Boswell Urges Swift Bipartisan Action on Transportation Bill

Leonard Boswell

House Should Pass Bill to Create More than 2 Million Jobs

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Boswell (IA-3), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called on House Republicans to abandon their partisan transportation bill and bring up the bipartisan job-creating Senate bill introduced as H.R. 14 by House Transportation leaders that previously passed the Senate by a vote of 74 to 22.

“Last week, Democratic and Republican Senators overwhelmingly voted to generate jobs, repair our roads and bridges, invest in our infrastructure, and strengthen our economy. I am proud to stand with 90 of my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan bill to the House. Sending the bipartisan Senate transportation bill to the President’s desk before the current highway program expires at the end of the month will bring certainty that state and local governments need to pave the way for a stronger America.

“Now is not the time for a House Republicans’ ‘my way or the highway’ No-Jobs agenda. Instead we need swift House action on the Senate bipartisan package that will save or create 17,600 jobs for workers here in Iowa.

“Transportation has long been a bipartisan issue – and the Senate continued this tradition. In contrast, House Republicans have advanced what Republican Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the most partisan and worst transportation bill in decades. Instead of taking up a Senate proposal that creates more than two million jobs, Republicans are pushing a bill that destroys more than half-a-million jobs. Rather than work with Democrats to rebuild America, Republicans are proposing to cut highway investments in 45 states, bankrupt the Highway Trust Fund, and weaken our economy.

“Without a doubt, the House Republican transportation bill is bad for jobs, bad for public safety, bad for workers and bad for our economic growth. But we can take a different route – the bipartisan route of swiftly enacting the Senate bill to make the investments necessary to strengthen our economy and our middle class, create jobs, and rebuild America.”