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If your route to work or
your vacation path is hindered by single lanes of traffic weaving through a
procession of orange barrels … consider that construction zone as a reason
to smile.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is funding many of these
sometimes frustratingly visible road building projects in Wisconsin, is
putting workers back on the job while making important repairs to the
infrastructure here in Western Wisconsin and around the entire state. For
instance, in Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Pepin, and Pierce counties, the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation is working with $5.5 million in
recovery funds to maintain and upgrade our state highways, roads, and
bridges. These transportation funds are just one of the ways that these
recovery dollars helped stop the recession from becoming a depression
The federal Recovery Act is also funding needed programs from environmental
cleanup to keeping teachers and police officers on the job. Dozens of school
districts here in Western Wisconsin have received recovery dollars to assist
in the education of students with disabilities and prevent teacher layoffs.
Municipalities have received grants for energy efficiency upgrades,
conservation, and clean drinking water.
The Recovery and Reinvestment Act has also provided tax cuts for 95% of
Americans and expanded unemployment benefits - both ways of boosting
consumer spending and prevented a further erosion of the housing market. It
has given families money to do basic things like invest in energy-efficient
appliances or home improvements and in doing so created green jobs.
In late June, 11 construction projects were approved in the legislature’s
budget committee along with other initiatives, bringing the total recovery
dollars flowing into Wisconsin thus far to $4.7 billion.
And Wisconsin has received top rankings for how we have effectively,
efficiently and transparently deployed our recovery programs. I invite you
to take advantage of our state’s transparency by visiting
www.recovery.wi.gov On
this website, you can see a breakdown, by county, of recovery dollars
awarded to agencies, municipalities, and school districts.
Still, I know that while things are now heading in the right direction, full
recovery from a crisis of this magnitude takes time. The families who
continue to struggle in Western Wisconsin, the workers who wonder when
they’ll be able to retire and the people who continue to send out resumes
and fill out applications are the reason I’ve been fighting and will
continue to fight for additional measures to speed up a complete recovery.
With wise use of federal funds, job creation incentives for Wisconsin
businesses and investments in worker training programs, I believe we will
continue to create jobs and lay a solid foundation for long-term prosperity
and economic stability in Wisconsin.
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