The Republican budget approach of “cut,  cut, cut” has jeopardized our economic recovery and Democrats are poised to turn the debate back to what’s most on American’s minds: creating and maintaining good jobs, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said today.

The AFL-CIO today is announcing a major “commitment to action” to bring public and private partners together to encourage both workers’ capital and skilled labor to promote large-scale investments in America’s infrastructure.

When it comes to maintaining and improving its roads, bridges and other transportation facilities, the United States is falling behind even developing nations and Congress is showing no will to address the crisis, according to a report released this week by the Urban Land Institute. Further:

Despite the nation’s unemployment woes, the vast job-creation potential of infrastructure projects is being sidetracked by concerns about government spending appetites and potential cost overruns.

The nation “must dig in and redouble our efforts to ‘Make It In America‘,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) at Senate hearing this afternoon on reviving the nation’s  manufacturing base.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says that a new transportation and jobs infrastructure plan “will help revive manufacturing. It means jobs.”

The America Fast Forward initiative has bipartisan and labor/management support. At the Capitol Hill press conference announcing the new initiative today, Trumka joined U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz.

The AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce don’t agree on very much. But today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber President Thomas Donohue told a Senate committee that labor and business agree on the vital need to invest in the nation’s transportation infrastructure to create jobs and boost the economy.

U.S. manufacturing is at a “make or break” point and it will require more, not less, government investment in key areas to ensure our future prosperity, according to a new book by one of the nation’s top CEOs.

Check this out. Next week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue will make a rare joint appearance to promote jobs legislation. They will appear Feb. 16 before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at 10 a.m. to speak out on the need for quick action on a new jobs-creating transportation bill.

Creating new and good jobs is the most urgent task facing our nation’s leaders and Americans who are unemployed or whose wages are stagnating cannot afford to wait any longer. Until we fix the jobs crisis, economic growth and fiscal stability will be hard to achieve, AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers told a congressional hearing today.

Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue issued a rare joint statement supporting “Obama’s call to create jobs and grow the U.S. economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure.” Trumka and Donohue said:

Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy.