Obama: 'We Can Do Better'

President Obama discussed his plan to create jobs by investing in rebuilding the infrastructure that powers our businesses and our economy.

Transcript:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Now, over the last four years, we’ve done some good work. Construction crews have built or improved more than 350,000 miles of road. That’s enough to circle the globe 14 times. We’ve upgraded more than 6,000 miles of rail — enough to go coast-to-coast and back. We’ve repaired or replaced more than 20,000 bridges. We’ve helped get tens of thousands of construction workers back on the job.

Because of these efforts, when the American Society of [Civil] Engineers put out their 2013 report card on our national infrastructure, they gave it the best overall grade in 12 years. That’s the good news. The bad news is we went from a D to a D+. We still have all kinds of deferred maintenance. We still have too many ports that aren’t equipped for today’s world commerce. We’ve still got too many rail lines that are too slow and clogged up. We’ve still got too many roads that are in disrepair, too many bridges that aren’t safe.

We don’t have to accept that for America. We can do better. We can build better. And in a time of tight budgets, we’ve got to do it in a way that makes sure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.