Mayor Urges Congress To Increase Spending

WASHINGTON — Mayor Bloomberg yesterday urged Congress to increase infrastructure spending dramatically, warning that federal inattention to crumbling roads, bridges, rail lines, and water systems "threatens our status as an economic superpower."

The mayor joined the leaders of Atlanta, Kansas City, Mo., and Jacksonville, Fla., in pushing for new investments at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

"We are facing an infrastructure crisis in this country that threatens our status as an economic superpower — and threatens the health and safety of the people that we serve," Mr. Bloomberg said in testimony.

The mayor has added infrastructure improvements to his portfolio of national priorities, launching a coalition called Building America's Future earlier this year with Governors Schwarzenegger of California and Rendell of Pennsylvania.

He said the city needed tens of billions of dollars just to upgrade its water treatment facilities and mass transit facilities, and he cited a study by the American Society of Civil Engineers finding the more than $1.6 trillion was needed over the next five years just to keep the nation's critical infrastructure in a state of good repair.

It "is obviously a staggering amount of money," he said. "But it's also staggering how little the federal government is doing to help cities and states address these challenges."

Mr. Bloomberg criticized earmark spending in Washington for obscuring the real long-term needs of communities and the nation, but he acknowledged that he and other city officials were not free from blame.

"We're as guilty as anybody," the mayor said. "We ask for money for things that are totally local, and why the federal government does it, I don't know. They shouldn't be doing it, although we will continue to ask as long as they are giving it out."