Business Interests, Construction Industry Urge Six-Month Extension

 

Americans for Transportation Mobility wrote Congress a letter that stressed: "It is vitally important that the relevant Senate and House committees actually use this extension to make meaningful progress on SAFETEA-LU reauthorization, lest this six-month measure begin a series of extensions that unnecessarily delays needed investments and economic benefits.
Courtesy of Transportation for Illinois Coalition

Members of Americans for Transportation Mobility, a broad coalition of construction industry and business organizations, this week urged Congress to enact a six-month extension of federal highway and transit programs. This would help provide some sorely needed jobs in the construction industry, which has a high rate of unemployment.

In a letter to all members of Congress, the coalition notes that unemployment in the construction industry is now at 17 percent; 1.5 million construction jobs have been lost since December 2007. Although projects made possible with federal economic recovery funding are putting people back to work, even if the recovery act succeeds in creating a goal of 700,000 jobs, there will still be almost 1 million workers left behind.

A comprehensive highway and transit authorization "would go far in putting them back to work and ensuring economic competitiveness for generations. Certainty and continuity of transportation programs are needed while Congress works on a multiyear authorization bill, the letter states.

"Six months is a reasonable timeframe to advance a long-term reauthorization package while addressing other legislative priorities," the coalition wrote.

It is also imperative that any extension maintain the Highway Trust Fund's budgetary firewalls that have been in place since 1998. Allowing these critical protections to lapse on the eve of a multiyear reauthorization bill would not only be bad policy, but could also be interpreted as a damaging precedent."

– Courtesy of AASHTO