President Barack Obama unveiled plans to spend at least USD 50 billion to expand and renew US roads, railways and airports, in a fresh bid to fire up sluggish economic growth.
Obama, under intense pressure over a sputtering economy ahead of November's mid-term congressional elections, in which his Democrats fear heavy losses, was set to formally announce the new funding in a speech in Wisconsin.
The event, marking Labour Day, the traditional kick-off for US election campaigns, heralds a week in which Obama also travels to another struggling state, Ohio, and holds a press conference in a bid to ease his political woes.
The White House hopes to win quick passage of the USD 50 billion measure, which would be the "front-loaded" first part of a broader measure to reauthorize transportation funding over the coming six years.
"We'd like to pass this as quickly as possible," a senior administration official told journalists ahead of the president's announcement.
"The economy needs additional investment as quickly as possible, but we want to do something that will help the economy over the next six years," he said.
The official said the new projects would be funded, without increasing the deficit, by ending various tax breaks for oil and gas companies.
This would close "some of the tax loopholes for oil and gas companies that get subsidies from taxpayers that they don't need," the official said, while noting that the president was open to other funding proposals.
The USD 50 billion plan, to be announced at the Milwaukee Laborfest, a union gathering, also targets improvements to the US air traffic control system, an acceleration of high-speed rail projects, and establishes an "Infrastructure Bank" to coordinate federal funding and planning for projects.