Transportation Industry Benefitting From Stimulus

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been successful in providing and saving jobs in the transportation sector, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Wednesday. He also pointed out that we are only four months into a two year recovery plan, so most results aren't yet perceptible.

Durbin says the government has provided checks for $60.4 billion and has allocated $234 billion of the total $787 billion stimulus package. Ed Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, said that an historic $48 billion of the stimulus will be spent on transportation.

“I wish the recession would end tomorrow but we have to be patient...for those who say ‘accelerate payments,’ I have the same basic feeling myself. But I just know from human and government experience that haste does make waste. Let’s make sure these funds are well invested and well spent,” said Durbin.

Wytkind discussed the multiplier effect that occurs when the transportation industry spends money that simultaneously benefits other sectors of the economy, such as the steel and lumber industries.

Wytkind criticized former President George W. Bush’s administration for neglecting to use the transportation industry as a mode for job creation. “The fact is that Americans are hurting, our members are hurting, because of eight years of do-nothing economic policies. [President Obama and the new Congress] are wedded to turning around an economy that is reeling,” said Wytkind.

House Committee discusses investing in infrastructure and transportation to boost economy

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure discussed how funding for transportation and infrastructure might stimulate the economy.

Infrastructure investments create benefits that radiate throughout the economy, said Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.). The committee pointed out that transportation and infrastructure projects create thousands of jobs domestically and also immediate benefit small businesses, local and state governments.

We have several public transit projects that are “ready-to-go,” said Congressman John Mica (R-Fla.). The discussion centered on creating a stimulus package to fund transportation projects around the country that would begin construction in 90 to 120 days.

John Irons, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, testified that “the investments would go...beyond the construction industry, they would impact a wide range of industries across the country and across industries.”