Bishop: Highway Bill "Largest Jobs Package in the 112th Congress"

Press Release

At the opening meeting of the House-Senate Conference Committee on the Highway Bill today, Congressman Tim Bishop urged conferees to take advantage of a "real opportunity to complete what is likely to be the largest jobs package in the 112th Congress."

Bishop sponsored the Senate-passed MAP-21 two-year transportation plan in the House, and was named to the Conference Committee in recognition of his leadership on transportation issues. MAP-21 would create or sustain 113,300 construction jobs in New York alone: 61,100 in highway construction and 52,200 in mass transit construction, according to the US Department of Transportation.

"Completing a multi-year transportation reauthorization bill is so important to job creation in New York and elsewhere that I sponsored the Senate bill in the House of Representatives to advance the debate and put people back to work. The American taxpayer expects members of Congress to complete this job and I intend to work with my conference committee colleagues to do just that," Bishop said in his statement.

Bishop said that he supported the framework of MAP-21, but will advocate strongly for technical corrections to specific provisions in the Senate bill, as well as a provision in the House-passed bill to affirm Congress's role in allocating funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for America's dredging needs.

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