What is almost gone from the stimulus discussion now is infrastructure. After months of talk of a new New Deal and putting people back to work with public works spending while, at the same time, building a new America, the focus of the stimulus bill has been shifted to tax breaks for home builders, new-car buyers and manufacturers, spending cuts for state governments, and a limit to executive bonus pay.

The Senate agreed on a scaled-down economic stimulus bill on Friday when three Republicans said they would back the reworked legislation.

President Barack Obama has brought change to Washington, D.C. In this newly declared post-partisan era of politics, there is growing bipartisan opposition to the President’s economic stimulus package.

As Washington considers a nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus bill to combat an increasing recession, with billions going to public works projects, governments worldwide will, at the same time, spend as much as $1.5 trillion annually for the next 20 years to make up for a lack of similar spending on infrastructure in years past.

Most public transit systems throughout the country, even in cities that approved funding increases during the last election, are facing substantial budget shortfalls.

Like so many other transit agencies around the country, the nation’s largest transit authority - New York City - is in the midst of a severe budget crisis and is facing a $1.2 billion deficit.

As Americans have slashed consumer spending, congressional Democrats want to buy American with stimulus spending.

In order to have an impact on the American Recovery and Reinvestment bill, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its 2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. Still, as the bill goes through Congress, little has been done to ensure that proper oversight will be applied to the funds devoted to spending.

A week in review of infrastructure news by Rick Karr, Blueprint America correspondent.