Obama Says Nation Shouldn't Sacrifice

Barack Obama has proposed a $556 billion six-year federal surface transportation reauthorization level, but has not put specific suggestions on the table for what revenues should be increased to pay for such a robust investment level. Courtesy of Climatelab beta

President Barack Obama said recently he doesn't believe the United States should slash investments in transportation infrastructure while it strives to reduce the federal budget deficit.

''I'll tell you what I'm not going to do,'' Obama said at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va. ''We're not going to reduce the deficit by sacrificing investments in our infrastructure.''

Obama struck a Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations agreement with House Republicans earlier this month that resulted in zeroing out of federal funding for high-speed and intercity passenger rail, an initiative strongly supported by the president. The bill also rescinded $400 million from the FY 2010 appropriation for passenger rail.

But Obama told the college audience this week, "We're not going to allow our roads and our bridges to grow more and more congested, while places like China are building new roads and new airports and thousands of miles of high-speed rail."

Obama linked the transportation spending to keeping businesses in the United States and generating jobs.

- Courtesy of AASHTO