U.S. Conference of Mayors Vice President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Congressional Leaders and Stakeholders to Discuss Expanding Innovative Transportation Financing Tools in the Next Transportation Bill

America Fast Forward Initiative Calls for TIFIA Expansion to Create Nearly One Million Jobs Nationwide

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Conference of Mayors Vice President Los Angeles, CA, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, will join Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, and U.S. Conference of Mayors Trustee, Mesa, AZ, Mayor Scott Smith, to host a press conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill to discuss expanding innovative transportation financing tools on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at 2:30 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building - Room 406, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

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Mayors Villaraigosa and Smith will discuss America Fast Forward, a national jobs and transportation plan that will improve the way transportation projects are financed so that cities and states can access and disseminate capital directly to projects, creating a faster and more efficient system. The plan could create nearly one million jobs, produce $158 billion in economic output, and generate $51 billion in worker income.

America Fast Forward has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, and more than 100 Mayors, both Republican and Democrat, from around the country.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. More information about the Conference is available at usmayors.org.

SOURCE The U.S. Conference of Mayors