AFL-CIO, Chamber press lawmakers for infrastructure funds

Leaders of the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made the case Sunday for more infrastructure spending.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Tom Donohue, the Chamber’s president and CEO, and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka — representing business and labor respectively — said Washington needs to make rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure a priority. 

{mosads}“We can’t be competitive in a global economy unless we have infrastructure that allows us to be competitive,” Trumka said. “This is really a no-brainer.”

The Chamber and the AFL-CIO are strange political bedfellows regarding infrastructure since they often oppose each other on several other issues. Some of that friction came to the fore when Donohue said while the business group supports more infrastructure spending, they oppose attaching a “Buy America” provision to such spending.

Donohue said such a provision could hurt the United States’ trading relationship with other countries.

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“It costs jobs. It doesn’t create jobs,” Donohue said.