WASHINGTON \u2013 Federal spending on transportation projects, including aviation, highway, conventional and high-speed passenger rail and transit, would increase by 2 percent under a proposed fiscal year 2013 budget presented Congress Feb. 13 by President Obama.<\/p>\n
Transit spending would increase by 105 percent.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s budget request is the first step toward crafting a budget for FY 2013, which begins Oct. 1, but Congress never adopts a president\u2019s budget as presented. The road between the president\u2019s budget request and final congressional passage of a new fiscal year budget is a long and torturous path.<\/p>\n
The president proposed the transportation spending increases using funds that will be saved as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. A core objective of the spending is to put more Americans back to work.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg<\/em> news reports that Republican congressional leaders immediately rejected the president\u2019s budget proposal as being too expensive. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told Bloomberg<\/em> that the president\u2019s budget is \u201ca collection of rehashes, gimmicks, and tax increases.\u201d Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the president\u2019s budget \u201creflects our commitment to investing in an America that is built to last. A strong American economy depends on the roadways, runways, and railways that move people and goods from coast to coast and around the globe.”<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON \u2013 Federal spending on transportation projects, including aviation, highway, conventional and high-speed passenger rail and transit, would increase by 2 percent under a proposed fiscal year 2013 budget presented Congress Feb. 13 by President Obama. Transit spending would increase by 105 percent. The president\u2019s budget request is the first step toward crafting a budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45,300,9,18,25],"tags":[1477],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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Obama countered that his budget request \u201callows us to invest in the things that will help grow our economy right now. We can\u2019t cut back on those things that are important for us to grow. We can\u2019t just cut our way into growth.\u201d<\/p>\n