Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the senior Northeastern Member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, applauded President Obama’s inclusion of robust funding for transportation and infrastructure in his FY 2012 federal budget proposal.  Nadler expressed his hope that the funding and emphasis would be sufficient to reinvigorate the economy regionally and nationally, create thousands of high-quality construction and transportation jobs, and improve and maintain our nation’s aging infrastructure systems.  Nadler, who has long worked to strengthen and modernize transportation funding – in particular for transit and infrastructure in urban areas, is New York’s foremost advocate for federal transportation funding.  He released the following statement:

“I thank President Obama for his serious and sincere focus on transportation and infrastructure funding within his proposed federal budget for FY 2012.  I am extremely pleased that he recognizes the importance of infrastructure investment for economic growth and recovery.  The $556 billion Transportation Reauthorization proposal is a good first step.  I look forward to reviewing the plan in detail, and ensuring that we enact a transportation bill that delivers what New York and the nation need: good jobs, economic development and stability, and a revamping of our failing national transportation and infrastructure systems, which are years behind those of our Asian and European counterparts.

“I am pleased by the President’s focus on high speed and passenger rail, and on wide-ranging air traffic control improvements, which are key steps toward rationalizing regional travel, improving safety and efficiency, and making Americans generally more productive and competitive.

“Nevertheless, I am concerned that the emphasis on freight rail, and the general movement of freight, may be inadequate to our national needs.  This vital issue – which encompasses the way that all of our food, consumer goods, and other products move from place to place – has a tremendous bearing on economic productivity and jobs, pollution and environmental sustainability, traffic congestion, and consumer satisfaction.  We need to get more serious about how we address freight movement nationally.

“As we tackle these and other issues in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will continue to the fight to make transportation funding and improvements a reality for New York and other dense regions.  In particular, I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner on the Transportation Reauthorization bill, as I did successfully in 2005 with former Representative Sherry Boehlert (R-NY).  I invite my GOP colleagues in the current New York delegation to join me in delivering the best possible legislation we can get for New York City and State.”