LIUNA Praises Bipartisan Senate Committee Vote for a Full-Investment Highway Bill to Build America, Protect Jobs

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Terry O'Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – made the following statement on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approval of a new two-year Highway Bill that maintains jobs-creating investments in the nation's roads, bridges and transit:

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The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee vote in favor of moving forward with a full-investment Highway Bill is a step toward tackling the jobs crisis and the nation's transportation infrastructure crisis. One-fourth of our bridges need repair. Congested roads cost us 4 billion gallons of wasted gas every year. Meanwhile, more than 1.1 million construction workers cannot find a job. The facts are known. It's time for action. Congress must put one and one together and allow men and women who desperately need work to do work that desperately needs to be done.

As the Senate moves forward, the pressure will be on the U.S. House to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to embrace the Senate bill or improve it by maintaining investment over a longer time period.

LIUNA members will continue to be on the frontlines of the fight for a solid Highway Bill, which is the largest single piece of jobs-creating legislation. Over the summer, LIUNA members made more than 8,000 calls to members of Congress in a successful effort to prevent a Highway Bill extension from cutting investment and jobs. Just this week, LIUNA members in Iowa kicked off an effort to raise the issue of our nation's highways and bridges through billboards and other media. Taking care of America's transportation system has in the past been a bi-partisan concern and there is no better place than Iowa for Republican leaders to have a serious discussion of the issue.

On behalf of its half-million members, LIUNA thanks Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator James Inhofe, and others on the Environment and Public Works Committee who voted today to back investments which will protect hundreds of thousands of jobs our nation needs now and help maintain the roads and bridges we need for our future.

The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.

SOURCE Laborers' International Union of North America