Bipartisan Policy Center to Host Bridge-Builder Breakfast on Transportation Spending in An Age of Fiscal Crisis

Panel discussion will feature Senators Carper and Voinovich, Congressman Blumenauer, and Former Senator Gorton

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will host a panel discussion, "Difficult Choices: Transportation Spending in An Age of Fiscal Crisis," with leading transportation stakeholders and experts on Thursday, February 25, 2010.  The discussion will focus on how to make wise transportation investments given the current fiscal condition of the federal government.  Panelists will discuss the impacts these investments have on jobs, as well as their broader economic, energy, and environmental effects. The conversation will directly address how to make transportation investments more strategic, accountable, and able to demonstrate positive impacts rather than just associated costs.

A series presented by the BPC, Bridge-Builder Breakfasts highlight institutions and individuals who are reaching across political lines to solve critical challenges facing the country. At a time when partisan conflicts often attract the most attention, the BPC is committed to creating a forum for those who, despite differing views, are willing to collaborate in order to advance the common good.

Panelists will include:  Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Member, Senate Committees on Finance, Environment and Public Works, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), Ranking Member, Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Member, House Committee on the Budget and House Committee on Ways and Means, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; and Senator Slade Gorton, former U.S. Senator (R-WA) and current Co-Chair of the BPC's National Transportation Policy Project.  Lisa Caruso, Staff Correspondent and Moderator of National Journal's Transportation Expert Blog, will moderate the discussion.  

The BPC's National Transportation Policy Project released its blueprint for creating a national transportation system that is efficient, effective, and accountable.  The report, "Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy," presents a vision for future federal transportation policy that distributes funds in a way that rewards performance, innovation, and competition.  NTPP is led by its co-chairs: former Senator Slade Gorton; former Congressman Sherwood Boehlert; former Congressman Martin Sabo; and former Mayor of Detroit Dennis Archer, and is comprised of a broad, bipartisan coalition of transportation experts and business and civic leaders.

WHO:              Bipartisan Policy Center

WHAT:            Difficult Choices: Transportation Spending in An Age of Fiscal Crisis

                       Bridge-Builder Breakfast Panel Discussion

WHERE:          Bipartisan Policy Center

                       1225 I Street NW

                       10th Floor, Suite 1000

                       Washington, DC 20005

WHEN:            February 25, 2010

                       8:00AM to 9:30AM

                       Continental breakfast available at 8:00AM

                       Program begins at 8:30AM

About the Bipartisan Policy Center:

In 2007, former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell formed the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to develop and promote solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. For more information please visit our website: http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/.

SOURCE Bipartisan Policy Center