Outside AAA Mid-Atlantic headquarters in Wilmington Monday, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware) urged their congressional colleagues to act quickly to ensure federal funds for state transportation projects remain available.
Authorization to fund new highway, bridge and transit projects expires at the end of the month.
Carper says the recent Amtrak derailment in hiladelphia and last year’s I-495 emergency bridge repair in Delaware show how necessary this funding is. He'd like to see a six-year infrastructure funding plan, adding that cities and states need long-term infrastructure funding to make smarter investments.
Although he introduced legislation Thursday to extend current authorization into July, he calls such short-term fixes ‘gimmicks’.
“Because that’s what they are, and that’s what we have used, one after the other, after the other after the other and instead of coming up with real money that’s designed…we do it for a little ways, kick the can down the road for three, four, five, six months, but that’s a stupid way to build roads highways, bridges and transit systems," said Carper. "It’s so inefficient.”
Senator Coons said whether a long-term funding plan involves more taxes or not – he and Carper plan to set a unified example for their fellow congressmen to pass a long-term fix that will strengthen the infrastructure and create jobs.
“To help the rest of Congress experience a little bit of the Delaware Way, which is the way forward, which is a way that includes the building trades and the ABC, that includes the private sector and the public sector, and includes all of us stepping up to be willing to pay the freight to pave the way for a better future.”
President Obama’s proposed setting aside nearly $500 billion for infrastructure investment – paid for by new taxes on overseas American companies – but that has little support across the aisle.
Carper’s stop-gap Highway Trust Fund extension should come to a Senate vote before Congress recesses this weekend – unless it decides to consider a similar measure the House could take up as soon as Tuesday.
