A major investment in infrastructure will be part of any economic stimulus package, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Menlo Park, told a Stanford audience Friday.

Such an investment would create well-paying jobs, rebuild crumbling roads and bridges, and help create demand in the economy, Eshoo told scholars at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).

California's infrastructure has so deteriorated that it now "pales in comparison" not only with other developed countries but with developing nations, David Crane, an economic advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the policy forum, titled "Creating the Future in Tough Times.

"We're still living off the dividends of the New Deal and Governor Pat Brown in the 1960s," Crane said, adding that he read of an idea to put people to work insulating existing homes, thereby creating jobs and saving energy.

Eshoo, who endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton before the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries, said Obama's election creates an opportunity for "America to renew herself" despite the grim economic outlook and highest unemployment rate in 14 years.

"I'm not talking about spending more across the board, but I think we'll regret it if we fail to make the investments that are needed now," she said.

"We shouldn't nickel and dime ourselves because no matter where you look in the world, with this virus that has spread with the global economy, it's the governments that are stepping up and taking action."

Eshoo said a stimulus package must include extension of unemployment benefits as well as health care benefits that states are required by law to provide.

She also called for major investments by the new administration in high-speed broadband, basic science and technology, including scholarships to qualified students who commit to working in fields of innovation.

Among the top issues for the Obama administration will be a new energy policy to reduce foreign oil dependence and create jobs in green technologies; health care reform; and immigration reform, she said.

"Wherever I've traveled representing our country and meeting with foreign governments, they've all said the same thing: that is that we've put up a 'not welcome' sign," Eshoo said. "We've essentially done that since 9/11. Their best and brightest are no longer welcome to come into our country. There's been a brain drain and that cannot hold us in good stead.

"We cannot continue to operate out of fear. The laws have to change; the policy of the United States is hurting the United States.

"I think our young president-elect understands this. There should be a green card stapled to every Ph.D."

(Writer Chris Kenrick can be e-mailed at christina_kenrick@yahoo.com.)