WASHINGTON, DC - President-elect Barack Obama's recent weekly address focused on the U.S. economic crisis and his plans to commit the largest infrastructure investment since the creation of the Federal Highway System in the 1950's (http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangeDotGov).  In response, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (NY), Governor Ed Rendell (PA) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA), co-chairs of Building America's Future, issued the following:

"We applaud President-elect Obama for focusing on the crisis that is facing America's economy and for setting a new bold course to rebuild America's infrastructure and make it energy-efficient.

"With the latest grim economic news, now more than ever, we need this investment in infrastructure to help create and retain jobs and lay the foundation for future economic growth.  Even before the recession, states and localities were unable to finance the billions of dollars of critically important infrastructure projects that are otherwise 'shovel ready.'

"We strongly support a 'use-it-or-lose-it' requirement to ensure that new infrastructure funds will be used to put Americans to work immediately and not languish unspent or tied up in red tape.

"While time is of the essence, as elected officials we strongly agree that we must ensure all infrastructure dollars are invested wisely and produce real results.  States and localities should first invest in projects that maximize creating jobs quickly, such as repair and maintenance projects, and invest in projects that enhance our energy efficiency and independence.  They should also report back how the funds were allocated and how many jobs were created or retained so that we can better track our return on investment.