Dear Representative,
On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am writing to encourage your strong support for H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, when it is brought before the House for a vote.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a historic step toward making necessary and long-overdue investments across all sectors of our nation’s infrastructure. In addition to making once-in-a-generation investments that will reach every corner of this country and benefit every American, this legislation will create hundreds of thousands of good jobs for American workers, and contains a number of long-sought priorities that benefit and protect workers across every mode of our transportation network.
We also urge your strong support for the portions of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that are separately included in the $1.85 billion budget reconciliation framework that was announced this morning. Beyond making additional investments in transportation, the budget reconciliation bill will help lower health care costs, increase affordable housing, and provide stronger labor standards and enforcement that are absolutely essential to working people in this country.
TTD has long called for a bold infrastructure plan that rises to the demands of the 21st century, a call that was reiterated this month by our 33-member executive committee. By pairing this $1.3 trillion infrastructure bill and the budget reconciliation framework with strong, pro-worker policies and protections, these two pieces of legislation will undoubtedly be one of the greatest job-creation tools put forward by the federal government in our nation’s history.
Finally, with our federal surface transportation programs set to expire at the end of October, a failure to act at this juncture will do significant harm to our economic recovery and to the millions of workers who carry out the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of our transportation network every day. There is simply no more time to wait. Congress must act now.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a product of bipartisan negotiations and enjoyed strong support in the Senate. We encourage every member of the House to now follow suit and enact this historic, generational investment in workers and our nation’s infrastructure, together with the budget reconciliation bill.
Sincerely,
Greg Regan
President