"Chamber, AFL-CIO Back Infrastructure Spending In Rare Joint Statement"

Sam Stein (HuffPo):

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, often bitter foes in conflicts between business and labor, released a rare joint statement Wednesday in support of President Barack Obama's call for additional infrastructure spending.

The business lobby and union conglomerate's respective leaders offered a united front in applauding the broad pitch for domestic development in Obama's State of the Union address.

"America's working families and business community stand united in applauding President Obama's call to create jobs and grow our economy through investment in our nation's infrastructure," their joint statement reads. "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.

"With the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO standing together to support job creation, we hope that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will also join together to build America's infrastructure." MORE...

Howie P.S.: I listened to some "conservative" talk radio today and they are NOT on board the "infrastructure" train, calling it more "government spending" and stressing the need to make cuts to reduce the deficit. The story also contains this nugget:

As Matt Stoller, a progressive strategist and former top aide to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL.) noted on Twitter: "The Chamber "supported" the stimulus and delivered 0 GOP House votes."