Ayotte Renews Call for Long-term Infrastructure Bill

Statement

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) released the following statement regarding today's Senate votes on the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S. 1769) and the Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act (S.1786.) Neither measure achieved the 60-vote threshold needed to proceed to debate.

"Republicans and Democrats agree that strengthening America's transportation infrastructure is critical to the nation's economic future. That's why we need a multi-year measure that would responsibly fund transportation and infrastructure priorities, providing states and contractors the certainty they need to begin new projects and hire workers. Congress has passed eight short-term highway extensions since 2009, which is not a responsible way to budget and plan for our nation's infrastructure needs.

"The Republican infrastructure and jobs plan that I voted for would have made critical highway investments for the next two years without adding to the deficit. It would give states more authority over how funds are spent, and prevent Washington from imposing costly and burdensome new regulations without congressional approval.

"I opposed the Democrats' latest stimulus bill because it would impose a permanent tax increase on job creators at a time when we need them to grow our economy. The $57 billion bill includes another $4 billion for the Administration's unsustainable high-speed rail agenda - a program that received $8 billion in the President's first stimulus bill, of which only 4 percent has been spent to date. In fact, $15 billion in infrastructure dollars from the President's 2009 stimulus bill remain unspent.

"I will continue to work with members of both parties to craft a targeted multi-year bill that advances responsible infrastructure projects and provide states and contractors the certainty they need to plan for the future and put people to work."

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