TIME Magazine Asia April 10, 2017 Back Issue

DEAR WASHINGTON, WE NEED TO REBUILD
When President Trump declared, in his first speech to Congress, “The time
has come for a new program of national rebuilding,” the applause was loud
and long. This pledge to spend what it takes to fix roads and bridges, rails and broadband, dams and airports, a staple of his campaign speeches struck a chord with public opinion. The legacy of past generations that sustained the world’s largest economy is aging and needs repair. Some thirty four million Americans still lack access to broadband. The electrical grid can’t keep up with advances in renewable energy. People understand this: a recent poll for CNN found that seventy nine percent of Americans want the President to increase spending on infrastructure, including seventy two percent of people who say they don’t support Donald Trump.