Rep. Ellison Urges Swift Bipartisan Action To Rebuild America

Statement

Today, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) called on House Republicans to abandon their partisan transportation bill, and bring up the bipartisan Senate bill that passed today by a vote of 74 to 22.

"Today, Democratic and Republican Senators voted for a transportation bill that repairs our roads and bridges, invests in public transportation, and puts Minnesotans back to work. I applaud the Senate for protecting mass transit unlike the House Republicans. Sending the bipartisan Senate transportation bill to the President's desk before the current highway program expires will provide certainty that state and local governments in Minnesota need to pave the way for a stronger America.

"Minnesota has 1,400 bridges statewide that have been labeled "structurally deficient' by the state's Department of Transportation. These bridges carry our loved ones--including our children--and serve our businesses every day. Yet at a time when our country has thousands of crumbling roads and bridges, the Republican transportation bill takes away nearly $315 million from Minnesota highways in the next five years. If a transportation bill does not pass by March 31, the Minneapolis metro area will be unable to move forward with needed repairs. This isn't just neglect of our infrastructure. The House Republican bill would put over half a million Americans out of work, including 10,000 Minnesotans.

"The latest ploy is bad for jobs, bad for public safety, and bad for workers. But we can take a different route -- the bipartisan route of swiftly enacting the Senate bill to make the investments necessary to strengthen our economy and our middle class, create jobs, and rebuild America."

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