As the collapse of the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi Bridge so painfully demonstrated last summer, the state of our national infrastructure is in pitiful shape, and is getting worse everyday. While I appreciate the gesture of sending each and every taxpayer a check for $600 later this year, I would much rather see a long-term solution to the nation's woes by killing two birds with one stone. Let's get millions of people working on the thousands of infrastructure projects that are just waiting across the country.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the current cost of repairing our failing roads, sewers and bridges in this country is about $1.6 trillion dollars. This is approximately the same amount of money that we've spent on that God-forsaken war in Iraq!
Back in 1932, Franklin Roosevelt met The Great Depression head on by creating the CCC, the greatest investment in the infrastructure of the United States, ever. We need that type of vision and investment in our country once again. There is a whole generation of young people who need these jobs, who need a way to serve their country without going to war.
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