UPDATED: Read this analysis and summary from T4 America on the HIRE Act’s ramifications for transportation.

President Obama signed the HIRE Act this morning in the Rose Garden at the White House, and T4 America was fortunate enough to have been invited to the event.

I was especially pleased to be joined by Patricia Griffin from PolicyLink. Patricia and her organization have been strong partners with the Transportation for America campaign. Increasing access to transit and helping people reach employment, groceries and other essential daily needs are equity issues as much as they are economic issues.

We need groups like these on our side.

While this bill doesn’t contain the amount of money for transportation infrastructure like the stimulus had last year, it does have a few important provisions for transportation.

It extends the transportation bill to the end of 2010, which will spare Congress (and transportation workers across the country) the headache (and uncertainty) of the continual short-term extensions that have been standard operating procedure until now. As we saw a few weeks ago when Sen. Bunning singlehandedly held up the last extension of the transportation bill before it expired, causing a shutdown at DOT, the furlough of workers, and the suspension of crucial reimbursement checks to states, providing this little bit of certainty will at least avoid a repeat of that scenario. The bill also extends the special rule permitting urbanized areas to flex funding to transit operations, which is critical to restore and retain transit jobs and maintain services at a time when transit systems nationwide are hemorrhaging jobs, reducing service and increasing fares.

The bill also restores $19.5 billion in interest back to the highway trust fund to keep it from going bankrupt before the end of the year. With more fuel-efficient cars on the road and Americans driving less the last few years, the amount of money the federal government gets from gas taxes hasn’t been able to keep up with the authorized amounts of spending in the transportation bill.

It’s a short-term fix to a much larger issue of how we fund transportation, and doesn’t address what those billions are buying us. We need long-term solutions and answers to both of those issues.

The President’s remarks about the economy and job creation were resonant. He addressed the importance of infrastructure, in terms of both short-term job growth and longer term prosperity, noting that “this jobs bill will maintain crucial investments in our roads and our bridges as we head into the spring and summer months, when construction jobs are picking up.”

In addition to President Obama, other participants included Majority Leader Harry Reid, Majority Whip Richard Durbin, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, Jim Oberstar.

Senator Boxer’s committee is currently developing their version of the transportation bill and we are eager to work with the Senator and her staff on shared priorities and new ideas. Senator Boxer is a passionate defender of the environment who understands that the status quo is no longer acceptable. And her home state of California has been hit hard by deep cuts in transit where people need it most.

The bill President Obama signed today helps stabilize our transportation program and enables us to focus our full attention on a long-term transformational bill that prepares us for the 21st Century. This is our chance to get the changes we have spent months fighting for — increasing access to public transportation and quality jobs for all people, rebuilding broken roads and crumbling bridges and setting benchmarks that help us measure success.

Today felt like a sign of good things to come.

Photos by Quentin Kelly and Patricia Griffin.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Following the bipartisan passage of the jobs bill in the Senate this morning, James Corless, campaign director of Transportation for America, released the following statement:

“Today’s bipartisan passage by the Senate of a $15B jobs bill came with a clear indication of the significance of transportation for the American public. Central to the Senate compromise was the caveat put forth by Senator Voinovich (R-OH) that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) submits a comprehensive transportation bill by year’s end, recognizing the long-term economic significance of prioritizing our national transportation program.

“While this bill extends the existing transportation bill through 2010, it does not offer financial support for longer term infrastructure projects.  We therefore stand ready to support Chairman Boxer (D-CA), and Senator Voinovich’s (R-OH) leadership in creating a bi-partisan long-term, transformational transportation bill in the near future as it will serve as a strong indicator that the American public can expect Congress and the Administration to viably reshape our transportation infrastructure.

“If given the opportunity to move ahead with additional job creation measures, Congress can work to save and create thousands of jobs in 2010 by increasing funding levels for public transportation, including operating assistance for struggling systems, as well as investing in a robust package of pedestrian, bicycle, livable community and transportation technology projects as we have proposed. These investments would put people back to work immediately and improve access and safety for those still looking for ways to get to their jobs.

“In order to encourage long-term economic stability and ensure that additional jobs are not lost, Congress needs to address our nation’s outdated transportation program and finalize a fully transformational transportation bill.”

The Economic Policy Institute ran the numbers on Transportation for America’s jobs proposal and concluded that our plan for increased transportation spending would create 480,000 jobs.

The Senate’s first jobs bill currently has no money for transportation, other than a transfer of general fund dollars to cover the looming gap in the Highway Trust Fund while extending the transportation bill (SAFETEA-LU) until the end of the year. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is said to be planning several separate bills, one of which may focus on transportation).

Our proposed package for Congress directs $34.3 billion toward a mix of public transportation, highways and bicycle and pedestrian projects, closely resembling EPI’s own plan. Our proposal contains roughly $16 billion for transit, $8.1 billion for the Surface Transportation Program (highways), $9.8 billion for competitive grants (like the TIGER grants announced today) and $1.5 billion for Active Transportation such as bike and pedestrian facilities to make walking and biking safer and more attractive.

(View the full detailed T4 America proposal here.)

According to EPI’s analysis, the Transportation for America proposal is especially strong at job creation for low-wage earners and Americans without a college degree. The plan is also effective at creating jobs for African-Americans and Hispanic workers, two demographic groups that have borne a disproportionate share of the economic downturn’s effects.

Ethan Pollack, a policy analyst for EPI, characterizes T4 America’s approach as “a well-tailored package of transportation investments” that can “help put people back to work.” The EPI numbers do not account for the increased consumer spending that will result from these newly employed Americans.

As the U.S. Senate continues to piece together its job-creation legislation, we encourage members to strongly consider substantial investment in infrastructure repair and money to keep transit systems running. Jobs legislation continues to create an opening for increased accountability and benchmarks for federal transportation policy, laying the foundation for more jobs and greater prosperity down the road.

For information about EPI’s report and to obtain a complete copy, click here: http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib271/

And click here to tell your Senators that they must include money for keeping our vital transit systems running with any jobs package.

With a 1/3 of the money out the door already, the stimulus was able to work, in part, because the money was spent relatively quickly. But spending money quickly often relies on formulas and methods that are outdated, or — as evidenced in a report last month by the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Good Jobs First —  inequitable. Minority-owned businesses have received only 10.2 percent of stimulus funds toward federal contracts, while women-owned businesses received 5.9 percent.

There were similar shortcomings at the state level. The head of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has said he was “not aware of a single one of our members who’s received a contract related to the stimulus package.”  In Colorado, the Denver Post reported that the state Department of Transportation failed to meet its minority hiring target of 7.5 percent.

These numbers have been noticed in Washington.  The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing Democratic leaders to make sure the in-progress jobs bill provides real relief to many of their majority-minority districts, and President Obama has pressed governors to step up their efforts as well. If and when the Senate takes up job-creation legislation similar to the House version passed in December, it will provide an opening to learn from the stimulus and ensure everyone takes part in America’s economic recovery.

A new analysis of federal stimulus spending confirms what many of us have suspected for months: investment in public transportation gets more people to work, faster, in just about every sense.

The report’s analysis, co-authored by Smart Growth America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and U.S. PIRG, reveals that during the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation produced twice the jobs per billion dollars as did highway projects.

This is a critical lesson as the Senate takes up a jobs-creation measure passed by the House late last month, based almost entirely on the previous ARRA formula. If the Senate jobs bill were to instead invest equally in public transportation and highways (rather than the uneven split of ARRA), an additional 71,415 job months would be created, equivalent to year-round employment for nearly 6,000 additional workers.  And this could be done without spending a dime more than the House.

It is imperative that Senators utilize this opportunity. As Smart Growth America President Geoff Anderson put it: “If we are serious about creating jobs and bringing about the economic recovery our nation desperately needs, members of the Senate will insist on investing a greater percentage of the transportation funds in public transportation.”

Why do public transportation projects put more people to work dollar-for-dollar? First, public transportation projects invest more in labor than in land acquisition. Second, the projects tend to be more complex, resulting in greater employment diversity in both job numbers and required skills.

Public transportation has also proven itself to be just as “shovel-ready” as roads. Compared to highway infrastructure projects, public transportation projects are spending money at roughly the same rate nationwide.

In addition, every job saved or created for America’s bus drivers, rail operators and station agents is valuable in and of itself. But we often forget public transport does not just provide work, it also gets people to work. Millions of Americas rely on buses and subways each day for employment and essential services, especially during tough times. Investing in public transportation is an investment in their lives and livelihood too.

Read the report for yourself here, or read the full press release.

The transportation spending priorities in the jobs bill, set for a vote in the House of Representatives today, will provide much needed short-term funding for our roads, bridges and transit systems that will put Americans to work across the country. These “stopgap” provisions will save and create jobs, and give states and localities the opportunity to start bringing their crumbling transportation systems back into a state of good repair.

Riders of public transportation systems all over the U.S. will benefit in particular from the provision allowing large transit systems to use 10 percent of the $6.15 billion in formula funding for operations, a critical provision during this crisis in transit funding. This emergency operating assistance will save jobs and prevent debilitating fare increases and services cuts that make it more difficult for working people to get where they need to go.

But to get the biggest bang for the buck in job creation and increase accountability for transportation funding, the Senate can make meaningful changes that will focus investments in a smarter more responsible way towards projects that create the most jobs, fastest and build for the long-term health of our economy.

In adjusting the jobs bill the Senate should:

• Include language to ensure the $27.5 billion allocated to the traditional highway program goes towards projects that restore our transportation networks to a state of good repair. The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated current road repair needs at $94 billion per year. These “fix-it-first” projects are ready to go faster than other projects and create 16 percent more jobs than new highway construction. Unfortunately, the current draft fails to include language ensuring highway money is prioritized to fix crumbling roads and bridges.
• Include funding for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and the Department of Transportation’s High Speed Rail and TIGER programs to create good green jobs modernizing our transportation system and provide significant long-term benefits for the nation. The merit-based investments in the TIGER program increase accountability of spending and ensure we are funding projects that would create the most jobs and deliver the biggest benefits. The $1.5 billion TIGER grants available in the ARRA attracted $57 billion in applications, leaving more than $55 billion unfunded.
• Include workforce development provisions to target new transportation construction jobs to the people who need them most. This can be done by dedicating one percent of all funding for apprenticeship and construction careers programs in the transportation sector and by targeting 30 percent of all construction work hours to local, lower-income workers.

This jobs bill will provide needed funding for transportation projects to stem the tide of continuing job losses. But short-term measures, based on an outmoded, 1950s-era transportation program, simply are not sufficient to meet the economic challenges of the 21st century.

We applaud the House leadership for addressing the short-term needs for job creation while keeping a focus on taking up the successor legislation to the expired SAFETEA-LU law in earnest in this Congress. We look forward to supporting Congress and the Administration in bring about a bold new vision for our transportation program that supports long-term economic growth and creates a safer, cleaner, smarter system for everyone.

Later today, the House will vote on a separate $174 billion jobs bill. Tucked inside that bill is a longer extension of the 2005 transportation bill that would extend SAFETEA-LU all the way to the end of September 2010.

With the health care logjam preventing the Senate from considering any other meaningful or controversial legislation, House leaders know the chances of the Senate acting on their jobs bill before January are virtually nil. But the Senate is expected to approve the defense spending bill that includes the two-month extension before Christmas. We assume House members hope the Senate will come back from recess and pass the jobs bill with the longer extension early in 2010.

Along with the nine-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, the jobs bill also provides $36.7 billion to states for transportation investments. Elana Schor had an early breakdown on Streetsblog Capitol Hill, but read on below the jump for some details about the money included for transportation.

For the most part, the balance of funding is the same as the economic recovery act (ARRA) from February, with a few notable exceptions. There are no competitive TIGER grants or additional money for high speed rail in this version, but it does include the flexibility to use 10 percent of transit funds on operating assistance to preserve service and jobs.

Highway Funding: $27.5 billion total

• $60 million for competitive grants to serve ‘priority primary routes’
• $20 million for disadvantaged business enterprises bonding assistance
• 3% set-aside for Transportation Enhancements (We’re checking on this. This number seems lower than it should be)
• 30% sub-allocated to metropolitan areas
• Priority should be given to projects in economically distressed areas and those that can be completed within a 3-year timeframe

Transit Funding: $8.4 billion total

• $6.15 billion for formula grants
• $100 million for discretionary greenhouse gas grants to transit agencies
• $500 million for New Starts/Small Starts
• $1.75 billion for Fixed Guideway (Rail) Modernization
• Allows up to 10% of formula funding to be used for operating assistance
• Priority to economically distressed areas

Total Intercity Rail Funding: $800 million

• $800 million for Amtrak for fleet modernization (Streetsblog DC points out the connection to GE’s clean locomotives here)

Stay tuned via twitter with @t4america and @eschor if you want to follow the likely vote this afternoon.

Second, we’re proposing a boost in investment in the nation’s infrastructure beyond what was included in the Recovery Act, to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. These are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring across the country. Already, more than 10,000 of these projects have been funded through the Recovery Act. And by design, Recovery Act work on roads, bridges, water systems, Superfund sites, broadband networks, and clean energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. It was planned this way for two reasons: so the impact would be felt over a two year period; and, more importantly, because we wanted to do this right. The potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace, was enormous. So I asked Vice President Biden and others to make sure – to the extent humanly possible – that the investments were sound, the projects worthy, and the execution efficient. What this means is that we’re going to see even more work – and workers – on Recovery projects in the next six months than we saw in the last six months.

Even so, there are many more worthy projects than there were dollars to fund them. I recognize that by their nature these projects often take time, and will therefore create jobs over time. But the need for jobs will also last beyond next year and the benefits of these investments will last years beyond that. So adding to this initiative to rebuild America’s infrastructure is the right thing to do.

The White House Press Secretary also circulated a document ahead of the speech with details on President Obama’s plan. It outlined three key areas for stimulating job growth; small business, infrastructure, and clean energy and efficiency. Here’s the second point in full detail:

Investing in America’s Roads, Bridges and Infrastructure

Additional investment in highways, transit, rail, aviation and water. The President is calling for new investments in a wide range of infrastructure, designed to get out the door as quickly as possible while continuing a sustained effort at creating jobs and improving America’s productivity.

Support for merit-based infrastructure investment that leverages federal dollars. The Administration supports financing infrastructure investments in new ways, allowing projects to be selected on merit and leveraging money with a combination of grants and loans as was done through the Recovery Act’s TIGER program.

With the signs pointing toward a jobless recovery — America’s economy rebounding slightly, but unemployment remaining high — pressure is mounting on President Obama and Congress to take measurable steps to put people back to work.

Amidst today’s White House jobs summit, congressional Democrats have been working on ideas for a potential jobs bill in the House and Senate to put Americans to work with targeted investments. One potential component of a jobs bill receiving significant attention is investment in transportation infrastructure — a part of the economic recovery act from the beginning of this year that has clearly had an impact on the economy and created jobs.

Supplemented by numbers from the American Public Transportation Association and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, Chairman James Oberstar and Rep. Peter DeFazio held a press conference and sent a letter to President Obama yesterday noting the thousands of transportation projects in states that can get underway quickly. Reports from AASHTO and APTA identify $48 billion in highway projects and $15 billion in transit projects that can be started quickly, creating jobs and investing in our transportation system.

With consensus beginning to form around including ample funding for ready-to-go transportation projects in any potential jobs bill, the debate has shifted. What projects will get funded, and what might the criteria be for choosing? Will the stimulus debate’s ubiquitous “shovel-ready” term once again be the only criteria? Could this bill, like the stimulus, allow states to bypass urgent repair needs in favor of new projects?

With almost every state facing an enormous backlog of desperately-needed repair projects, Transportation for America is pushing to make sure any spending boost is targeted at ready-to-go projects that can bring our transportation system into a state of good repair, rather than directing funds toward new projects we cannot afford to maintain. T4 America campaign director James Corless said in a statement yesterday:

We applaud the chairmen for pointing out that the rehabilitation of our over-taxed highway and transit systems is as imperative as it is effective at putting people to work on a timely basis. Among infrastructure-related investments, such ‘state-of-good-repair’ projects will create more jobs, faster than other investments. As we have argued since before the first stimulus, it makes perfect sense to restore our existing infrastructure as we prepare to lay the groundwork for a more transformational vision.

Creating jobs through a burst of transportation spending is a smart plan, but it should not detract from passing a full, six-year transportation bill that can get us on the path to a 21st Century transportation system. Corless went on to note:

However, we are deeply concerned that a two-year continuation will once again provide an excuse for some members of Congress to defer this country’s desperate need to create a new, long-term plan for investing in the infrastructure we need to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving, global economy. As we noted in a letter to Congressional leaders this week:

Any short-term jobs package for transportation should be limited to no more than one year, providing a strong boost to the American economy in 2010, while making sure this Congress finishes its work on a longer-term transformational transportation authorization bill that can bring our nation’s transportation policy and programs into the 21st Century.

Before Thanksgiving, we sent a letter to Congressional leaders with three principles that should guide transportation spending in any potential jobs bill. Any plan to create jobs through transportation spending should:

1. Create the greatest number of jobs in the quickest time possible by prioritizing rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure and target new workforce development opportunities for people most in need of employment. (i.e., “Fix-it-first.”)
2. Chart a new 21st century direction in transportation policy.
3. Be limited to no more than a year and not replace the long term authorization of the transportation bill.

As Matt Lewis from the Center for Public Integrity noted from US PIRG on Twitter yesterday, “House leaders stressed ‘state of good repair’ #transpo projects but said $ would flow thru existing formulas. Tough 2 do both?”

Any plan to create jobs through transportation spending should:

1. Create the greatest number of jobs in the quickest time possible by prioritizing rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure and target new workforce development opportunities for people most in need of employment. (i.e., “Fix-it-first.”)
2. Chart a new 21st century direction in transportation policy.
3. Be limited to no more than a year and not replace the long term authorization of the transportation bill.

Click through the jump to read the full letter to the Speaker of the House from Transportation for America and several of our key partners.

Dear Speaker Pelosi,

We applaud your leadership in addressing America’s economic challenges and your desire to address the nation’s unemployment situation.  As organizations that understand how transportation spending both creates jobs and connects people to jobs, we believe any investments that are part of any short-term jobs package should follow three principles:

(1) Create the greatest number of jobs in the quickest time possible by prioritizing rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure and target new workforce development opportunities for people most in need of employment. The rehabilitation and operation of existing roads, bridges, rail lines and transit systems are investments that have been proven to create more jobs and get projects underway in the shortest amount of time possible.  Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that increase operating efficiency of all transportation systems are quick to implement and provide 50% of project costs as direct labor compared to 20% for new highway construction. And significant funding for transit and intercity bus operations in a jobs bill would allow hundreds of public transit agencies all across America to rehire workers and drivers immediately after a jobs bill is signed while reconnecting thousands of people to jobs.

A focus on workforce development would target new transportation construction jobs to the people who need them the most by dedicating one percent of all funding for apprenticeship and construction careers programs in the transportation sector and targeting 30 percent of all construction work hours to local, lower-income workers.

(2) Chart a new 21st century direction in transportation policy. Our federal transportation policy and programs are stuck in the past and are out of touch with a 21st century economy.  We urge a jobs bill to begin to chart a new direction in federal transportation policy by including significant funding for the new TIGER multi-modal discretionary grants program as established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the TIGGER grants to green and modernize transit vehicles, new investments in new public transit (New starts and formula funding), high speed rail, intercity bus, intelligent transportation systems, and seamless networks of on-road bicycle and pedestrian facilities and trails.

Finally, in order for Congress to lay the groundwork for a new outcome-oriented direction in federal transportation policy in the upcoming legislation, we request a requirement be included for the US Department of Transportation to develop and, within nine months, report on new transportation performance measures to be incorporated into a subsequent [full] transportation authorization.

(3) Be limited to no more than a year and not replace the long term authorization of the transportation bill. Any short-term jobs package for transportation should be limited to no more than one year, providing a strong boost to the American economy in 2010, while making sure this Congress finishes its work on a longer-term transformational transportation authorization bill that can bring our nation’s transportation policy and programs into the 21st century.

The economic challenges we face as a nation face are staggering.  Our organizations applaud your leadership on job creation and we look forward to supporting your efforts in enacting such critical legislation.

Respectfully,

Transportation for America
Reconnecting America (T4A Co-Chair)
Smart Growth America (T4A Co-Chair)
Amalgamated Transit Union
America 2050
America Bikes
American Bus Association (ABA)
Apollo Alliance
Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)
The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
Conference Of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC)
The Federation of State Public Interest Groups (USPIRG)
Gamaliel Foundation
Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA)
LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors
National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity
National Housing Conference (NHC)
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Partnership for Prevention
PolicyLink
Rails to Trails National Conservancy (RTC)
Transportation Equity Network (TEN)
Alternatives for the Community and Environment (Massachusetts)
Transit for Livable Communities (Minnesota)