Newsroom: Press Releases
Lautenberg Urges Passage of Bill That Would Put
Americans Back to Work Rebuilding the Country's
Crumbling Infrastructure
Legislation is Third Jobs Bill Up For Consideration in
Past Month
Lautenberg Press Office 202-224-3224
Wednesday, November 02,
2011
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today appeared at a press conference with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to urge passage of the “Rebuild America Jobs Act,” a proposal that would put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work rebuilding aging roads, bridges, and airports across the country.
“Our country is ready to get back to work, but instead of standing up for jobless Americans, Republicans in Congress are standing in the way,” said Senator Lautenberg. “There is decaying infrastructure in every state and this bill would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rebuilding these crumbling roadways, railways and runways. Now we need Republicans to join us in passing this legislation so that we can put people to work and make the critical investments in our transportation infrastructure.”
The “Rebuild America Jobs Act” provides $50 billion for highway, rail, mass transportation, and aviation improvement projects, helping to modernize our infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bill is fully paid for by a 0.7 percent surtax on income over $1 million. The legislation would also establish a National Infrastructure Bank, capitalized with $10 billion that would leverage private and public capital to invest in infrastructure projects around the country. The infrastructure bank builds on a proposal introduced earlier this year by Senator Lautenberg and Senator Rockefeller.
This is the second component of President Obama's American Jobs Act. Last month, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of that bill, as well as the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, which would have kept 400,000 teachers in the classroom and thousands of first responders on the job.
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