Washington, D.C.-Today, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of S.1769, the Rebuild America Jobs Act, President Obama's proposal that would invest $60 billion in the nation's infrastructure. Republicans also offered an alternative piece of legislation, S.1786, the Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011, which would have led to job loss and included drastic rollbacks to public health protections. Both bills were voted down today in the Senate.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement following the two votes:
Senator Boxer said: "It is outrageous that Republicans defeated President Obama's bill, which would put people back to work by investing in our nation's aging infrastructure. Instead of supporting the President's proposal, Republicans offered a bill that would roll back public health safeguards and cause massive job losses through draconian funding cuts to programs that help all Americans."
Senator Boxer spoke on the floor today prior to the votes.
Last month, Senator Boxer, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), EPW Ranking Member, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, and Senator David Vitter (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, announced that they will markup a two-year surface transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), on Wednesday, November 9 at 10:00 a.m. in the Environment and Public Works Committee.
In July, Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe released an outline for MAP-21. In May, Senators Boxer, Inhofe, Baucus and Vitter released a joint statement on MAP-21.
