Consensus continues to build around US government policy promoting infrastructure and energy investment, with a recent report from the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness a recent entry to the political fray.

Issued the same week as presidential candidate Governor Rick Perry’s energy plan, the Jobs Council report also focuses on the job creation aspect of energy and infrastructure investment. The Jobs Council is headed by GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and his organization’s recommendations, which can be viewed in the document attached to this post, focuses on areas that are familiar to the leader of one of the largest companies in the US.

“Upgrading the nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure is a win-win for the United States.”

Investing “aggressively and efficiently in competitive infrastructure and energy” is at the Jobs Council’s first recommendation, with streamlining project approvals and “balancing regulatory review,” both areas of intense debate in the energy sector, also featured in the list of recommendations.

The Council warned in releasing its report that there would be “no silver bullet” to solve the jobs crisis, but that it had identified ways to move forward that did not depend on major legislative action or government funding, reflecting the now widely-held consensus that Capitol Hill is deadlocked and public budget deficit concerns are intensifying.

Photo Caption: US President Barack Obama speaks alongside Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE), during a meeting of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, headed by Immelt, following a tour of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local No. 5 Training Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 11, 2011.