"President’s Transportation Budget Will Cost Drivers More without Improving Roads"

Washington, D.C. (February 9, 2016) – Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – made the following statement today in response to the transportation proposal in the President’s FY2017 budget:

The President's final transportation budget is too little, too late, and wrongly focused. Throughout the Highway Bill debate, LIUNA urged Congress and the President to pass an increase in the gas tax in order to ensure funding for the Highway Trust Fund. The White House refused to support this common-sense approach to our transportation financing needs. It appears that environmental extremists have convinced the President to tax our energy sector through a $10 oil tax in order to pay for clean transportation investment. It is a poor policy proposal that will cost drivers more without actually doing anything to improve the roads they drive on. The proposal also sidesteps the urgent need to provide sustainable investment for all transportation infrastructure rather than stealing from roads and bridges to invest in transit.

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The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.