President Barack Obama stood near the foot of the Tappan Zee Bridge on Wednesday, calling on Republicans in Congress to support a $302 billion transportation infrastructure bill.
“The alternative is to do nothing and watch businesses go to places that have outstanding infrastructure,” he told more than 200 invited guests at Sunset Cove restaurant at the Washington Irving Boat Club in Tarrytown.
Obama”™s bill would spread out spending over four years in response to the dwindling of the Highway Trust, a gas-tax funded account the administration says will run out of money sometime this summer. The gas tax is set to expire in the fall, but at its current rate it has been inadequate to keep up with infrastructure spending.
If the fund dries up, Obama said, 112,000 projects could be in jeopardy and as many as 700,000 jobs could be lost ”“ more than the combined populations of Tampa, Fla., and St. Louis.
Half of the funding for that bill would come from the gas tax, with the other half coming through closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing taxes on overseas earnings. The Senate approved a smaller, six-year bill for $265 billion, but it was unclear if the House would take up either proposal.
The president pointed to the old Tappan Zee Bridge in view behind him to illustrate the need to renew the country”™s transportation infrastructure. He noted the Tappan Zee is the longest bridge in the state and “one of the busiest bridges around.”
“As any commuter will tell you, it is crowded,” he said. “It carries a lot more traffic than when it was built back in 1955. At times, you can see the river through the cracks in the pavement: I”™m not an engineer but I figure that”™s not good.”
Obama noted the speedy approval of the $3.9 billion replacement project for the Tappan Zee now underway as the type of projects the U.S. needs. (The president joked to attendees they should come up with a name “a little bit more fresh” than “New NY Bridge.”) He applauded Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was in attendance, for his work with the state Legislature to get local approval after decades of discussion about the need for a replacement.
The federal government committed a $1.6. billion loan for construction of the bridge, though questions linger about how expensive the toll will need to be to pay for the construction.
Obama said infrastructure projects would attract and retain businesses while putting people to work through construction.
“The bottom line, Tarrytown, is America doesn”™t stand still,” he said.
For more on the president”™s visit and proposed infrastructure bill, see related story this Friday on westfaironline.com.
