Montgomery County (Md.) Council President
Marilyn Praisner representing NACo at an ISTEA press conference.
Photo by Bob Fogel
NACo joined with a number of national organizations at a press conference April 14 to promote increased funding for the highway and transit programs.
The Coalition for Trust, organized by the National Governors' Association (NGA), was represented at the press conference by NACo, the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Laborers International Union. The coalition called on Congress to put the "trust" back in the nation's Highway Trust Fund by investing taxpayer dollars dedicated to the trust fund and indicated that the trust fund could support a funding level of $26 billion per year for highways and $45.2 billion per year for transit.
This event is part of an overall strategy by the members of the coalition to ensure that in the reauthorization of ISTEA there is sufficient budget authority to have a larger highway and transit program.
Speaking for NACo at the press conference, Montgomery County (Md.) Council President Marilyn Praisner stated, "We are just asking Congress to spend what they have collected and will collect from the American taxpayer who pays the federal gasoline tax with the assumption that it will be spent to improve the condition of America's surface transportation." She added, "This should not be a tough sell. We have the money and we certainly have the needs. Just ask any county official." Praisner went on to describe the extent and needs of the county highway and transit systems as well as the problems of congestion for urban and suburban counties and economic development in rural counties.
Gov. Paul Patton of Kentucky and Gov. E. Benjamin Nelson of Nebraska were spokesmen for NGA, while the cities were represented by Mayor Barbara Larson of Kalamazoo, Mich.