President Obama’s plan to invest $50 billion in transportation infrastructure is being hailed by alternative transportation advocates for boosting high-speed rail and livability initiatives.
The job-creation plan, announced in a speech yesterday at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, includes a goal of building or maintaining 4,000 miles of rail lines, boosting metropolitan transit systems and integrating high-speed rail into the government’s overall surface transportation program. According to a White House fact sheet, the plan would also expand investments in environmental sustainability and livability projects, which would create communities with integrated transportation systems that are less dependent on cars.
In addition, the spending would help rebuild 150,000 miles of roads and renew or construct 150 miles of airport runways while putting in a new system to reduce air travel time and delays. The $50 billion investment would be part of an effort to jump-start a longer-term transportation funding bill.
“I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world. We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again. We are going to make it happen,” Obama said at Laborfest, an annual union-sponsored event.
The president also said he would reform the transportation funding system and is asking Congress to enact a reauthorization bill that would provide funding and support to transportation projects. The last surface transportation reauthorization plan, known as SAFETEA-LU, expired in 2009 and has been extended on a short-term basis by Congress. A new bill is expected to be addressed in the spring.
“We want to reform a haphazard, patchwork way of doing business. We want to focus on less wasteful approaches than we’ve got right now,” Obama said. “We want competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck.”
Obama’s plan includes the establishment of an infrastructure bank, which would use private, state and local capital for investing in new projects. Many experts see the infrastructure bank — which uses a competitive, merit-driven approach on funding — as a way to pay for public transit and other non-automotive projects, which have traditionally not been prioritized in the reauthorization bills. A bill by Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to create an infrastructure bank is expected to be considered in the committee this month.
The announcement was cheered by advocates of rail and other alternative transportation methods.
“We applaud President Obama for announcing a bold course to rebuild America’s infrastructure during these difficult economic times,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) in a statement. “A reformed, robust transportation infrastructure program will speed needed repairs for our crumbling assets, eliminate time Americans waste in traffic, and establish a true high-speed passenger rail network. We are a nation of innovators and builders, and the President’s announcement will mean that thousands of Americans will go back to work to repair and rebuild our nation’s infrastructure.”
Rendell is the co-chairman of Building America’s Future, a bipartisan group that promotes infrastructure investment and improvement.
James Corless, director of Transportation for America, a coalition of transportation and environmental groups, said Obama’s plan accomplishes a number of things.
“The president today has promised to press for carefully targeted investments in those projects that compete best in satisfying clearly articulated national goals for energy security, safety, affordability, environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness,” he said.
Corless also praised the president’s promise to reform transportation spending, saying an “aggressive, multiyear construction and rehabilitation effort is fundamental to the long-term health of our economy.” ‘More of the same’
However, there are concerns about the way the improvements would be funded. The White House has promised that the $50 billion upfront investment would not add to the deficit, and reports say it will be partially funded by rolling back tax credits and subsidies on oil and gas companies. The industry is pushing back, saying that would do more harm than good for the economy.
“I would just say that increasing the tax burden on the oil and natural has industry has consequences,” an American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman told The Hill. “If you make it too expensive to do business here in the states, you run the risk of driving investment and American jobs overseas — at a time when jobs and the economy remains most Americans top concern.”
Republicans also hit out at the plan, noting that the administration has not said how many jobs it would create. In an e-mail to reporters, the Republican National Committee called the announcement “just more of the same.”
The investment, which Obama will push again tomorrow at an appearance in Cleveland, will have to clear Congress, where it faces an uphill battle competing with a small business bill in the weeks before legislators go home to campaign.
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