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LaHood thanks Congress for passing highway bill
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday that his former colleagues in Congress should be applauded for passing a $105 billion transportation spending bill in the midst of an election year.
LaHood, who was a Republican member of the House before he was appointed to his Cabinet position by President Obama in 2009, said in a post on his "Fast Lane" blog on the transportation department's website that the highway legislation was "a good bill that will create jobs, strengthen our transportation system, and grow our economy.
"Transportation moves our economy, so legislation that keeps America's transportation network operating safely and reliably is a national priority," LaHood wrote. "And it's no secret that I have pressed steadily for our legislators to set aside politics and pass a bipartisan bill that puts America first. So, it is welcome news that Congress has done that."
"I wish I could say we'll get a transportation bill (in the next six months), but I know we won't," he said then at a transportation event in Washington.
On Monday, LaHood said he was glad the road the congressional negotiations end up taking led to a different destination.
"Fashioning a national transportation law in the current political environment is no easy task," he wrote. "We all agree that efforts to move people and goods safely and effectively are critical to our economic security. But we don't always agree on how best to do that."
LaHood noted that it had been more than 1,000 days since Congress had approved a new transportation spending bill.
"Congress extended that law several times while legislators discussed and debated what would replace it," he said of the the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) bill that was originally supposed to expire in 2009.
"I'm happy to say that last Friday, 373 Members of the House of Representatives and 74 Senators voted in favor of a new law that will fund federal surface transportation policy through September 2014," LaHood added of the final votes to approve its replacement, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) bill.
LaHood said Monday on this Twitter page that he planned to attend the signing of the transportation bill at the White House.
President Obama is expected to sign the transportation bill this week to avert an interruption in road and transit spending.
