“When we invest in our roads and infrastructure, we pave the way to a solid economic future,” Ross said.  “While Governor Huckabee and Secretary Mineta are highlighting this fact in Arkansas today, I want to remind Arkansans that one of the primary reasons our highways are short on funds is because of the fiscal policies the Republican Leadership has put into practice.”

Ross offered an amendment to the President’s tax cut proposal in May that would have diverted funding for cutting dividend taxes to instead, allocate $1 billion to each Congressional District for the sole purpose of building and improving roads and infrastructure.   

Ross’s amendment would have cost $441 billion, a price tag significantly less than President Bush’s original request of more than $550 billion.

“Last May I proposed an amendment to the Republican tax cut that would have provided every congressional district in America one billion dollars to be spent solely on highway projects. In fact, my plan was modeled after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA program, that helped lift our country out of the Great Depression by improving infrastructure and putting people back to work. For every billion dollars that is spent on highways, 42,000 new jobs are created.  Spending a billion dollars to improve roadways in every Congressional District translates to more than 18 million new jobs-jobs that could have put people back to work during these tough economic times.  What’s more, regions that have been waiting year after year for their highway projects to get moving would immediately have the funding they need.”

“Unfortunately, the Republican leadership chose another tax cut over my road program.  The tax cut has resulted in the highest unemployment in Arkansas in a decade, the largest deficit in our nation’s history, and did nothing to create the kind of economic opportunities that so many working families need.”

Ross’s amendment would have authorized the Secretary of Transportation to provide funding in the form of grants directly to each state, with instructions to distribute equally among the state’s Congressional Districts, for transportation and infrastructure improvements.