AGC's Doug Pitcock Tells Obama Investments in Infrastructure Are Critical to Economic Growth, President Agrees

President Obama convened a White House Summit on Thursday to discuss actions that can be taken to create jobs. Leaders from business, labor and state and local government, including former AGC president Doug Pitcock who served as AGC's representative, were invited to participate. Following opening session comments by President Obama and Vice President Biden, the participants separated into breakout groups to discuss specific recommendations. At the breakout session titled "Creating Jobs through the Rebuilding of America's Infrastructure," Pitcock made the point that construction projects have the dual benefit of creating jobs in the short term and providing long-term economic benefits by producing assets that will be here for future generations. Pitcock also said the project approval process needs to be streamlined so that projects can go to construction quicker. President Obama responded that he is an advocate for investing in infrastructure and understood the approval process needs improvement. He said he is pushing legislation to create a National Infrastructure Bank because he believes that major infrastructure investment needs financial support beyond the annual appropriations process. He also views the bank as a way to leverage private sector funds in support of infrastructure. Watch the session here. The White House intends to use the recommendations from the Summit to craft a legislative proposal to address unemployment. For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.