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Road builders want transportation plank in party platforms
The Washington-based American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is calling on the Democratic and Republican parties to include language about transportation construction in their platforms when they convene in Charlotte and Tampa for their conventions.
In letters to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schutlz (D-Fla.), ARTBA President Peter Ruane said it made sense for both parties to support transportation in their respective platforms.
"A firm belief in the value of infrastructure is…woven into the historic fabric of the Democratic Party," he wrote to Wasserman-Schultz. "In 1806, Thomas Jefferson, America's first Democratic president, authorized funding for the National Road, running west from Cumberland, Md., and all the way, ultimately, to Vandalia, Ill."
"The policy platform of the first Republican National Convention, held at Philadelphia at 1856, placed heavy emphasis on infrastructure," he wrote to RNC Chairman Priebus. "That platform document included a call to begin building a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific, committing the federal government to 'render immediate and efficient aid in its construction.'"
In addition to nominating President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to compete in the general election in the fall, Democrats and Republicans will ratify platforms of their party positions when they convene Aug. 27-30 and Sept. 3-6.
Advocates and interest groups for various issues will push officials in both parties to make bold declarations in their 2012 platforms, but Ruane said it would not be a reach for either party to include a transportation plank.
"Infrastructure investment is a vital mission of the federal government - both for economic and national security," he wrote to both Priebus and Wasserman-Schultz.
