In advance of a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure meeting June 17 on Democratic legislation to invest in infrastructure, the president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department issued a statement in support of the legislation.
The Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act introduced in May by committee chair Peter DeFazio (D-NY) would focus on completing critical infrastructure projects and authorize nearly $500 billion over five years to address the country’s infrastructure needs including the backlog of repairs and replacements that need to be done to the roads, bridges and transit systems.
Larry Willis, the Transportation Trades president, said that legislation is long overdue.
“Transportation labor has long called for robust investments in our infrastructure that will reverse decades of neglect and ensure our transportation network can meet the demands of a 21st-century economy,” Willis said in a statement. “By committing substantial funding increases to highway, transit, and passenger and freight rail programs, the INVEST in America Act seeks to rebuild and repair our transportation system, all while creating and sustaining good jobs for working Americans.”
He said the legislation would also include elements important to transportation labor, including:
• Tools like assault data collection and joint labor/management safety committees to reduce the number of incidents of assaults on transit workers, as well as a requirement for intercity and commuter railroads to implement employee assault prevention and response plans.
• The creation of a national training program for the country’s frontline workforce
• Safety improvements for freight rail safety
• Assurances that ride-hailing and autonomous vehicle companies would not receive taxpayer funds intended for public transportation.
• The creation of jobs within Amtrak, and the restructuring of Amtrak’s board of directors to include a voting member representing the interest of Amtrak employees.
“We applaud Chairman DeFazio for his leadership in crafting legislation that prioritizes the needs of so many frontline transportation workers, and look forward to working with him and others to ensure the timely passage of highway, transit, and rail reauthorization.”
The current surface transportation authorization expires Sept. 30.
Republicans have already said they were disappointed with the Democrats’ move to introduce legislation in which they had no input.
In a joint statement, Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO), ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Rodney Davis (R-IL), ranking member on the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; and Rick Crawford (R-AR), ranking member on the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials all said they were not involved in drafting the bill and that it did not reflect their infrastructure priorities – ensuring state flexibility, focusing on core programs, streamlining the review process, addressing rural infrastructure needs, incorporating new technologies and fixing the Highway Trust Fund for the long term.
“However, we were not given the opportunity to address any of our priorities in this legislation. For example, today’s partisan bill lacks critical flexibility for the states, its outsized funding increases for urban areas will leave rural America even further behind, and numerous new green mandates and extreme progressive goals are woven throughout the fabric of new and existing core programs,” the statement said. “We also need to consider what our economy is going through because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of America’s workers, including those in the transportation sector, continue to grapple with our new, complex, and evolving reality. We believe a rapid seismic shift in our transportation programs will add to the already considerable uncertainty in an industry struggling for its survival.”