Biden stresses need to boost investment in infrastructure

US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday called for boosting investment in the nation's infrastructure to help create jobs and grow the economy, local media KHOU reported. He made the remarks during a trip to the Port of Houston, which in recent years has been preparing for a historic expansion of the Panama Canal. Before addressing a crowd of 300 invited guests, the vice president took a brief tour of a container terminal, accompanied by the Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and other officials, KHOU reported. Biden's stop in Houston is directly related to his next destination, the Panama Canal, on Tuesday, the report said. The port, the busiest in the United States in terms of foreign tonnage, needs expansion to embrace more and larger ships that will be coming directly through the Panama Canal. The canal, an expansion project scheduled to be completed in 2015, is expected to effectively double the amount of cargo that can pass through. "So when the Panama Canal doubles capacity, the U.S. has the potential of multiplying its exports considerably and at much lower cost ... We can out-manufacture, we can out-compete any country in the world," he said. "Because this change in Panama means jobs right here, it means products made in Texas can be more efficiently delivered, stacked, shipped and people can see all around the world the phrase stamped, 'Made in America'. That's jobs. That's commerce," he added. Citing Brazil, Mexico and China as nations that have already heavily invested in their ports, he said the government plan to invest 50 billion U.S. dollars in repairing bridges, railroads, canals, dams and ports. Port officials on Monday urged the vice president to secure funding to expand the port in order to accommodate larger ships.