Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

To not support Congressman Hoyer's motion to the Senate transportation bill for which, many times it's been said, 74 Senators, including 22 Republicans, voted for, I would suggest, is to engage in nothing less than economic sabotage.

Well into the construction season, the unemployment rate in the construction industry is at least twice the national average, and another short-term extension will not bring enough certainty to an industry that is hurting as badly as this one is.

MAP-21 is the single largest jobs bill passed by either body in this Congress. In my home State of Illinois alone, MAP-21 will save or create nearly 70,000 jobs. Nationwide, the bill will save or create nearly 2 million jobs and spur 1 million additional jobs through the leveraging of transportation funds.

It is hard to understand, as we are ending the month of June and construction needs to be done all over this country, that we are still delaying the passage of a bill that would mean so much to the workers across the country and to strengthening our economy. I think that we need to support this motion right now, to support MAP-21, and to send it to the President's desk immediately.

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