President Obama Announces $50 Billion Infrastructure Plan

President Obama hopes Congress will get to his $50-billion "roads, railways and runways" program by or before December. The White House also hopes the 'roads, railways and runways' plan will create middle-class jobs in manufacturing and construction. The president described the plan from the Rose Garden, which included a report estimating that more than half of the new jobs would come in construction, where unemployment figures are higher than 17%. To pass the measure, the president needs to win over Republicans, who generally have opposed his suggestions for government spending as a way out of the country's economic malaise.

President Obamais pictured with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the Rose Garden at the White House. (L.A. Times, 10/12/2010) (Mark Wilson / Getty Images / October 11, 2010)