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Senate Committee Proposal to Prevent Collapse of Highway Trust Fund Merits Action, As Do Other Measures to End Duct-Tape Approach to Roads, Bridges

“Only a Matter of Time Until Another Bridge Collapses or Another Life is Lost”

Washington, D.C. (April 10, 2014) – Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – made the following statement on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee press conference today addressing the MAP-21 reauthorization:

“We commend bipartisan progress in the Senate to address the urgent need for action in passing a long-term transportation bill before our nation’s Highway Trust Fund can no longer support both the safety of motorists or hundreds of thousands of good jobs. 

Already the failure to act is creating ripples through our economy with states delaying road projects. And it is only a matter of time until another bridge collapses or another life is lost due to deteriorating and pothole-ridden roads and highways.

The timeframe put forth by Senators Barbara Boxer and David Vitter – a six-year reauthorization – would provide the stability that is so urgently needed to fix our transportation infrastructure and to encourage the investment that creates job growth.

It remains clear that the most tested and logical way to provide resources for proposals such as this and to preserve the Highway Trust Fund is a gas tax adjustment, which will provide time for law-makers to develop longer-term solutions.”

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