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The Bush administration announced a $1 billion aid package to Georgia. This makes the former Soviet republic one of the highest per capita recipients of U.S. economic assistance. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is chipping in a handsome $750 million.

Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice said:

…the aid would be used to rebuild houses and infrastructure – but not for military purposes. (snip) Announcing the aid package, Ms Rice said the US was “responding to what we consider to be urgent needs”. “With our full support and the support of the entire free world, a democratic Georgia will survive, will rebuild and will thrive.”

The Philadelphia inquirer adds:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who introduced the plan, drew a direct line between what she called Russia’s irresponsible behavior in sending troops into Georgia last month and the need for “the free world” to “help Georgia sustain itself during these difficult times.”

Vice President Dick Cheney said:

…the United States had a “deep and abiding interest” in the region’s stability.

Neither Rice nor Cheney will be visiting Russia on their current overseas excursions to discuss the crisis which enmeshed the United States with the state of Georgia or to discuss or prevent further disasters from occurring. From the BBC article:

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has also accused the US of helping Tbilisi build its war machine and called on America to review its relations with the Georgian authorities. (snip) Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who stepped down as president earlier this year, praised the European Union’s “common sense”. But he warned that Moscow would respond to the growing presence of Nato warships in the Black Sea, where Russia’s navy has a huge presence.

While the US provides one billion dollars in aid to a foreign country, the roads and bridges in America continue to crumble. Worse still, funding for these projects is short and shorter.

The New York Times reports that:

An important account in the federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money this month, a situation that could hamper completion of road and bridge construction projects across the country, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said on Friday. Because the trust fund’s highway account is draining away, the Transportation Department will have to delay payments for projects, Ms. Peters said at a news conference. Since money from Washington typically pays 80 to 90 percent of the cost of federally aided road work, states with shaky finances may have to consider curtailing projects. (snip) State transportation officials expressed alarm. The money shortage will have “grave repercussions for the states, for hundreds of thousands of workers in the construction industry and the driving public,” said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Contractors were also worried. “Each week that it goes on, it gets more serious,” said Brian P. Deery, senior director of the Associated General Contractors of America’s highway and transportation division. At some point, he said, some states may have to tell road contractors that they cannot pay them and that “we’d like you to continue working, but we understand if you have to stop working.”

Roads and Bridges says, Nearly every state faces funding shortages,” it says, preventing them from doing work to “keep their bridges sound indefinitely.”

If you Google State Road Funding Shortages, you will find that almost every state and country, from Tennessee, Minnesota, to Louisiana, has articles about how their state was impacted. And each article mentions that this is across every state in our union.

The Bush administration can give $1 billion in aid to yet another foreign country to repair or build their infrastructure, but cannot manage to come up with funding for American infrastructure.

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