Rep. Johnson: Road Projects Thwarted By Obama

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Timothy V. Johnson today signed on as an original co-sponsor of legislation that would redirect stimulus money to the Highway Trust Fund if it had not been obligated by July 16.

Rep. Johnson's action is in response to mounting frustration with the Administration's spending decisions in the face of the country's economic crisis. Rep. Johnson's decision to back the legislation follows by a day the Administration's proposal to defer reauthorization of transportation spending in 2009.

"They can find billions for Detroit and Wall Street but they can't find money for roads and bridges," Rep. Johnson said. "Transportation money is what puts people to work, puts money back in the economy, and serves the public good. Now we don't have the money for that but we apparently have it somewhere for universal health care. This proposal is plainly unconscionable."

Today, Rep. Johnson became an original co-sponsor of the Reclaim Act sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. Specifically, the legislation would rescind all funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act unobligated after July 16, with the exception of highway funding, and appropriate those funds to the Highway Trust Fund to pay for projects already in planning.

Rep. Diaz-Balart said he introduced the legislation because he is "very disappointed that less than 7 percent of the ARRA funding was devoted to transportation infrastructure, and instead went to fund wasteful projects and more government bureaucracy."

Rep. Johnson echoed that position.

"This Administration has plunged the nation into record debt with ill-conceived spending on everything from luxury excursion vessels to smoking cessation programs to socialized medicine, and much more we aren't even told about. To now sacrifice the only meaningful programs in the stimulus is inexcusable," Rep. Johnson said.

The Administration's proposal to defer transportation spending spending comes on the eve of the release of a new transportation spending plan by House Transportation Committee Chair James Oberstar that would authorize $450 billion in transportation spending over the next six years.

The Administration's proposal basically undercuts the Committee's plans and potentially puts spending for projects now in the planning stages in jeopardy. The Administration said the extension is necessary to replenish Highway Trust Fund, although Congress had passed legislation last year that was intended to keep the Highway Account solvent through the end of 2009.

"Unless this decision is corrected, this could scrap a real stimulus of the U.S. economy." Rep. Johnson said. "Important projects such as the reconstruction of Washington Street and the extension of Florida Avenue in Urbana, the reconstruction of bridges in Douglas County and a road extension critical for economic development in Coles County are examples that could be jeopardized. Spending for buses, trains and programs like Safe Routes to Schools are also jeopardized.

"Of all the so-called stimulus plans cast about by this Administration, these projects are truly the ones that create jobs.

"As a member of the Transportation Committee as well as the Highway and Transit Subcommittee, I have been gearing up for the reauthorization for many months. Elected officials from throughout the District have spent time and energy preparing their plans and projects with me and my staff in anticipation of this important reauthorization. Now the Administration is telling them to shelve it all.

"The result of this ill-conceived decision will be the loss of jobs, critical infrastructure and economic development in the 15th District and throughout the nation," Rep. Johnson said.

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