Pres. Obama to Announce $ For FL High-Speed Rail Today

President Obama will be at the University of Tampa this afternoon to announce an ARRA grant of $1.25 billion for Florida's SunRail high-speed Orlando-to-Tampa connector. This announcement has been long speculated and confirmed in the President's State of the Union speech last night:

"Next, we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow. From the first railroads to the interstate highway system, our nation has always been built to compete. There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products.

Tomorrow, I'll visit Tampa, Fla., where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act. There are projects like that all across this country that will create jobs and help move our nation's goods, services and information."

I am very pleased that the President will be getting back to the true stated purpose of the stimulus. I've been very critical about how the $787 billion ARRA has been spent to this point, like most Americans. Infrastructure investment deserves to be the cornerstone of this massive appropriation, which has hitherto been shuffled among the bureaucratic hierarchy. Let's hope this is a turning point that, when combined with a plan for small business loans, will have a greater effect on improving the fortunes of an increasing amount of Americans.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article1068768.ece