AGC, ARTBA testify on importance of transportation investments
March 8, 2010The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) were represented in a congressional committee hearing on the importance of transportation investments to the national economy and jobs.
Tom Foss, president of Griffith Co., presented AGC testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, while William Buechner, a Harvard-trained economist and ARTBA vice president of economics and research, delivered his association’s message on the topic.
Foss emphasized that the construction industry, like other businesses, relies on a well-functioning transportation system for delivery of materials and products to job sites and, therefore, called for increased investment. Foss pointed out that unemployment in the construction industry is currently more than 24 percent and that additional highway and transportation investment is needed to remedy this situation.
AGC’s testimony pointed out that transportation funding in the stimulus legislation has saved construction jobs, but that more funding is needed. Foss also called for enactment of a long-term SAFETEA-LU reauthorization with increased funding to bring long-term economic growth and certainty to the highway construction market.
Buechner presented a similar message. He said Congress could spur economic growth and protect the transportation infrastructure network that facilitates 78 million U.S. jobs by passing a robust, multi-year federal highway and transit investment bill that includes a national goods movement program.
EPW Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she is committed to getting a six-year highway bill completed this year. She called the hearing the first step in accomplishing this goal.
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