Tag: politics: Page 12

Business

Obama asks Congress to pass $21 billion bill for infrastructure improvements

On Friday, President Barack Obama proposed a $21 billion package of improvements for the country’s infrastructure, reports our sister site Better Roads. The plan is to be part of the President’s budget April 10th and includes $10 billion for an infrastructure bank that would bring together public and private funding. Also part of the plan […]

April 2, 2013

Business

Congress discusses expanded oil and gas drilling as source of transportation funding

With talks in Congress over how to raise transportation funding at a standstill, some lawmakers have voiced their opinion that the answer is oil, according to our sister publication Better Roads. Speaker of the House John Boehner recently called revenues for infrastructure improvements via oil and gas drilling expansions a “natural link.” But some lobbyists […]

March 29, 2013

Business

Congressional transportation funding talks at a stalemate

With the expiration of of the MAP-21 transportation bill coming in September of next year, congressional talks about how to increase transportation funding are at a stalemate, reports our sister publication Better Roads. Since its passing last summer, MAP-21 has been seen as only a temporary fix for the problem of transportation funding. Renewed focus […]

March 26, 2013

Workforce

Why construction unions are wrong in fighting immigration reform

Ah politics! Strange bedfellows. Even stranger enemies. One would think the universal brotherhood of union workers would welcome with solidarity the teeming masses from south of the border. But that is certainly not the case if those Hispanic workers have construction skills. Buzzfeed Politics is reporting that the AFL-CIO in the pending immigration bill is […]

March 26, 2013

Business

ASCE says U.S. infrastructure investment is “treading water”

After giving American infrastructure a grade of D+, the American Society of Civil Engineers says that the country’s investment planned through 2020 will fall $1.6 trillion short of what is needed to maintain existing infrastructure. According to a report from Bloomberg, the ASCE recommends funding be increased by 80 percent to $3.6 trillion in order […]

March 25, 2013

Home

Protests ensue after University of Tennessee receives approval for fracking on school land

University of Tennessee officials are moving forward with a plan to drill oil and gas wells for hydraulic fracturing—also known as fracking— on land owned by the school after receiving approval from the state legislature, reports the Knoxville News Sentinel. The university will soon begin hearing bids from oil and gas companies to lease some […]

March 20, 2013

Business

Senate unlikely to adopt ID card for legal worker verification due to high costs

Senators working on an immigration bill are not likely to adopt a high-tech ID card for workers because of costs, the Washington Post reported. The legislation is intended to regulate employers who hire illegal immigrants. It will likely seek to expand E-Verify, a currently voluntary but little-used system which uses Social Security numbers to check […]

March 13, 2013

Workforce

Opinion: Jeb Bush’s immigration solution “elegantly simple”

One might have known that the best idea to come forth on immigration in decades is now being trashed by partisans in both political parties. Jeb Bush, older brother of former president George Bush, has written a book that details what he thinks is the best way to handle illegal immigration and the some 12-million […]

March 11, 2013

Business

Senate bill would create incentives for private transportation investment

As the federal government continues to search for ways to grapple with the country’s slowly crumbling infrastructure, two Senators have introduced a bill to the U.S. Senate that would establish a Department of Transportation fund designed to create incentives for private investment into transportation, our sister site CCJ reports. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John […]

March 5, 2013

Workforce

Undocumented workers make up half of Texas’ construction workforce

A report released Thursday alleges that half of the construction workers in Texas are undocumented, aka illegal aliens. Why is nobody surprised? If you drive around Austin and San Antonio as I often do, you’ll see plenty of billboards advertising new homes for $90,000. And Texas governor Rick Perry flaunts the state’s low cost of […]

February 26, 2013

Home

Opinion: Food trucks an American and construction industry institution

I couldn’t help but notice an ugly irony in the headlines last month. The American Interest’s Walter Russell Mead posted a short blog detailing how big cities around the country are waging war against independently owned and operated lunch wagons.  And the Associated Press ran a long story on how the recession, technology and the […]

February 12, 2013

Business

States begin new projects rather than repairing, maintaining existing infrastructure

The main reason the U.S. can’t afford to maintain its existing roads and bridges? States keep building new ones, reports McClatchy Newspapers. By now, the need for improvements to this country’s infrastructure is well-documented. The average age of the 600,000 bridges in the U.S. is 43 years — meaning a great deal of these bridges […]

February 4, 2013