Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas In the final days leading up to his Congressional Speech tonight on job creation President Obama has been trying to make the case that repairing the nations roads & bridges would keep more than 1 million Americans employed. While the president has had a hard time
selling infrastructure-related proposals in the past state transportation
officials in Texas are keeping a wary eye on Congress to see whether Democrats & Republicans can bridge a wide philosophical gulf over the future of federal roads & transportation funding.
House Republicans want to scale back programs spending only what the federal gas tax can pay for on its own. Senate Democrats would keep spending at current levels even though that would require Congress to set aside extra money in addition to the gas-tax revenues.
The Obama Administration released numbers showing job losses by state (see Sect. Ray LaHoods article here below) if the transportation law and the federal gas tax that supports it were to lapse. In the unlikely event that no federal program is approved for an entire year the Department of Transportation predicted that 1.8 million jobs would be lost.
The president has repeatedly called on Congress to keep federal money flowing to the states through reauthorization of a
highway bill that expires at the end of September. He repeatedly has proposed establishing a national infrastructure bank for example but Congress has not shown much interest in the idea.
Allowing this bill to expire would be a disaster for our infrastructure and our economy" he argued in his most recent
weekly radio address. Right away over 4000 workers would be furloughed without pay. If its delayed for just 10 days we will lose nearly $1 billion in highway funding that we can never get back."
The Clock is Ticking for a Clean Extension of the Transportation Bill
By Secretary Ray LaHood September 6 2011
In his
weekly address on Saturday President Obama called on Congress to do what it has done seven times over the past two years: pass a clean extension of the transportation bill.
Allowing funding for Americas roads and bridges to expire would be disastrous for our nations economy costing nearly one million construction workers their jobs over the next year furloughing 4000 transportation professionals and losing almost $1 billion in revenue after the first ten days alone.
According to a new report from the National Economic Council a lapse in the federal program that supports road bridge and transit work would jeopardize more than 140000 active projects and hundreds of thousands of jobs. As the President said
Those are serious consequences and the pain will be felt all across the country. In Virginia 19000 jobs are at risk. In Minnesota more than 12000. And in Florida over 35000 people could be out of work if Congress doesnt act.
At the local level the economic impact--in addition to the lost jobs--will be severe. Because state and local authorities expend their own resources before being reimbursed by federal surface transportation accounts letting the law expire will subject them to significant financial exposure they will be unable to withstand.
These are outcomes we simply cannot afford. The US Chamber of Commerce knows this. The AFL-CIO knows this. And the
US Conference of Mayors knows this.
Fortunately these outcomes are completely preventable. All thats needed is for Congress to do what it has already done seven different times over the last two years--without injecting politics into the process. Ive said many times before that there are no Republican roads or Democratic bridges--these projects are crucial for everyone and they can put our friends and neighbors back to work.
Theres no reason the President said to put more jobs at risk in an industry that has been one of the hardest-hit in this recession. Theres no reason to cut off funding for transportation projects at a time when so
many of our roads are congested; so many of our bridges are in need of repair; and so many businesses are feeling the cost of delays.
We need to
extend our transportation program and put people to work rebuilding America. We need to put differences aside and do the right thing for our economy. The clock is ticking.
Ray LaHood is Secretary of the Department of Transportation.
