Congress settles for stopgap highway bill

UPDATE: Lacking the votes to pass either the bipartisan transportation bill or a weaker alternative sought by the Tea Party contingent, House Republicans on March 29 approved a 90-day temporary transportation funding bill. Faced with the looming March 31 deadline to approve funding, the Senate followed suit and sent it to President Obama’s desk for signature. See you in 90 days…

Urge Congress to pass bipartisan transportation bill

It’s staggering. More than 17% of construction trades workers are looking for jobs. (And in some areas of the country, it’s 20%, 30%, or more.)

Meanwhile, 68,842 American bridges are deficient. More than 282 million vehicles cross those bridges every day. And many public transit systems have serious problems and are in need of critical upgrades.

Workers in the construction and transportation sectors urgently need jobs. And there’s tons of work to be done to fix our crumbling infrastructure and ensure public safety. But obstructionists in the U.S. House of Representatives — led by House Speaker John Boehner — are refusing to pass the Senate’s bipartisan surface transportation bill.

TAKE A STAND! Please click here to tell House Speaker John Boehner and GOP leadership: Pass the Senate’s bipartisan surface transportation bill now!

The Senate already has done its job. A supermajority — 74 out of 100 senators — came together to pass a bipartisan surface transportation bill. This two-year, $109 billion funding bill will support millions of jobs and help build and maintain safe and strong highways, roads, bridges and transit systems.

But Speaker Boehner and other House GOP leaders are holding jobs and public safety hostage while they push an extreme, partisan agenda. Their proposed legislation guts transit funding, privatizes public-sector work to reward campaign donors, kills thousands of jobs and raids the pensions of federal workers.

Although the economy is slowly getting better, construction and transportation workers cannot afford to go without work while House Republican leaders engage in power grabs.

Please click here to tell House Speaker John Boehner and GOP leadership: Pass the Senate’s bipartisan surface transportation bill now!