George Frey/Bloomberg NewsThe White House on Wednesday outlined a set of infrastructure proposals, including $40 billion for a “fix-it-first” policy to prioritize repairing existing roads, bridges and other facilities before building new ones, as part of a $50 billion total plan.
The announcement follows President Obama’s State of the Union address last week in which he said infrastructure spending would be a priority in his second term that also would create jobs.
In total, the president’s plan calls for $50 billion in infrastructure spending, plus actions to attract private investment, cut permit timelines for projects and create a national infrastructure bank to help fund projects.