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ENGLER SAYS INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE WILL CREATE JOBS, STRENGTHEN MANUFACTURING
NAM Chief Calls for 25-Year Strategy
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 29, 2008 – National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President John Engler today told the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that “public investments that improve and modernize our transportation infrastructure at this time of great uncertainty will help prepare the nation for its rebound by keeping steel mills going, cement trucks rolling, equipment manufacturing lines moving and Americans employed.”
Engler said there is an infrastructure crisis and a need for a 25-year strategy beyond short term fixes. “The current revenue stream going into the Highway Trust Fund is unsustainable,” he said. “The $8 billion ‘fix’ last month was just that, a temporary patch.
“We believe the case is strong for the federal government to commit resources to transportation infrastructure projects that are ready to go and will provide meaningful, long-lasting public benefit to the economy,” Engler said. “We do not have to wait for the surface transportation reauthorization to expire in September 2009 to provide the states with $18 billion in critical funding for transportation infrastructure projects that are ready to go now.”
Although federal infrastructure investment will not calm financial markets by itself, Engler said, targeted funding to transportation infrastructure will provide a solid down payment to future investments and lasting economic benefits. “To help keep U.S. businesses and manufacturers competitive, it will require spending more than 2.4 percent of our Gross Domestic Product towards public infrastructure spending and private investment must be welcomed in this economic climate,” he said.
The National Association of Manufacturers is the nation’s largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the NAM has 11 additional offices across the country. Visit the NAM’s award-winning web site at www.nam.org for more information about manufacturing and the economy.
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