WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offers the following statement following a meeting today with President Obama, Secretary Geithner, Secretary LaHood, and a number of governors and mayors about building the support needed to move a significant transportation investment initiative forward:
“The President today has transformed the debate about America’s crumbling transportation system by making it a priority of his Administration to end decades of neglect and under-investment. We were proud to stand today with the President, Secretary LaHood and a number of governors and mayors to push this bold initiative forward.
“America needs shorter commutes, fewer air travel delays, more transit and passenger rail options, modernized bridges, highways and freight rail networks, and an expanded port and maritime system. No one disagrees about this — business, labor, and all Americans benefit from more infrastructure investment that will build our economy for the future. We can do this by putting millions of Americans to work in the type of good jobs that transportation investments have supported for more than a century.
“Members of Congress now have a chance to join the President and work on a bipartisan plan to rebuild our transportation system and create good jobs. Partisan squabbling and obstructionist tactics have no place in this debate and must be put aside. We will be doing our part to support the President’s historic plan to transform and massively expand America’s transportation system.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit www.ttd.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE, including the President’s remarks, a press release, and “An Economic Analysis of Infrastructure Investment” by the Department of the Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers, please visit www.whitehouse.gov and click on the “Investing in Infrastructure” tab on the homepage.
