Ruthann Baler

In rebuilding America’s infrastructure, President-Elect Obama wants to do more than repair crumbling roads, bridges, and tunnels. As part of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, his vision is to implement projects with cleaner, alternative forms of energy, which will not only jump-start the construction industry but lay the foundation for a clean energy economy. This stimulus package, he says, will in part, “double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, modernize more than 75 percent of federal buildings, and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.

“Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges, and schools by eliminating the backlog of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects. But we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy. That means updating the way we get our electricity by starting to build a new smart grid that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation,” he said in a speech last week.

By merging much-needed infrastructure projects with alternative energy programs, Obama is positioning the country to effectively utilize its greatest resources at home and efficiently plan for a stronger, safer, and sustainable economy.

In order for the construction industry and other vital sectors of the country to move forward, however, the financial clock is ticking.

An estimated two-thirds of the nation’s non-residential construction companies are planning to cut their payrolls, according to new employment and business forecast figures released Jan. 8 by the Associated General Contractors of America. Those layoffs are forecast to result in a 30 percent decline in the number of people working on construction projects.

“Unless the business climate changes significantly and soon, the construction sector will continue to experience the kind of devastating job losses and crippling declines in business activity that will undermine efforts to end the recession,” said Stephen Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. However, the association said planned investments in infrastructure projects as part of the stimulus package is likely to dramatically improve the employment and business outlook for the year. For example, 85 percent of non-residential construction companies would either cancel layoffs or add new employees if states embarked on stimulus-funded infrastructure projects.

Obama has not yet provided specifics on the total funding of the stimulus package, saying, ”the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation.There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short-term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan won’t just throw money at our problems—we’ll invest in what works. I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs.”

Let’s hope when Obama takes office next Tuesday, Congress will swiftly pass a plan that strategically and intelligently invests in our future – one that so far makes the most sense in moving America forward.