Industry Applauds Lahood Nomination As Next Transportation Secretary

Contractors of America, and Building America’s Future, Washington, D.C., offices President-elect Barack Obama’s announcement of Congressman Ray LaHood’s (R-IL) nomination as U.S. Secretary of Transportation was met with enthusiasm from both sides of the aisle as well as construction interest

Sources: American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Associated General Contractors of America, and Building America’s Future, Washington, D.C., offices
President-elect Barack Obama’s announcement of Congressman Ray LaHood’s (R-IL) nomination as U.S. Secretary of Transportation was met with enthusiasm from both sides of the aisle as well as construction interests. LaHood, 63, who is retiring after seven terms representing a district encompassing Peoria, hometown of Caterpillar Inc., becomes the second Republican tapped for the Obama cabinet, and will be a key player in the new administration’s public works projects designed to stimulate the sinking economy.

AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr said the president-elect’s Transportation appointment “reflects an astute understanding of the challenges he soon will face. Congressman LaHood is ready to ensure the ambitious but necessary stimulus investments to put Americans back to work and money back into the economy. He has the right mix of experience, skills and savvy to restore confidence in the value of investing in infrastructure and to reach across partisan divides to get legislation passed.”

Separately, ARTBA President & CEO Pete Ruane added, “In an era where ideological hyperbole too often masquerades as policy, Representative LaHood has a proven record of brokering bipartisan solutions. He also possesses the critical trait of any successful transportation secretary: A demonstrated belief in the federal government’s ability to utilize transportation investment to strengthen the U.S. economy and improve the quality of life for all Americans.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-chairs of Building America’s Future congratulated LaHood in a statement, noting “Infrastructure investment is critically needed to help create jobs and long-term economic prosperity and to promote energy security and a healthy environment. Too many of our families waste hours stuck in traffic or delayed at airports because of overcrowded runways. We simply must do more to repair and modernize our crumbling schools and bridges, overcrowded railways, inadequate levees, and aging power grids and waterways to ensure a high level of safety and quality of life for all Americans.”