today there's more than $2 trillion of unmaintained infrastructure needs in this country. roads and bridges and transit and rail and ports and airports . seaports and airports are going neglected. $2 trillion. millions of jobs. there are jobs in this country, they are all skilled jobs, they are all jobs that should fete paid a good wage, and they are all jobs that were paying a dividend for years to come. they are investments not expenditures, they are investments. and we are seeing the benefit of them for generations to come. yet we can't even get the american jobs act enacted. which is primarily to invest in the physical infrastructure of this country as well as the human infrastructure, putting money into education and research and innovation. to the things that are going to give us a stronger economy, a more stable society, a more inclusive society. a fairer society. that's what the american jobs act does. we can't get it through this body. you know, when ronald reagan faced down a recession in the early 1980's, he proudly signed a transportation authorization bill tha