WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), issued the following statement commending the 44 Senators who signed a letter urging their colleagues to support robust funding for transportation infrastructure at Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) levels in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act:
“We commend the coalition of 44 Senators, led by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who signed the letter urging robust funding for transportation and infrastructure programs in the FY 2027 THUD appropriations bill. As advance appropriations from the BIL are set to expire at the end of FY 2026, the letter urges Appropriators to fund these programs at levels consistent with BIL or greater.
“Since 2021, BIL funding has supported more than 60,000 projects and nearly 750,000 jobs annually around the country, showing not just a demand for federal funding, but a critical need. Plans for bridges, ports, roads, and passenger and freight rail are not vanity projects – they create and sustain American jobs, help to mitigate congestion on our roads, and boost economic productivity. If we underinvest in American infrastructure, we risk losing good union jobs and delaying, abandoning, or forgoing projects. Now, with advance appropriations set to expire, TTD continues to encourage authorizers and appropriators to meet or exceed BIL levels as Congress considers surface transportation reauthorization and the FY 2027 THUD bill.
“Cities, counties, commuters, builders, frontline transportation workers, and businesses have made it clear that they want better services and infrastructure. More than 20 associations representing these varied stakeholders recently joined TTD in communicating to Congress the need for sustaining BIL-level funding. Congress must deliver by ensuring that transportation infrastructure investments remain, at a minimum, at BIL levels in the FY 2027 Appropriations bill.”
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