Federal Mass Transit Tax Break Right Now Only Covers $120 Worth of Commuting Costs Per Month, Less than Half As Much as the Benefit Given to Drivers

Disparity Shows Absolutely Backwards Priorities In Modern Age Of Conservation And With Nation's Crippling Dependence On Foreign Oil

Bipartisan Plan Equalizes the Two Benefits and Takes Away the Incentive to Drive - Takes Cars Off the Road and Puts Money Back in Commuters' Pockets

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd today will address the Regional Transportation Forum presented by the Connecticut Sierra Club and the National Corridors Initiative. Dodd will speak about the need for investing in our state and nation’s infrastructure in order to create jobs and spur economic growth.

"We have a golden opportunity in the coming months to not only rebuild existing transportation infrastructure and provide new capacity – and we need to – but to also start thinking differently about the role transportation plays in America – about how we get to work and school, how our businesses move and ship products. Not just how we live our lives today, but how we want to live our lives tomorrow."

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today spoke on the Senate floor on the state of our nation’s infrastructure and the importance of long-term investment in our roads, bridges, mass transit, drinking water, and wastewater removal systems.  Dodd’s speech comes on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the tragic I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Tomorrow also marks one year since Dodd introduced the National Infrastructure Bank Act along with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE).  Dodd has held two hearings on the legislation, which has 12 co-sponsors.

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Remarks as Prepared: The Committee will please come to order.  We gather here this morning to examine once again the condition of our nation’s infrastructure and proposals for needed improvements to it.

When the Committee last gathered to examine this critical issue, we considered the perspectives from individuals who held expertise in public and private financing, civil engineering, labor, and business.  They were unanimous in voicing compelling support for increased investment in our nation’s infrastructure and for the need to develop and implement alternative ways to finance this critically important investment in our nation’s future.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) visited Norwich on Friday to announce the federal funding he secured for construction of the Norwich Intermodal Transportation Center, currently in the final stages of development.  Dodd joined Mayor Ben Lathrop to discuss the need for improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which may pose a threat to the environmental well-being of the Thames Estuary in southeastern Connecticut.  Dodd first met with Mayor Lathrop to discuss these initiatives when the Mayor visited Washington, D.C. in January.   The city of Norwich is seeking federal funding for the Sound Norwich Wastewater Project in the Fiscal Year 2009 Interior Appropriations bill and has also requested additional funds for the transportation center in the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.  

At the site of one of Connecticut’s largest new investments in infrastructure, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) discussed the state of roads, bridges, transit systems, publicly-owned housing properties, and water treatment facilities in Connecticut and across the country.  Dodd visited the site of the Stamford Urban Transitway with Mayor Dan Malloy to discuss his bill on investing in our country’s infrastructure.    

Download the podcast here:

Remarks as Prepared: The Committee will please come to order. We gather here this morning to examine an issue of paramount importance: the condition of our nation’s infrastructure, and proposals for needed improvements to it.

Senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn., Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, made the following statement in reaction to a report issued today by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission on America’s transportation needs:

In response to today’s findings by the Texas Transportation Institute that traffic congestion continues to worsen in cities across America, Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) again stressed the need for their bipartisan legislation to revitalize, repair, and replace America’s aging and crumbling roads, bridges, transit systems, water treatment facilities, and public housing properties. 

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Responding to a looming crisis that jeopardizes the prosperity and quality of life of all Americans,  Senators Chris Dodd, D-Conn., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., today introduced a measure to revitalize, repair, and replace America’s aging and crumbling roads, bridges, transit systems, and water treatment facilities.  Two dramatic headlines in recent weeks have highlighted the escalating problem.  Two weeks ago, an 83-year-old steam pipe burst in midtown Manhattan, releasing asbestos laden particles and causing widespread damage.  Media reports have also recently questioned whether contaminated drinking water near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, may have exposed families in the area to high levels of dangerous chemicals.