[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16659]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO REBUILD INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, jobs is the most important issue this House 
can deal with. And it's been said in the past that there are two things 
that are bipartisan: defense budgets and infrastructure budgets, 
transportation.
  Historically, we've gotten together on transportation and we've had a 
transportation bill and we've developed a great infrastructure that 
made this country the country that it is. No longer is America the top 
nation in the globe on infrastructure; it's countries in Asia and other 
places. We're 15th on the list on infrastructure.
  The President's got a jobs bill that will put $50 billion into roads 
and bridges, infrastructure, and put people to work--25,000 people for 
$1 billion of investment go to work.
  Ray LaHood, a Republican Member of this House when I started, now the 
Secretary of Transportation, said yesterday that the Republican side--
or at least some part of it--is not here to get things done, that 
they're here only to defeat this President, and they need to pass the 
bill to put people to work and improve infrastructure.
  I agree with Secretary LaHood. Let's work for America together, let's 
be bipartisan, and let's rebuild our infrastructure.

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