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President Obama visited Milwaukee yesterday, where he spoke to some of the hard-working men and women of the labor movement, folks who helped build "America into the greatest force of prosperity and opportunity and freedom that the world has ever known," as the President said.

Working men and women secured so much of what we take for granted today, the President explained—the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans.

And while these folks are no strangers to a fight, today working families are facing a number of serious challenges and have had to work even harder to stay above board.

The President told the crowd that he is more committed than ever to turning our economy around and putting folks back to work.

“I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations.  That I can guarantee you.”

The President also used his speech to announce a new plan to create jobs by rebuilding America’s roads, rails, and airport runways:

“Over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads -– that’s enough to circle the world six times.  That’s a lot of road.  We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways –- enough to stretch coast to coast. We’re going to restore 150 miles of runways....

This will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul.  It’s a plan that history tells us can and should attract bipartisan support.  It’s a plan that says even in the aftermath of the worst recession in our lifetimes, America can still shape our own destiny.  We can still move this country forward.  We can still leave our children something better.  We can still leave them something that lasts.

So these are the things we’ve been working for.  These are some of the victories you guys have helped us achieve.  And we’re not finished.  We’ve got a lot more progress to make.  And I’m confident we will.

But even as the President and Democrats in Congress fight to create jobs, some Republicans in Washington have said ‘no’ at every turn:

“When it comes to just about everything we’ve done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every Republican in Congress says no.   Even on things we usually agree on, they say no. If I said the sky was blue, they say no.  If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no. They just think it’s better to score political points before an election than to solve problems.  So they said no to help for small businesses, even when the small businesses said we desperately need this.  This used to be their key constituency, they said.  They said no.  No to middle-class tax cuts.  They say they’re for tax cuts; I say, okay, let’s give tax cuts to the middle class.  No. No to clean energy jobs.  No to making college more affordable.  No to reforming Wall Street.  They’re saying right now, no to cutting more taxes for small business owners and helping them get financing.

You know, I heard -- somebody out here was yelling “Yes we can.” Remember that was our slogan?  Their slogan is “No we can’t.”   No, no, no, no.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can!  Yes we can!  Yes we can!

THE PRESIDENT:  I mean, I personally think “Yes we can” is more inspiring than “No we can’t.”  To steal a line from our old friend Ted Kennedy:  What is it about working men and women that they find so offensive?

President Obama closed by letting everyone know that from now until November, he is going to continue making the case that we need to keep working together to keep making progress: In Milwaukee, that means supporting candidates like Tom Barrett, Gwen Moore, Russ Feingold, and Herb Kohl—or around the country, local Democrats fighting to make sure the economy works for all Americans. Connect with Organizing for America in your state to find out how to get involved in the next two months before Election Day.

Minnesota Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar recently paid a visit to J&J Distributing, St. Paul, Minn., to recognize the company’s efforts to conserve energy and create jobs.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Rep. Betty McCollum, D.-Minn., joined the senators to see how the company is using $3.3 million in federal stimulus and state and local funds, according to a news release.

Phase one of the three-phase, $8.5 million project includes installation of energy-efficient lighting and three energy climate systems to replace 44 refrigeration units. The purchase of the equipment was made possible by a $1.3 million loan authorized by the Saint Paul Port Authority through its Trillion BTU Fund, which companies can use to finance energy-efficiency projects and then repay the financing with the energy savings.

The city of St. Paul contributed $1.5 million for a 20,000-square-foot expansion that will include a cutting room and create about 150 jobs, according to the release.

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