Obama Pushes $50B Infrastructure Plan

President Obama has made a fresh call for bipartisan support for his $50 billion "roads, railways and runways" plan to upgrade the nation's infrastructure. Obama warned that a failure to invest in infrastructure is eroding America's competitive edge and called for lawmakers to choose between "decline and prosperity," the Los Angeles Times reports.

The administration, which released a report showing the plan would create large numbers of jobs in construction, manufacturing and retail, needs GOP support to pass the bill, which looks far from certain. "Because the November lame-duck session is all booked up, the very earliest the Senate could consider the president's proposal now would be December," a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. "And that's assuming that the committees could/would want to act in time—a huge 'if.' " (More infrastructure stories.)