Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced on Monday her plan to spend $250 billion over five years to improve the nation’s infrastructure, a plan that could create 3.25 million jobs, according to government projections.
The plan — which includes proposals to improve roads and bridges, transit systems, energy systems, and electric grids — is the first phase of Clinton’s month-long focus on jobs. In addition to a $250 billion federal investment, her plan calls for establishing a $25 billion national infrastructure bank to encourage private investments. The campaign said the proposals will be paid for through business tax reforms.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers has estimated that every $1 billion in infrastructure investment creates 13,000 jobs. And a report by Standard & Poors last year found that investing $1.3 billion in infrastructure in 2015 would add at least 29,000 jobs and $2 billion to economic growth while reducing the deficit by $200 million.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. a D+ grade on our roads, bridges, waterways, electrical grids, and other infrastructure, and says the country needs to spend an additional $1.6 trillion by 2020 to get it all up to par. Clinton’s plan would target much of the country’s struggling industries with direct investments.
“I don’t have to tell you what a sorry state we’re in,” she said in Boston. “Our roads and bridges are potholed and crumbling. Families endure blackouts because our electric grid fails in extreme weather. Beneath our cities, our pipeline infrastructure — our water, our sewer, you name it — is up to a century or more old. Our airports are a mess. Our ports need improvement. Our rail systems do as well.”
Her plan outlines a number of specific proposals, including a call for connecting all U.S. households to high-speed internet by 2020. She also has called for improving the nation’s airports and aviation technology — the United States invented air travel, she said, but has since lagged behind and has not invested in our outdated airports and air traffic control system.
