Senator from Wash. State pushes freight job legislation
In a public plea for passage by the U.S. Senate of legislation aimed at freight-related job creation, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) addressed a gathering at the Big Pasco Industrial Center Intermodal Rail Hub in the eastern part of her state on Monday.
“We need to act now to support job growth at the Port of Pasco,” Cantwell said.
Senator Cantwell, along with fellow Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), introduced the Focusing Resources, Economic Investment, and Guidance to Help Transportation (FREIGHT) Act last year in what she claimed in a statement to be the “first comprehensive national freight transportation policy and support ports” in the U.S.”
According to last year’s announcement by Senator Cantwell’s office regarding the proposed legislation, the FREIGHT Act would establish a new Office of Freight Planning and Development within the Department of Transportation, in addition to authorizing a new competitive grant program for freight-specific infrastructure improvements, such as port infrastructure modernization, freight rail capacity expansion, and highway projects that improve access to freight facilities.
The announcement also said the FREIGHT Act would “provide states with additional flexibility in where they can direct federal transportation dollars by allowing targeted investments in ports or intermodal facility improvement projects, investments that current law prohibits.”
“Freight transportation is the foundation of Washington State’s robust trade economy and supports tens of thousands of jobs, including 600 here at the Big Pasco Industrial Center. But freight bottlenecks and deteriorating infrastructure plus increasing competition threatens future growth. I am urging Congress to take up my FREIGHT provisions so Washington state ports have the support they need to modernize,” Sen. Cantwell said in her speech on Monday.
The Senator said she encourages passage of the FREIGHT Act before March 31, 2012, when the current surface transportation reauthorization expires.
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