WASHINGTON, DC— Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) issued this statement on the defeat, 83-323, of the Broun Motion to Instruct conferees on the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 (H.R.4348):
“An overwhelming House majority today rejected a motion that would have done serious damage to our nation’s transportation system and delivered a death blow to our economy. Make no mistake that the 83 Republicans who voted for the motion were directly voting to slash American jobs.
“The end result of the motion by Rep. Paul Broun (R-MD) would have been Ryan Budget-like devastating job losses in the transit and highway sectors and in the many related industries that support our transportation system.
“Because of the way our surface transportation programs are structured, the Broun motion could have virtually halted any new investment beginning on Oct. 1, 2012. This would have meant that major transportation improvements would have been shelved and hundreds of thousands of jobs idled. That is hardly a recipe for boosting our economy.
“With the rejection of these draconian transportation cuts, we hope this sends a clear message to those in the House who are more interested in scoring political points than completing a surface transportation bill that will both maintain and create nearly three million American jobs.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, motor carrier, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit us at www.ttd.org or on Facebook and Twitter.
