No question: the Recovery Act is putting Americans to work on transportation infrastructure

On the Hill again today, telling the House Committee on the Budget how the Obama Administration's stimulus is strengthening our economy. I was joined by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack--my partner on a Rural Tour visit to La Crosse, Wisconsin--and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

By strengthening our economy, I mean creating jobs, sustaining jobs, and positioning our transportation infrastructure for the 21st century. And that is exactly what we are doing.

Here's the scorecard:

• $22 billion--nearly half of DOT's stimulus money--made available to the States;
• Over 6,600 projects approved
• Over 3,200 projects underway right now

And the future promises even more boosts to economic activity:

• $8 billion in high-speed rail development
• $1.5 billion in TIGER discretionary grants

What's more, the record on compliance and responsibility has been amazing:

• 100% of States and Territories met the 120-day deadline to obligate half of their highway funds
• Transit agencies are on track to meet a similar deadline on September 1st
• 3 phases of DOT Risk Management Plan for Recovery Act programs complete
• DOT's Accountability Executive Board keeps open lines of communication with the DOT Inspector General

Now, those are remarkable achievements for a fast-moving program of this scope and complexity, and I want to give most of the credit to DOT's TIGER team for managing our Recovery Act work.

I know the stumulus can't make up for every job our economy has shed. But we have supported over 5,000 jobs already, with up to 500,000 more on the way once the full effect of this landmark program is felt in the transportation industry. 

And every job we do create or preserve should be counted as a victory.

The American people want us to rebuild our roads and bridges--the orange barrels and cones are out there.
They want us to build clean public transportation--the green transit vehicles are being built and put into service.
They want us to modernize transportation for today's economy and tomorrow's--and the marine highway network and high-speed rail are on their way.

Putting Americans to work boosting our country's global competitiveness--I'm confident we'll look back on the Recovery Act as one of those moments when Americans answered a powerful challenge with a powerful response.

Comments

[Joe Thompson]

Of the portions of the stimulus package, the DOT and energy related portions are the only ones that I see being successful in creating new jobs and stimulating the economy. Thank you for your efforts, hopefully we can usher in a new era filled with more efficient vehicles and public transportation resources to rival those of our European and Asian allies.

[Michael E. Bailey]

The Recovery Act has had a very important impact here in Orange County, California, where money recieved by our transportation authority--OCTA-- is being used to modernize conjested highways, improve highway connections and help improve Metrolink passenger rail service. We do need more clean fuel busses but I don't think any Recovery Act money is going for that. There is a state tax credit that helps support buying or converting clean fuel busses but that ends in December. We should continue though to keep looking at greener fuels for our busses, including the possibility of hydroden fuel cell powered busses, which will take some federal funding to help make a reality. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Bill Fletcher]

Why not involve the oil companies in finding the replacement for oil so we don't have to bail them out once we find the next energy source.

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[Skip Outcalt]

Numbers by themselves don't tell us much. They need some form of comparison to show whether they represent an improvement.
"Over 6,600 projects approved
Over 3,200 projects underway right now"
These numbers would be much more impressive if they were compared with the numbers from previous years.
How many projects were approved in 2008, 2007, etc.
How many were built in those years?
How many people were employed in transportation related construction during those years?

[Pete Johnson]

I have to believe that our transportation will run on electricity twenty years from now. There are many effective ways to generate electricity. The hard part seems to be transporting and storing it. Seems that battery technology is the weak link. Why not make that a top priority? And, do involve the oil companies so we don't have to bail them out later.

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[OC Webdesign]

I have to believe the future of transportation will involve electric vehicles. Just look at what our society has harnessed electricity to do already. We can send messages to space and back. We can network computers around the world and retrieve information from the the other side of the globe instantly.
So many ways exist to generate electricity that are green and perpetual. The missing element seems to be an efficient way to store and transport the power.
Is there anything DOT can do to promote the development of a new way to store electrical power?

[PPC Management]

The unemployment rate edged down to 10.0 percent in November, hopefully this can help with that.

[Baton Rouge Roofing]

290,000 jobs were created this past month. that should help a little.