Thank you to Wayne [Tedder] for the introduction, Mayor Gillum, Mary Ann Lindley, County Commission Chairman.

 

I’m on an 11-hundred mile journey up the East Coast to focus America’s attention on our infrastructure – and the theme of the work we’re doing over the next several days is to remind the American people that the future is a choice. 

 

When you look back at history, even during the Civil War, President Lincoln had the audacity to begin the transcontinental railroad. 

 

And on the heels of World War II, Dwight Eisenhower had a vision for an interstate highway system, which was established in 1956. 

 

This country has always dreamed big. 

 

And yet, when we look over the next 30 years, at the future of our country, we know that we have some headwinds in front of us. We know that 70 million more people will live in this country by 2045. And that means that these traffic snarls that you have today will get worse if we don’t take it upon us to do big things. 

 

When I think about 30 years from now, I do not want our children and our grandchildren to wonder whether we ever thought about them. The promise of America has been that we always try to leave the next generation a better country than we found it. 

 

And so, over our history we’ve chosen the future. And that’s the choice we have to make now. I said before that America is in the midst of a growth spurt, and the problem is her roads, rails, and bus systems do NOT automatically grow with her. 

 

Over the next 30 years, are we going to have the kind of infrastructure that allows America to seize opportunities, or are we going to have infrastructure that’s crumbling, that becomes a drag on the economy rather than an indicator of our prowess as a nation?

This question is being asked all over the country, and every place I go there is a to-do list a mile long: projects that have been waiting – sometimes for up to 30 years. Right here in Tallahassee, you know what you need to do, and the challenge is securing the resources and the money with which to do it. 

 

Right here, there’s a section of the Capital Circle that needs to be expanded. (It’s just one of the many projects you have). The Florida DOT wants to build it out from two lanes to six. But of the $120 million needed for the project, right now it only has 9. And without the rest of the money, this city won’t be the economic hub it can be. 

 

But the future is a choice, and we have a choice. We can build this road – and we can build more like it. And we can create jobs, and we can create access, and we can grow our economy.  

 

But we’ve got to choose the future.  But I’m here because we cannot make that choice alone.   

 

From the biggest bridges in the biggest cities… to the smallest country roads in the most rural towns… funding from Congress makes nearly every route of transportation possible. Including a stretch of Capital Circle down the road. Lately, however, Congress has not been living up to its task.  

 

Last summer, for the 32nd time, Congress patched up our transportation funding with the legislative equivalent of a Band-Aid. And in three months, that funding will start to expire again. 

 

This could not come at a worse time. By the end of the decade, we’re on track for a $1-trillion-dollar gap between what we invest and what we need.  

 

We need a solution. We need to get back in the business of building things again. And the answer – at least the start of an answer – is painted on the side of our bus: The GROW AMERICA Act. 

 

The name speaks for itself. It would let our roads, rails, and ports grow along with our country. It would invest big money, $478 billion dollars – and, just as important, invest it for the long-term, over six years. 

 

If we want cities like yours to tackle big projects like this – projects that can take five years or more – then we need to provide stable funding for at least that amount of time. (The fact that we haven’t – and the uncertainty that’s brought – has already caused Arkansas and Tennessee to mothball projects). 

 

So this is just the first stop. Over the next four days, I’ll be traveling up the coast, through five states, to make sure everyone understands this – that the future is a choice. 

 

And it’s a choice that we have to make together. 

 

Even though Congress has to pass the bill, it’s still a choice we have to make together because you might not think that members of Congress listen to what you say. But I can tell you: They do.  

 

In hearings on the Hill and over coffee in my office, they tell me about the opinion pieces they read in the paper… about the calls they get. And they tell me: It makes them want to do something. 

 

They hear you, and they’ve told me hear you.  

 

So I ask you: Make them hear you. Keep writing. Keep calling. Keep demanding a big transportation bill. And let’s keep this country moving. 

 

Thanks so much. 

 

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