THE PRESIDENT:  That’s right.  There are no better workers than American workers.  (Applause.)  I’ll put my money on you any day of the week.  And when the naysayers（否定者，拒绝者） said, well, you can’t save the auto¹ industry, just go ahead and let hundreds of thousands of jobs vanish, we said we’re going to stand by those workers.  If the management is willing to make tough choices, if everybody is willing to come together, I’m confident that the American auto industry can compete once again -– and today, that industry is on the way back.  They said no, we said yes to the American worker.  They’re coming back. (Applause.)

 Now, let me tell you, another thing we’ve done is to make long-overdue investments in upgrading our outdated², our inefficient⁴ national infrastructure⁵.  We’re talking roads.  We’re talking bridges.  We’re talking dams, levees.  But we’re also talking a smart electric grid⁶ that can bring clean energy to new areas. We’re talking about broadband Internet so that everybody is plugged in.  We’re talking about high-speed rail lines required to compete in a 21st century economy.  (Applause.)  I want to get down from Milwaukee down to Chicago quick.  (Applause.)  Avoid a traffic jam. 

 We’re talking investments in tomorrow that are creating hundreds of thousands of private sector⁷ jobs right now.

Because of these investments, and the tens of thousands of projects they spurred all across the country, the battered⁸ construction sector actually grew last month for the first time in a very long time.  (Applause.) 

But, you know, the folks here in the trades know what I’m talking about -- nearly one in five construction workers are unemployed⁹.  One in five.  Nobody has been hit harder than construction workers.  And a lot of those folks, they had lost their jobs in manufacturing and went into construction; now they’ve lost their jobs again.

It doesn’t do anybody any good when so many hardworking Americans have been idled for months, even years, at a time when there is so much of America that needs rebuilding.

So, that’s why, Milwaukee, today, I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing¹⁰ America’s roads and rails and runways for the long term.  (Applause.)  I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world.  We used to have the best infrastructure in the world.  We can have it again.  We are going to make it happen.  (Applause.)

Over the next six years, over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads -– that’s enough to circle the world six times.  That’s a lot of road.  We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways –- enough to stretch coast to coast. We’re going to restore 150 miles of runways.  And we’re going to advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers.  (Applause.)  I think everybody can agree on that.  Anybody want more delays in airports?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I didn’t think so.  That’s not a Republican or a Democratic idea.  We all want to get to where we need to go.  I mean, I’ve got Air Force One now, it’s nice. (Laughter.)  But I still remember what it was like. 

This is a plan that will be fully¹¹ paid for.  It will not add to the deficit¹² over time -– we’re going to work with Congress to see to that.  We want to set up an infrastructure bank to leverage¹³（手段，影响力） federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments.  We’re going to continue our strategy to build a national high-speed rail network that reduces congestion¹⁴（拥挤） and travel times and reduces harmful emissions¹⁵.  We want to cut waste and bureaucracy and consolidate¹⁶（巩固，联合） and collapse¹⁷ more than 100 different programs that too often duplicate each other.  So we want to change the way Washington spends your tax dollars.  We want to reform a haphazard¹⁸（偶然） , patchwork¹⁹（拼缀物） way of doing business.  We want to focus on less wasteful²⁰ approaches than we’ve got right now.  We want competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck²¹. 

But the bottom line is this, Milwaukee -- this will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul.  It’s a plan that history tells us can and should attract bipartisan（两党连立的） support.  It’s a plan that says even in the aftermath of the worst recession in our lifetimes, America can still shape our own destiny.  We can still move this country forward.  We can still leave our children something better.  We can still leave them something that lasts.  (Applause.)#p#分页标题#e#

So these are the things we’ve been working for.  These are some of the victories you guys have helped us achieve.  And we’re not finished.  We’ve got a lot more progress to make.  And I’m confident we will.

But there are some folks in Washington who see things differently. (Boos.)  You know what I’m talking about.  (Applause.) When it comes to just about everything we’ve done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every Republican in Congress says no.  (Boos.)  Even on things we usually agree on, they say no. If I said the sky was blue, they say no.  (Laughter and applause.) If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no.  (Laughter.) They just think it’s better to score political points before an election than to solve problems.  So they said no to help for small businesses, even when the small businesses said we desperately²² need this.  This used to be their key constituency（选民，顾客） , they said.  They said no.  No to middle-class tax cuts.  They say they’re for tax cuts; I say, okay, let’s give tax cuts to the middle class.  No. (Laughter.)  No to clean energy jobs.  No to making college more affordable²³.  No to reforming Wall Street.  They’re saying right now, no to cutting more taxes for small business owners and helping²⁴ them get financing. 

You know, I heard -- somebody out here was yelling “Yes we can.” Remember that was our slogan?  Their slogan is “No we can’t.”  (Applause.)  No, no, no, no.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can!  Yes we can!  Yes we can!

THE PRESIDENT:  I mean, I personally think “Yes we can” is more inspiring than “No we can’t.”  (Applause.)  To steal a line from our old friend Ted³ Kennedy:  What is it about working men and women that they find so offensive?  (Laughter.) 

When we passed a bill earlier this summer to help states save jobs -- the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and nurses and police officers and firefighters that were about to be laid off, they said no. (Applause.)  And the Republican who thinks he’s going to take over as Speaker -- (boos) -- I’m just saying that’s his opinion -- (laughter) -- he’s entitled to his opinion.  But when he was asked about this, he dismissed those jobs as “government jobs” that weren’t worth saving.  (Boos.)  That’s what he said, I’m quoting -- “government jobs.”