"We have to make difficult financial decisions in a time of budget crisis. But like anything else, we're the closest to the people. The people of America want to go back to work. We rebuilt Germany and Japan after the Second World War. We have to build America by putting people to work," said Mayor Daley.
The mayor says 427 cities have come up with 11,000 projects and, with federal funding, they could get started right away.
The projects would create nearly 850,000 jobs.
