Wednesday's Words with the President

President Barack Obama and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx tour a light rail facility in St. Paul, Minn. on Feb. 26.  (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Last week, President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive transportation plan, which would invest $302 billion over four years to improve America's infrastructure.  Below are excerpts from the speech he gave in Minnesota about the proposal.

"As a percentage of GDP, countries like China, Germany, they're spending about twice what we're spending in order to build infrastructure -- because they know that if they have the fastest trains on the planet or the highest-rated airports or the busiest, most efficient ports that businesses will go there.

But we don't want businesses to go there. We want them to come here to Minnesota. We want them to come here to the United States of America.  And that means the best airports and the best roads and the best trains should be right here in America.   

Next week, I'm going to send Congress a budget that funds rebuilding our transportation infrastructure in a more responsible way -- by doing it over four years, which gives cities and states and private investors the certainty they need to plan major projects. Projects like repairing essential highways and bridges; building new transit systems in fast-growing cities and communities, so folks who live there can get to work and school every day and spend less time sitting in traffic. And we're going to have to construct smarter, more resilient transportation systems that can withstand the worst impacts of climate change, like bigger surges of water that we’ve seen in recent floods. 

So, all told, my transportation budget will support millions of jobs nationwide. And we’ll pay for these investments in part by simplifying the tax code. We’re going to close wasteful tax loopholes, lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs here at home, stop rewarding companies for sending jobs to other countries, use the money we save in this transition to create good jobs with good wages rebuilding America. It makes sense." 

-President Barack Obama 

For more information about the President's plan, click here.