Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately with President Barack Obama on Monday to discuss California's infrastructure projects.
The governor was in the nation's capital for the annual National Governors Association meeting. According to KPCC radio:
Schwarzenegger said federal stimulus money created or retained 150,000 jobs in California – many of them on infrastructure projects. He said the president emphasized that other countries are investing much more than the United States to improve airports and build high-speed rail.
"If we build that and not look at it always and claim this is more spending, but look at it as saying it is an investment in the future of America," he said. "We need to build those things because otherwise we’re not going to keep up and we’re not going to stay number one."
The president said he would help reduce the federal red tape so those projects could move forward.
