i had a chance to meet a young man named robert barrows. he's an english teacher in boston who came to the white house a few weeks ago. he's got two decades of teaching experience. he's got a master's degree. he's got an outstanding track record of helping his students make huge gains in reading and writing. and the last few years, he's received three pink slips because of budget cuts. why wouldn't we want to pass a bill that puts somebody like robert back in the classroom teaching our kids? some of you were with me when we visited a bridge between ohio and kentucky. that's been classified as functionally obsolete. that's a fancy way of saying it's old and breaking down. we've heard about bridges in both states that are falling apart. that's true all across the country. in maine -- excuse me -- in maine there is a bridge that is in such bad shape that pieces of it were literally falling off the other day. and meanwhile, we've got millions of laid off construction workers who could right now be busy rebuilding roads, rebuilding bridges, rebu