【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 uction workers almost in half since2020, too many are still looking for jobs at a time when weamp。rsquo。ve got so much that we could putthem to work on rebuilding. Weamp。rsquo。ve got ports that arenamp。rsquo。t ready for the next generation ofsupertankers. Weamp。rsquo。ve got more than 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify forMedicare. (Laughter.)
　　Everybody knows, and nobody knows better than Minnesotans, when weamp。rsquo。ve gone through awinter like this, roads are wrecked, full of potholes all across the country. (Applause.)
　　Now, other countries are not waiting to rebuild their infrastructure. Theyamp。rsquo。re trying to outbuild us today so they can outpete us tomorrow. As a percentage of GDP, countries likeChina, Germany, theyamp。rsquo。re spending about twice what weamp。rsquo。re spending in order to buildinfrastructure because they know that if they have the fastest trains on the planet or thehighestrated airports or the busiest, most efficient ports that businesses will go there.
　　But we donamp。rsquo。t want businesses to go there. We want them to e here to Minnesota. (Applause.) We want them to e here to the United States of America. And that means thebest airports and the best roads and the best trains should be right here in America.
　　At a time when panies are saying they intend to hire more people this year, we need tomake that decision easier for them. And we can create jobs at the same time, rebuilding ourtransportation systems, our power grids, our munications networks all the things thatmerce relies on and that help get workers to those jobs.
　　So the bottom line is thereamp。rsquo。s work to be done, workers ready to do it. Rebuilding ourinfrastructure is vital to business. It creates goodpaying jobs that, by the way, cannot beoutsourced. (Applause.) This is one of Congressamp。rsquo。s major responsibilities helping states andcities fund new infrastructure projects. (Applause.)
　　And part of the reason Iamp。rsquo。m focused on this is Congress has an important deadline ingup. If Congress doesnamp。rsquo。t finish a transportation bill by the end of the summer, we could seeconstruction projects stop in their tracks, machines sitting idle, workers off the job.
　　So next week, Iamp。rsquo。m going to send Congress a budget that funds rebuilding ourtransportation infrastructure in a more responsible way by doing it over four years, whichgives cities and states and private investors the certainty they need to plan major like repairing essential highways and bridges。 building new transit systems in fastgrowing cities and munities, so folks who live there can get to work and school every dayand spend less time sitting in traffic. (Applause.) And weamp。rsquo。re going to have to constructsmarter, more resilient transportation systems that can withstand the worst impacts ofclimate change, like bigger surges of water that weamp。rsquo。ve seen in recent floods.
　　So, all told, my transportation budget will support millions of jobs nationwide. And weamp。rsquo。llpay for these investments in part by simplifying the tax code. Weamp。rsquo。re going to close wasteful taxloopholes, lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs here at home, stop rewardingpanies for sending jobs to other countries, use the money we sav