Congressmen Aaron Schock & John Carney Discuss Transportation Infrastructure Letter to Obama

Representatives Aaron Schock (R-IL), Jim Cooper (D-TN), John Carney (D-DE), and Patrick Meehan (R-PA), sent a letter to President Obama urging him to support a fully paid for six-year transportation reauthorization. More than 111 members signed it, including 62 Democrats and 49 Republicans.

The letter states that "short-term extensions fail to recognize that meaningful, large-scale transportation projects take years to plan, approve and implement." States and contractors need a long-term bill in order to execute large projects and repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure.

With the construction industry facing an unemployment rate of 13.3 percent, the members said that "a modern, safe and efficient transportation authorization will not only create jobs now for the construction industry, but it will also set the table for long-term job creation and economic growth."

The bipartisan group expressed their willingness to work with the Administration on funding options for a six-year authorization. The last Surface Authorization bill expired in September 2009 and has been temporarily extended eight separate times. The latest temporary extension is set to expire at the end of March 2012.

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