D.C. chorus calling for long-term transportation funding grows

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) recently partnered with U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, National Park Service (NPS) Director Jonathan Jarvis, and U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in urging Congress to pass a long-term transportation and infrastructure bill.

Kaine made his case at a press conference near Memorial Bridge, encouraging his colleagues in Congress to pass a long-term, bipartisan bill that would provide crucial investments for the aging infrastructure of the U.S.

"This is one of 4,800 structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges in the Commonwealth," Kaine said. "Those of us who care about infrastructure, we also understand that our airports could use more investments, our rail systems could use more investments, our public-transit systems could use more investments, and the newspaper headlines every day demonstrate that to us. That is the problem in my Commonwealth, and that is the problem in our country. But there's a solution, and the solution is for Congress to be leaders and recognize the importance of infrastructure…When we have the American public behind us, when we have a demonstrated need, when we have civil society behind us, when we have safety concerns, this should be a no-brainer for Congress."