spending $302 billion to repair the nation s roads and bridges, and closing the $4 billion worth of fossil fuel loopholes every year. the proposal includes an idea with historically bipartisan support. it s little known but highly effective tax rebate for the poor, earned income tax credit. yesterday in a 200-plus page report in the failures on poverty, budget chair paul ryan wrote, research finds that the best anti-poverty programs encourage work, programs like the earned income tax credit increase labor force participation. the president likes the earned income tax credit and paul ryan likes the earned income tax credit. so how did mr. ryan respond to the president s overture one day later? quote, this budget isn t a serious document, he said in a statement this morning, it is a campaign brochure. in divided government, we need
and that s not even the hidden dangers that tom costello was report on with the bridges. will congress act? well, i certainly hope so. i mean, we have to reauthorize the surface transportation bill that expires in september. but the challenge is going to be finding a funding source that s going to give us the revenue that we need to invest in our infrastructure. and the highway trust fund is going to be essentially insolvent by the end of this summer. and simply, the motor fuels tax doesn t bring in as much revenue as we need to make the kind of investment in improving our infrastructure that s so essential. so i m hopeful that the congress will give of course serious consideration to what the president has proposed this week. a $302 billion infusion of support, to upgrade our roads and bridges and tons and rail systems. and also chairman camp of the ways and means committee has included some effort to improve
the president did not talk health care, and increasingly touchy subject for senate democrats trying to hold on to their majority this fall. back here in washington, the top democrat decided to confront obamacare head on, and it did not go well. here is chief white house correspondent ed henry. while control of the senate will be decided in several red states where democrats are vulnerable, president obama today visited the safely blue state of minnesota, pushing to spend more taxpayer dollars, $302 billion, to be precise, to rebuild america s roads and bridges. these are competitive granlts we created as part of the recovery act, also known as the stimulus, which actually works. despite what everybody claims. yet backlash on issues ranging from the stimulus to health care has left the president not so popular in red states like kentucky, where democrat allison grimes is trying to take senate republican leader mitch mcconnell s seat, so she s instead turning to
class jobs, and every single effort either the president or democrats have engaged in has been thwarted by the republicans. the president is announcing $302 billion effort to expand our investment in surface transportation. that s the kind of thing that we need to do to put people back to work in this country, and i m willing to bet that s going to get very little, if any support, from my republican colleagues in the house, and that s unfortunate. that s precisely the kind of thing we need to do. thank you very much. we ll keep our eye on the house and what happens today. thank you, sir. thank you. president obama is drawing the line with afghanistan. the president told afghan president hamid karzai in a phone call yesterday, sign an agreement to ensure the safety of remaining u.s. troops, or all american troops would be withdrawn by the end of the year. president karzai once again refused to sign this key agreement. in an interview today with nbc, joint chiefs of staff chairman
spending level until the year 2017 with this agreement. so we are well ahead of schedule and we are getting more deficit reduction in spending cuts in areas that we have never been able to get before. that s why i think this is a good agreement it makes divided government work and prevents government shutdowns which we think is a good idea as well. i love any deal by part san in this city is a really good sign. i like the fact that it s two years so there is some level of certainty for the business community. because that s what s been so painful the continuing resolutions no one know what was going to happen so they couldn t make business decisions. other than asking the federal workers to to pay more for pensions. where else? gulf of mexico for oil and gas drilling. 172 million barrels of oil, 302 billion cubic feet of natural gas in an area that had been closed off now is going to be open up. we are saying that deadbeat dads who don t pay for their kids medicaid payments need t