WASHINGTON, DC—Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement on President Obama’s four-year surface transportation investment proposal:
“We’re pleased that the President has declared it a priority of his Administration to fix the surface transportation funding crisis that is threatening our economy and American competitiveness. Today’s announcement for a $302 billion investment adds a sense of urgency to the debate as Congress and the President deal with the imminent insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
“I joined a wide swath of the transportation community this morning as a participant in a roundtable on the surface transportation reauthorization legislation hosted by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. We echoed the view that the funding crisis must be fixed with a long-term legislative solution. Without new revenues, such as an increase in the federal fuel tax or through alternative tax proposals, our transit systems, highways and bridges will continue to decay and we will harm commuters and businesses, and idle millions of good jobs. We will now direct our energy toward enactment of a bipartisan, long-term bill that creates middle-class jobs and protects the rights of workers.”
CONTACT: Jennifer Michels, jenniferm@ttd.org, 202.628.9262, 703.395.2195