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Biden Talks Infrastructure At National Urban League Conference
By: Tana Weingartner | Ohio Public Radio • WVXU
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Vice President Joe Biden told the National Urban League Conference Thursday morning that the Obama administration is committed to job training and infrastructure repair. Biden said that will go far in putting under-employed urban residents, particularly African-Americans, in better paying jobs.
Biden, speaking at a gathering of several thousand delegates to the civil rights group’s annual conference, said that the American Society of Engineers estimates the nation needs to invest $3.6 trillion to infrastructure repair between now and the year 2020.
“We have to invest in infrastructure,” said Biden. “…highways, airports, railroads, canals. Because businesses locate where they have easy access to get materials to their facilities and where they can quickly and cheaply, in the fastest manner get their product to the market.”
The vice president said the encouraging news is that American companies that were once out-sourcing jobs to other countries are now coming back.
Biden said the Obama administration is committed to that infrastructure investment and to job training and apprenticeship programs that will put Americans back to work in well-paying jobs.
The National Urban League is holding its annual convention in Cincinnati through Saturday.