What a disappointment this morning when I picked up USA Today.
Most people know that numbers and reporters don't mix and this is an excellent case in point.
By USA Today's own measure, counties with the worst roads are getting close to $10 for every dollar spent in all the other counties in the country. And, of the nearly 1 million roads in the federal highway system, the data used by USA Today only covers 22% of those roads. Hmmm.
Unfortunately, this biased report has missed the boat completely. We are getting money quickly out the door to areas of the country that need it most and for roads and bridges in the worst shape.
The fact is, our Federal Highway Administration is one of the stars of the Recovery Act. Since we began our efforts to jumpstart the economy, FHWA has approved 7,911 projects worth $19.1 billion in every state. That's 72 percent of all highway Recovery dollars out the door in a few short months.
We have a couple important goals for this money. It's being used to fix our crumbling infrastructure. But it's also the key to putting thousands of people back to work in good-paying jobs. As I've traveled across the country, I've met workers who were unemployed before these projects came along.
And for cash-strapped states, the money is helping to take care of roads and bridges in need of repair that might not get fixed without it. To me, that's a good story worth telling.