fix the country's aging infrastructure. As lawmakers on Capitol Hill talk about a stimulus bill that would spend heavily on infrastructure, Karr speaks with former Energy and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain?s senior economic advisor.
Transcript
John McCain and Barack Obama agree that fixing the country's infrastructure will be a priority. Yet neither one's said much about it on the campaign trail. That's probably because the country's fighting two wars ... and an economic slowdown.
17:26 (3 seconds, Holtz)
The discussion of infrastructure has been limited by those events.
That's Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain?s senior economic adviser. He says ... infrastructure projects are too often examples of pork-barrel spending ? gifts from lawmakers to their constituents. Take the case of roads:
7:13 (9 seconds, Holtz)
We have to change the way we do business. Far too often we see our highway monies allocated on the basis of their political benefit and not their economic benefit.
The Obama campaign emphasizes the power of infrastructure spending to create jobs. The centerpiece of the Democratic nominee's proposal is the crea...
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Timing and Cues
HOST INTRO MUST MENTION BLUEPRINT AMERICA.
SUGGESTED HOST INTRO: The collapse of the I-thirty-five-west bridge in Minneapolis-Saint Paul two summers ago sparked a debate on how best to rebuild America's decaying infrastructure. Some experts now estimate that the country needs to invest over one-point-six TRILLION dollars to fix everything that's in need of repair. Now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are debating whether spending to patch up the infrastructure might stimulate the economy. But where do the presidential candidates stand on that idea? In the third part of a series produced by the P-B-S Television project Blueprint America, Rick Karr reports.
