LaHood: DOT has great deal to show for ARRA work

To date, the Department has made nearly half of its funds – almost $22 billion – available to states and other entities, LaHood told the committee.

The Trucker News Services

7/24/2009

WASHINGTON — Less than six months after the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Transportation has a great deal to show for taxpayers’ investments, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood told members of the House Budget Committee today.

Congress provided the Department of Transportation with more than $48 billion in Recovery Act funds, LaHood said, noting that the amount was equal to nearly two-thirds of the DOT’s entire annual budget request for fiscal year 2010.

“It is an enormous opportunity for us, and we are working overtime to make the most of it,” he said.

To date, the Department has made nearly half of its funds – almost $22 billion – available to states and other entities, LaHood told the committee.

“We have approved over 6,600 projects for highway and other transportation projects nationwide,” he said. “Of those, more than 3,200 road, transit and airport improvement projects are under way right now.”

Noting that transportation accounts for roughly 10 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, LaHood said he was “proud to say that the DOT is showing how the federal government can move quickly, effectively, and ethically to invest in good projects and good jobs in every state in the nation.

He lauded the work of the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Team that was tasked with coordinating and overseeing the DOT’s responsibilities and reporting regularly on their progress.

“The work of the TIGER Team has been instrumental in keeping our implementation on track and I am pleased to report that the efforts of our TIGER Team and many others throughout our Department have enabled the DOT to achieve success,” LaHood testified.

LaHood cited several examples of work accomplished through ARRA funds, including examples he cited in an address before the National Policy Institute last week.

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