Infrastructure means jobs

OPINION:

America is building. We are finally modernizing infrastructure and transportation systems thanks to historic funding levels from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This investment, enacted by President Joe Biden with bipartisan support in Congress, is making the nation’s transportation system much better off than it was four years ago. Now, we must keep it going.

Federal investment is improving infrastructure, creating jobs, keeping goods moving, enhancing safety and readying the future workforce.

BIL funds have supported over 90,000 new transportation projects across every Congressional district, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The investment we have made in our transportation and infrastructure is working. Let’s keep it going.

Keeping our transportation systems in good repair, resilient, safe and ready for future freight and passenger demand requires thinking ahead and investing in the future.

In committee hearings this Congress, we have heard testimony that Congress did its job four years ago by providing transformational investments in roads, bridges, transit, rail, airports and ports. Many smaller communities are accessing infrastructure dollars for the first time, advancing safety projects and making it easier for people to get around their communities. The result: we are closing the infrastructure needs gap, creating jobs, delivering nearly $600 in savings each year for American families, and upgrading the physical assets the country needs to remain economically competitive. But much more needs to be done, particularly in reducing roadway fatalities. Traffic fatalities devastate families and communities across the country.

Every witness at our committee hearings has expressed support for maintaining federal investment. Not one of the witnesses supported freezing infrastructure funding or indiscriminately firing public servants and hampering the capacity of federal agencies to deliver transportation solutions and create jobs.

BIL funding is tackling the biggest supply chain bottlenecks that drag down our economy and drive-up prices for consumers. The law dedicates $7 billion in formula funds for highway freight enhancements; invests more than $40 billion in bridge repair and replacement to make sure new bottlenecks don’t form; and helps ports move cargo more efficiently, cleanly and competitively with over $2 billion in Port Infrastructure Development grants.

This Congress, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has another opportunity to deliver a bipartisan infrastructure bill. The authorization for surface transportation programs expires in September 2026. Democrats on the committee stand ready to be strong partners in supporting all modes of surface transportation and ensuring access to funding by multiple levels of government. We understand how the work of our committee affects the economy, supply chains, jobs, safety, mobility, opportunity and quality of life for the women and men we represent.

The President’s rapid-fire executive orders and mass firings over the last few weeks have put billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and tens of thousands of projects at risk. These reckless actions are sowing chaos and causing project delays, which raise project costs. Transportation policy works best when it is dependable and transparent, and endures across administrations.

I will fight to provide the necessary resources to create more jobs, protect the traveling public and support America’s transportation workers. The American people need safer, cleaner, greener, and more accessible transportation, and I am prepared to work across the aisle to ensure these needs are met.

• Rep. Rick Larsen has been serving as Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure since the 118th Congress and has served on the committee since arriving in the House in 2001. Larsen was born and raised in Arlington, Washington. Rick and his wife, Tiia, live in Everett, Washington, and are the proud parents of two sons, Robert and Per.