Thank you for joining us. I’m Rich Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.
Talk is cheap in Washington, D.C. We hear a lot of noise about priorities, but we see very little action. Instead, Congress lurches from self-inflicted crisis to self-inflicted crisis, engaging in tit-for-tat debates and wasting precious time with political posturing. It just makes you wonder what their real priorities are.
Well, let me give you an American priority, one shared by working people and business leaders everywhere. I’m talking about big public investments in America’s infrastructure. Roads. Bridges. Sewers. Pipelines. Transit. Waterways. Ports. Electrical grids. Internet and phone lines. Drinking water.
Those investments benefit everybody. Those investments create jobs. Those investments build America.
If you want to spend money to make money, build infrastructure, build bridges, expand ports and modernize railways.
Good, safe roads and transit systems can get workers to work and back every day. Companies can get manufactured goods to market.
All of our infrastructure systems need attention, but the most immediate concern is the Highway and Transit Trust Fund. Once again, it’s about to expire. We don’t need another temporary extension. It’s been extended 30 times in the last seven years. That’s no way to do business. We need a permanent funding source. States have been forced to postpone and cancel necessary construction. This is becoming another self-inflicted crisis. I’m not talking about a pretend crisis. One out of nine bridges in America is structurally deficient. That’s from the American Society of Civil Engineers. A bridge collapse is a real crisis. Failing to pay for infrastructure is dangerous. It’s irresponsible. We can do better.
America needs a reliable, long-term funding source now. The Highway and Transit Trust Fund should be a top priority. Not political jockeying. Not trying to get the best soundbite.
It’s so basic. We’ve put forward funding sources. We’ve explained how the trust fund strengthens our communities with good jobs and creates opportunities for economic growth. The trust fund improves America’s quality of life and makes us competitive in this global age, and we all bear the cost of inaction. Every year every single person in America spends almost 38 hours and almost $1,000 in wasted fuel while we idle in traffic. Add that together. It’s $120 billion a year, wasted. It buys us nothing! Raising the fuel tax would cost less, and we’d get something in return!
Business and working people join together again today for the kick-off of Infrastructure Week to tell the White House and to tell Congress this simple message: Build America. Create jobs. Do it now!