From the White House:
Over the past couple years, administration officials have picked up a marker and taken to our “White House white board” to explain how to fix our immigration system, break down how health reform helps your day-to-day life, and outline exactly what our budget’s paying for.
Today, Vice President Joe Biden is taking the pen, and he’s talking about something he knows like the back of his hand:
The current state of our country’s crumbling roads and bridges — and exactly why it’s so important to invest in them right now.
Our roads and bridges do far more than get people and goods from Point A to Point B.A high-quality transportation system keeps jobs here in America, allows our businesses to grow, and keeps down the prices of household goods.
Our country’s infrastructure crisis isn’t a far-off problem: 65% of our major roads are rated in less than good condition. 25% of our bridges require significant repair or can’t handle today’s traffic.
It looks like Congress is going to act soon to pass a short-term resolution that would continue to fund the projects fixing our roads and bridges — but we need to solve the problem, not just kick the can down the road.
Short term bill:
Congress on Tuesday moved one step closer to preventing a shortfall in federal transportation funding that could stall road projects across the country in August.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he plans to hold a vote on the $10.9 billion House measure extending transportation funding until the spring as early as Wednesday
“We’re going to have votes on the Highway Trust Fund before we leave here,” he said at a news conference. “I’d like to do it tomorrow or the next day.”The Department of Transportation’s Highway Trust Fund, which is used to reimburse states for large infrastructure projects, had been forecasted to run out of money next month, unless Congress approves at least a temporary funding extension.
The trust fund gets its money from the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax, which has struggled to keep up with the need for infrastructure spending projects as cars grow more fuel-efficient.
Efforts to raise the gas tax for the first time since 1993 have been unsuccessful.
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