Its fullness in eternity, we bring our petitions to you using some of his final words. Bless the members of this peoples house and those in authority on all levels of society with wisdom and courage to address the unholy oppression that awaits so many of our brothers and sisters of color. May there be a new creative way of establishing Something Like Community Policing that peace and security might be enjoyed where we live. O lord, do we dare to consider the power of nonviolence in our homes, our communities, our nation, and perhaps in leadership for our world. Might we truly be called, if not challenged, to beat our swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks so that nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall we learn war anymore. And as we are reminded, the greatest expression of nonviolent challenge to injustice is the vote. Bless all efforts to secure access to the ballot for all american citizens. Help us, o lord, to answer the highest calling of our he
We will come to order. Todays hearing will focus on the reauthorization of the fast act, the nations current surface transportation bill that expires on september 30. We will hear the priorities of key Public Transportation stakeholders. A longterm reauthorization bill is critical to providing the certainty of stability that transit agencies, cities andos d to make responsible transportation lighting decisions. Public transportation plays a key role in our nations economy there are over 400 30,000 workers employed and Public Transportation in the United States. Transit provides approximately 33 million trips every day. Taking Many Americans to and from work, school and medical appointments. Not just in big urban cities, but also small areas. We have found ourselves with yet another reauthorization where the Highway Trust Fund is a most significant issue that needs to be addressed. In order to advance a comprehensive longterm reauthorization bill. While this committee does not have juri
Test captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2008 mr. Willis, as a project thatle will have a ripple effect, can you speak to the impacts gateway will have on your members as well as the importance of having federal engagement on transportation projects that have an Economic Impact . Thank you, senator. What i can add is a couple things. When you talk to our members who have to operate the trains through the tunnels, maintain the signal systems, electrical systems, tracks themselves, they tell horror stories. We have a problem on our hands. You know the economic consequences of shutting down the tunnel, reduce capacity by 75 , but our members will tell you there is a real problem right now going on in there that needs to be addressed. We were hardened the administration changed the rating for portal bridge north, disappointed they did not do the same for the tunnel itself. The costs recently has been reduced by 1. 4 billion. Amtrak is kicking in several hundred extra million
Providing transportation in rural areas and Railroad Safety. Well also learn about the department of transportations priorities for the coming year. Live coverage on cspan3. We have some wonderful, luxurious, very nice seatingrow. Id like to encourage everybody tole to closer. Were going to have a very nice discussion. Id like to encourage everybody closer. Make the setting a little bit more cozy and familial. We very much enjoy that. We like having a nice conversation about one of our favorite Public Policy issues. Yeah. Right along there. Thanks so much. Well, great. I want to welcome everyone to this panel. Again, thank you, all, very much for joining. My name is lawrence smith. Deputy assistant secretary for policy at the u. S. Department of transportation. It will be three years this month that ive been at the department. Incredibly honored to be part of a great team. Doing a lot of what we think is really, really awesome work. Going to be a lot of help to a lot of different parts
For joining. My name is loren smith. Itll be three years this month that ive been at the department, incredibly honored to be part of a great team doing a lot of what we think is really, really awesome work. Its going to be a lot of help to a lot of different parts of the country. Were really, really excited about. I had the honor of serving previously with secretary chow at the labor department. Its been a fascinating experience seeing different cabinet agencies and how the different organizations work. Im joined today by four really excellent panelists i think youre going to enjoy hearing from. I first want to introduce Alex Herrgott who is executive director of the public improvement counsel, fipsi. He has been in that role since september 2018. He had been serving previously as the associate director for infrastructure for counsel on Environmental Quality at the white house. Mr. Herrgott worked for senator james earnhoff in california. He served as primary staff for transportation