Critical Path

Subscribe

President Obama and Vice-President Biden talk up the merits of high-speed rail in visit to Tampa, the endpoint of one of the proposed high-speed rail segments that won a share of $8 billion in federal stimulus funds.

Senate Democrats' proposed jobs legislation--not yet introduced--may end up being split into several bills. , says Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). That differs from the single, $154-billion jobs bill that the House passed in December. The initial Senate bill would include a 10-month extension for surface transportaion programs, Boxer says.

Republican Scott Brown's win in the Jan. 19 Massachusetts Senate race is causing Democrats to rethink their strategy for health care.  The effect on a new jobs bill and other infrastructure funding isn't clear.

Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti as they struggle to cope with theaftermath of yesterdays terrible quake. But we also know forces within theconstruction industry are already planning action and mobilizing resourcesto help.

As the Senate gears up for a final vote on health care legislation on Christmas Eve, advocates of reform are hopeful that the bill will pass, and differences between the House and Senate bill can be reconciled in January. Many construction groups are hoping at least one provision in the Senate bill is not included in the

New SAFETEA-LU extension runs through Feb. 28. It's the third stopgap since Sept. 30, when the multi-year authorization lapsed. Meanwhile, the House passed a jobs bill, with more than $47 billion for infrastructure, as a follow-on to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But the Senate won't take it up until January, at the earliest.

In spite of hand-wringing by doomsayers, some entrepreneurial thinkers are putting their minds to saving the planet.

President Obama's proposal for a new jobs bill, including what will probably be tens of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects, boosts the chances that such legislation, with a large public-works component, will fly in Congress in coming weeks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)  says Democrats are working on a  two-part jobs-creation legislative plan. She says that she hopes to see the not-yet-introduced measures passed by the end of this year.  One part of the plan would extend unemployment and health benefits. The other part would include infrastructure funds.

Now that the holiday shopping season is in full swing, here is our second annual list of ideas for that special person in your life who loves to stare at the yellow iron on the side of the road.