Tell House: Work on long-term highway funding solution

The following action alert was posted at AFL-CIO Now. (The headline has been updated to make clear that the AFL-CIO is not asking union members to support or oppose the short-term fix, it is urging this Congress to come up with a long-term solution.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 15, 2014) — The House is expected to vote as soon as today on a bill (H.R. 5021) to fund the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) with a short-term fix to keep it solvent. While the real need is a multi-year reauthorization, this short-term reauthorization will keep workers on the job this summer and fall building bridges, transit systems and making our highways safer. The short-term fix only delays what’s really needed, a long-term solution to our nations surface transportation infrastructure, and Congress needs to act this year.

TAKE A STAND! Call your U.S. Representative at 888-717-2650 and urge him or her get to work and pass a multi-year bill this year.

The HTF supports more than 2 million jobs each year and if Congress doesn’t close the funding gap, more than 700,000 middle-class jobs building the nation’s highways, bridges and transit systems will be at risk. Funding our nation’s infrastructure is one of the most fundamental things Congress is tasked with and it lays the foundation for a strong and growing economy.

In a letter to the House, AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel says:

Our country needs to have a long-term vision  for surface transportation and that simply cannot happen with short-term funding patches…. Passing a multi-year authorization  this year will provide employment stability, improve our transportation infrastructure and give states the certainty they need for long-term planning.

The Obama administration has offered a four-year reauthorization plan called the Grow America Act, and in May the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes transportation spending for six years.

Read more here and here.