Obama outlines vision to invest $302B in infrastructure

Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn. was the location of President Obama’s Feb. 26 speech. The former train station received $125 million in federal funding to become a regional transit hub. (Photo by kkmarais/flickr)

President Obama outlined his vision for investing in America’s infrastructure with a $302 billion, four-year surface transportation reauthorization proposal. During a speech made February 26 at the Union Depot train station in Saint Paul, Minn., he said he would work with Congress to act to ensure critical transportation programs continue to be funded and do not expire later this year.

He announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation would offer $600 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grants to fund transportation projects. The TIGER grant program, which was initially funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was recently funded in the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act that the President signed January 17.

He proposed a four-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs that will modernize the nation’s infrastructure and ensure the health and growth of these critical programs for the future while supporting millions of jobs.

He also proposed dedicating $150 billion in one-time transition revenue from pro-growth business tax reform to address the funding crisis facing our surface transportation programs and increase infrastructure investment. It’s enough to not only fill the current funding gap in the Highway Trust Fund, but to also increase surface transportation investment over current projected levels by nearly $90 billion over the next four years, he said.

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