Posted on 07/25/2013 4:26:01 AM PDT by onyx
President Obama will push for new infrastructure projects and investments as he hits the road again Thursday, traveling this time to Jacksonville, Fla., for his third consecutive speech on the economy.
The event at the city's port comes fresh on the heels of the president's much-hyped economic address Wednesday in Illinois, where he claimed credit for the economic recovery and argued that his progressive economic policies would benefit the middle class.
He also challenged congressional Republicans, daring them to propose alternative solutions to aid in the recovery and accusing them of obsessing over "phony scandals" for short-term political gain.
Obama will continue to target the GOP in his speech Thursday, according to a White House official.
"While in Jacksonville, the president will continue to talk about the cornerstones of middle-class security and discuss specifically how the House Republican budget approach poses a risk to the progress we’ve made in each area, including jobs, education, housing, and healthcare," the official said.
The White House chose the port as the site of the speech because it is home to two projects — a container terminal and a rail yard — that the administration expedited last year as part of a broader infrastructure push.
"Expediting permitting projects through executive action is just one example of how the president can and will act through his own authority to promote our economic progress, while still pushing Congress to pass legislation to grow the economy and create jobs," the White House official said.
In his speech in Illinois on Wednesday, Obama said his remarks would "offer new ideas for doing what America has always done best, which is building things."
"We’ve got ports that aren’t ready for the new supertankers that are going to begin passing through the new Panama Canal in two years’ time," Obama said. "If we don’t get that done, those tankers are going to go someplace else."
The president made a similar visit to the Port of Miami in March, when he touted a series of tax breaks and loans designed to stimulate private investment in infrastructure. He also called on Congress to fund a $10 billion infrastructure bank to aid in those efforts.
At the time, House Republicans said they also wanted to upgrade the nation's roads and bridges — if the costs were offset in other parts of the federal budget.
“It’s easy to go out there and be Santa Claus and talk about all the things you want to give away,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said. “But at some point, somebody has to pay the bill.”
Before speaking in Jacksonville, the president and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will tour the container terminal that was expedited under executive order.
I agree with all of that—but why should he listen to anyone outside his own district? We cannot affect his election.
Sure is, isn't it? Thanks for reading that link, YM.
"In signing your name, you are giving up your life and risking so much, but in the end, life is what you gain...."
No one wants to die, not even the Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence. But even they - "the rich and privileged white" -- recognized that sacrificing 30 pieces of silver and all of the wealth THIS world offers means nothing in the next world. That is the Big Picture. And THAT is why the Christian ethic of the Founders was so very crucial to the establishment of this Republic.
Jesus tells us that if you wish to save your life, you will lose it, and if you give up your life for His sake, you will gain it (Matthew 16:25).
Because we are all Americans?
Boehner you and I -- aren't we ALL still American patriots trying to stave off national disaster and becoming a Banana Republic?
Only Boehner has been given the power and clout to help right a ship that's far off course and astray. Should he recognize the situation and act accordingly? Yet all he's done since becoming Speaker is work to sabotage the Republic along with the Marxist.
Our 'representatives' today don't have the character to even come close [to that of the Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence].
What a magnificent source of great pride and inspiration; But also a source of heartbreak and shame given out current unprincipled crop of "Statesmen."
LOL! Please.
He's a politician before he's an American--they all are. None of them care about anything "the little people" have to say unless we claim voting powers--and then they'll only give lip service because one vote really doesn't amount to much.
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