Every morning, thousands of people in the Boston area drive over bridges that have been deemed structurally unsound. Fixing these bridges seems like a no brainer — it puts people to work and addresses a public safety problem. So why might Senator Scott Brown vote against it?
The ‘Rebuild America’ Jobs Act would create 11,000 jobs in Massachusetts – investing $850 million to repair crumbling roads, bridges and railways across the Commonwealth. Seventy-two percent of Americans support rebuilding our infrastructure, including a majority of Republicans*. Even the US Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO have come together to endorse key provisions in the bill.
So will Scott Brown do the right thing for Massachusetts when the bill comes to the Senate floor today? Or will he side yet again with the Republican leadership in Washington and vote to kill jobs?
Mitch McConnell would certainly prefer the latter. But with public pressure mounting for immediate action on job creation, Brown’s vote is difficult to predict.
One thing is certain: Brown’s Bay State constituents – both employed and unemployed – will be watching. And we will hold him accountable.
Take action today. Call Scott Brown’s office at (617) 565-3170 and tell him to support the Rebuild America Jobs Act and click here to sign our petition calling on Scott Brown to STOP voting against jobs.
**PUTTING TODAY’S EXPECTED VOTE INTO CONTEXT**
Thomas Donohue – President & CEO, US Chamber of Commerce:
“As our nation’s infrastructure continues to crumble around us, Americans wonder why our government doesn’t act…they want their elected officials to spend money wisely and on things that are essential to the economy and jobs. “
Ray LaHood – Transportation Secretary and former Republican Congressman:
“…opposition to the infrastructure portions of President Obama’s jobs bill in the Senate will be based on ‘politics,’ not the merits of the proposal.”
Mick Cornett – Oklahoma City Mayor and President, Republican Mayors & Local Officials Conference:
“Mayors see up close the deferred maintenance that’s going on in nation’s cities…it’s just a ticking time bomb. We also know that it puts people to work.”
It’s not like the state is spending the money on the purported purpose. In fact. Patrick is lobbying to not have to return money unspent from the last infrastructure jobs program, remember?
Is this a vote against JOBS? Or against more money to the Commonwealth that doesn’t CREATE any jobs?
And why – other than union intervention – is this the only category of workers that the adminsitration is worried about? There are a finite number of people who own cement trucks – like P.A. Landers, convicted of overbilling the state for fraudulent jobs…..
Why don’t you give that one to Scott Brown, sounds like a winner.
Gov Patrick is doing a find job spending the money. He’s spending it on its intended purpose, and doing so purposefully — making sure that the most in-need bridges all across the Commonwealth are being repaired. I ride my bicycle across one of ’em twice a day, and eagerly await the completion of the work.
I’m willing to bet that everyone working on those bridges — the union laborers, ironworkers, etc., the non-union management, the non-union architects, the non-union civil engineers, the union police officers, and the union and non-union people who work to mine, design, manufacture, and deliver all of the input materials all draw paychecks, and work more hours because of the work on the bridges. How can that *not* be considered a job stimulus?
Now, is it the only category of job stimulation? Nope. Remember that idea of the Federales giving more money to states to maintain their staffing of firefighters, police officer,s and teachers? Then, when that money ran out (thanks, GOP!), those employees were laid off? How is that not A1 evidence that ARRA was a job stimulus?
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Let’s call it what it is. The GOP wasn’t opposed to spending on the infrastructure one way or another. The GOP was opposed to paying for it with a tax on the mega-rich. Had Obama offered to fund it with budget cuts to the EPA or IRS, the GOP would have jumped on it. Infrastructure isn’t a priority for the GOP, high or low. It’s a mechanism to accomplish their goals — and their goal is most certainly not higher taxes on the rich.
Didn’t you hear that the stimulus was a failure that didn’t create any jobs? Now you’re just muddling everything up with annoying facts that, while on their face incontrovertible, are nonetheless inadmissible because they contradict what porcupine and the rest of the gang want you to believe. Because if people started paying attention to actual facts, they might realize that the bill that the Senate (including Brown) just filibustered would *gasp* create jobs. And we can’t have that.