President Obama: New infrastructure will benefit the spread of high-speed Internet

In a Labor Day address in Milwaukee, President Barack Obama touted his proposed $50 billion in new infrastructure spending, indicating that while road and highways will see cash, so will advanced infrastructure projects. That includes building an electric grid that relies on communications technology to be more efficient, and building out and upgrading the infrastructure people rely on to access the Internet.

"We're talking about the smart grid..and broadband Internet," President Obama said, arguing that the US should have the best infrastructure "in the world." Obama's announcement Sept 6 precedes a speech promoting business tax relief he will make near Cleveland on Sept 8. This is expected to include expanding a research and development tax credit by about 20 percent, or $100 billion, over the next 10 years, simplifying it, and making the credit permanent. The technology sector has rallied around the measure. The president wants Congress to approve this first-year $50 billion "as soon as possible" and pay for it by scaling back oil and gas industry tax incentives.