WASHINGTON -
President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to launch the biggest public works program since the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1950s as part of his plan to create 2.5 million new jobs and stem an economic tailspin that is growing worse by the day.
"We need action - and action now," Obama said in a weekly address broadcast on radio and posted as a YouTube video.
His comments came the day after the government announced that 533,000 jobs had been lost in November - the worst monthly job loss report in 34 years. The address marks the latest effort by the incoming president to shape events and build momentum for his agenda before he takes office.
Obama aides and Democratic lawmakers hope that a new economic stimulus plan, which could cost as much as $700 billion, will be passed by Congress in January so that Obama can sign it into law within hours or days of his inauguration on Jan. 20.
The plan, as Obama laid it out yesterday, would include massive investments in roads and other infrastructure programs reminiscent of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's highway program, which employed millions of people and cost tens of billions of dollars.
Obama said he would compel states to move quickly on construction projects or risk losing the help from Washington.
"We will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s," he said. "We'll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we'll set a simple rule - use it or lose it. If a state doesn't act quickly to invest in roads and bridges ... they'll lose the money."
Maryland has identified millions of dollars' worth of "shovel-ready" projects, Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday in a statement.
The federal funding would allow the state to "deliver infrastructure improvements that will last beyond the immediate economic crisis and benefit generations to come."
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office has estimated the state could initiate $28 billion worth of infrastructure projects within four months. "Equipment could be ordered and shovels could be in the ground virtually immediately," said David Crane, a Schwarzenegger adviser who has met with Obama aides.
