April 3, 2014
By LIUNA President Terry O’Sullivan
Washington, D.C.– , General President of LIUNA Terry O’Sullivan – made the following statement on U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's proposed budget cuts to transportation: “LIUNA is disappointed that Chairman Ryan’s budget would make some sort of an April Fool’s joke out of the deterioration of our highways and bridges.
The Ryan-Republican budget proposal for ending the duct-tape approach to our nation’s transportation infrastructure simply rips off the tape, without a long-term fix, allowing roads and bridges across the country to become more congested, pot-hole ridden and dangerous. Instead of fully investing in the creation of hundreds of thousands of good construction jobs, his proposal destroys a program that is necessary to ensure that the nation has a robust transportation system. This will be catastrophic to the construction industry and have a damaging ripple effect throughout the economy.
“Congress is running out of time. The U.S. Department of Transportation now warns that the Highway Trust Fund, which cities and states rely on to keep our highways efficient and safe, could run out of funds in just months. The only logical solution is a small increase in the gas tax, such as that contained in the Update Act, which has been supported by numerous experts, business groups and unions, as well as transportation and consumer advocates. This increase would allow our nation time to fill the impending investment gap over the next decade as we develop alternative investment resources.”
