U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the Republican leader of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, citing U.S. Department of Transportation data from July 3, said that the limited funds expended in high-unemployment states and federal bureaucratic red tape have failed to get jobs and transportation projects moving.
“Unfortunately, only a shocking 1% of the $48 billion in stimulus funds administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation has been spent,” Mica said. “That’s just $523 million across all 50 states. As funds sit idle, so do workers.”
Mica joined Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.), Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.), Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), and Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) in contrasting the crippling unemployment rates in their states—among the highest in the nation—with the Obama administration’s claims that with the stimulus national unemployment would peak at 8%.
“Investments in our infrastructure can create jobs, but the federal project process is so burdensome that money for good projects cannot get out fast enough,” Mica continued. “We must cut federal red tape and reduce the time it takes to get projects under way.
“We have done this successfully in previous crises. The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis was replaced within just 437 days. Because of red tape, projects of that magnitude usually take seven to eight years. The current economic crisis demands we adopt a 437-day plan for other projects across the nation.
“Some leading Democrats are talking about the possibility of another huge stimulus, despite the current package’s failure to put money on the streets quickly and create jobs. In addition, the administration wants to doom a major transportation bill—the only real jobs bill this Congress could consider—to an 18-month delay.
“The federal government cannot afford to delay our economic recovery any longer,” Mica concluded. “If we speed up the lengthy project approval process for transportation projects, can we begin to create the types of jobs that were promised under this failed stimulus? Yes we can.”
