In Beijing, six months-worth of rain fell over the weekend. The storm has reportedly killed 37 people; almost 60,000 are out of their homes. Anger is reportedly turning from Mother Nature to the government.
Lawmakers must fund new federal highway construction before the current legislation expires on Saturday. If they don't, local construction projects may suffer, and jobs could be lost.
The House and Senate are hashing out differences over a transportation spending bill. One of the sticking points is whether to penalize states that use public-private partnerships to run their roads.
The Senate is likely to pass an extension of the federal transportation spending bill this week. But it will only fund highway and transit projects for two years. Most generally take five years.
President Obama's budget for next year includes hundreds of billions for new infrastructure projects and repairs to the nation's roads and bridges. But it could take years before any work actually begins.
Nouri al-Maliki meets with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The trade group says its members are ready to sign hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new contracts.