GLW Corning Inc

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that finding a solution to European debt crisis in the next several days is imperative because that predicament is the "biggest challenge to growth worldwide."

Encouraged with the outlines for action released in recent days, Geithner said he is anxious to see more specifics.

"We want to see details, not just the objectives," the secretary said following a tour of a Corning Inc. (GLW) factory where he touted the administration's job-creation plan.

Geithner said the U.S. has offered support, but added that the "primary burden falls on the Europeans."

European leaders are expected to unveil a fresh plan this week to address the debt crisis that is gripping Greece and threatens several other countries. That plan would address Greece's debt, including losses bondholders may take, boosting a fund to assist other nations and recapitalizing euro-zone banks.

While direct U.S. exposure to the most troubled European nations is limited, Treasury officials have said U.S. bank exposure to large European lenders is significant.

Geithner said world observers are also monitoring the U.S. and its inability to address high unemployment, which remained above 9% last month. The secretary placed the blame on Congress and its failure to pass President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs plan.

Geithner used his visit to the North Carolina fiber-optics-manufacturing plant to urge Congress to pass new infrastructure-spending measures.

In addition to roads and bridges, the bill would fund high-tech improvements such as the expansion of broadband Internet access. The Corning factory here is the world's largest producer of optical fiber, the backbone of high-speed communications.

"The infrastructure, which we have watched erode over the past decade, is like a tax on all businesses across the country," he said. There is "no reason now not to expand investments in these things that are fundamental to growth...so that we can get more Americans back to work."

The Senate earlier this month voted against Obama's package of spending initiatives and tax cuts. Republicans voted against the bill and two Democrats also opposed it.

Senate Democrats are now moving forward with Obama's jobs plan in pieces. Lawmakers are scheduled to take up infrastructure provisions of the jobs bill next week, though approval is unlikely amid strong Republican opposition to new spending.

Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, said Saturday that Obama's previous efforts to prop up the economy with additional spending failed.

"It did not spur job growth then, and it won't now," he said.

The Wilmington plant employs more than 1,000 workers and exports about half of its products.

Investments in improving telecommunications in the U.S. will create more jobs like those and boost the domestic manufacturing sector, Geithner said.

Sales of fiber-optic products have been a bright spot of late for Corning. For the first six months of the year, the Corning, N.Y., company's telecommunications sales were up 27% compared to the same period in 2010.

That's in contrast to a sales decline in Corning's main profit driver, the division that makes displays for televisions and mobile phones. That unit, which saw sales decline slightly in the first half of 2011, is under pressure from low-price competition and expected sluggish demand.

--Jeffrey Sparshott contributed to this article.

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