Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is planning to hold a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday to push Congress to approve a longer infrastructure spending bill than the temporary measure that was approved last week.
Foxx had campaigned for a four-year, $302 billion transportation funding bill, but lawmakers adopted to approve instead a $10.9 billion package that will expire in May 2015.
{mosads}Foxx has predicted the stopgap measure will led to a repeat of the fractious debate about transportation funding that dominated Washington this summer.
“Even if we get a patch, even if we get 20 more patches, roads in Rhode Island are going to get worse. And Rhode Island is not alone, ” Foxx said during a speech in July, singling out a state he visited during a recent bus tour to see incomplete transportation projects.
DOT officials said this week that the virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday afternoon will provide “the general public, as well as business leaders, transportation advocates, state and local government officials, concerned with the future of America’s transportation infrastructure … the opportunity to dialogue with the secretary about the future of our nation’s transportation investments.”