ARLINGTON, Va. — President Barack Obama’s budget announced
Wednesday fails to provide adequate detail and direction for how the
country should pay for its infrastructure needs, American Trucking
Associations leaders said hours after the budget had been released.
“The backbone of our economy is the asphalt, steel and concrete
of our roads and bridges,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said,
“and proposals to fund those roads should be equally concrete. For
five years, we’ve waited for President Obama to clearly state how we
should pay for these critical needs and, I’m sad to say, we continue
to get lip service about the importance of roads and bridges with no
real road map to real funding solutions.”
The White House said that the budget “invests in repairing our
existing infrastructure and building the infrastructure of tomorrow,
including high-speed rail, high-tech schools and power grids that
are resilient to future extreme conditions. These investments will
both lay the foundation for long-term economic growth and put
workers back on the job now.”
More specifically, the budget provides $50 billion for upfront
infrastructure investments, including $40 billion for “Fix it First”
projects, to invest immediately in repairing highways, bridges,
transit systems and airports nationwide; and $10 billion for
competitive programs to encourage innovation in completing
high-value infrastructure projects.
The White House further said
that the 2014 budget:
-
Fully funds the authorized funding levels provided in the
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) for
surface transportation programs.
-
Reserves funding after the expiration of MAP-21 in 2015 for
a robust, long-term reauthorization of surface transportation
programs, including a 25 percent increase from current funding
level.
“A safe and efficient network of highways is critical not just
to my business, but to all businesses in this country,” said ATA
Chairman Mike Card, president of Combined Transport, Central Point,
Ore. “Trucking is willing to step up and pay more to ensure this
country has the world-class highways it deserves, but until the
president and congressional leaders advance a plan with real funding
solutions, I worry about the continued deterioration of one of our
nation’s most critical competitive advantages.”
ATA is and continues to be a strong, vocal advocate for
increasing funding for roads, highways and bridges, but also for
identifying efficient and effective sources of real revenue to do
so, Graves said.
“Accounting gimmicks and budget tricks only get you so far,”
Graves said, “sooner or later you need to take a hard look at the
situation and decide that we’re either going to invest in these
things or we’re not and if we are, that we need to generate more
revenue than we do now. It’s time to show us the money and where you
intend to get it from. Simply letting states borrow more is no
substitute for increased federal investment.”
Source: The Trucker newspaper
