ame it, to your communities. these are the same organizations for the drug organizations. and we have partnered with our partners in mexico who now have done over the last year, have really taken a look at the heroin problem. they see the role that they play. and we have actually done some very good work together with them to focus on the problem. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i would just like to follow on some of the questions that you've been fielding, administer administrator and sigh how grateful i am for your focus. highly potent, inexpensive widely available heroin is now killing many people in my hometown of will whing tonmingtonwilmington delaware. it is touching all backgrounds, all income levels, all communities, and we are eager to work in partnership with you. and with all of federal law enforcement in finding more effective models for diversion for treatment for interdiction,

and for the prosecution of the relating crimes. it is something that is a significant challenge for our community as it is from baltimore to miami to wisconsin, all over our country. we really are seeing a significant shift from the prescription drug epidemic into her oh win. let me turn if i might, to a program mentioned before by senator bozeman. oakland, chicago detroit, camden and wilmington delaware. the office of national drug control policy which is under the financial services subcommittee, and their hida program is newly engaged in the work in wilmington, delaware, despite our fairly small size relative to detroit or chicago wilmington has one of the highest rates of violent crime and murder in the last few years. and a newly energized and engaged mayor and police chief and statewide elected officials

and community leaders are tack tackling this challenge effectively. i would like to hear from each of you. what you're hearing about progress in wilmington, what you think are the resource challenges that might remain, and if you've got any input for me on what's going to be critical to turning the corner. the reports i'm hearing so far about the federal role is very positive. so my simple input is to say thank you for the resources being delivered. the advice, the mentorship and guidance to my hometown. but if there are other things that i need to hear or things we can do to strengthen this network, i would really appreciate hearing it. director? >> one of the things about the vrn is it will give us an opportunity to enhance the collaborative effort. i think in wilmington delaware and i have been up there, i've met with our resident agent. we are having some enhancements in terms of permanent personnel, which is a big part of our request in this budget is to get us healthy in terms of our

special agent codre. we're starting to see the results when we have groups like in wilmington that have been working for a long time in single digits. and enhanced with the officers, barely holding it together to actually get new atf agents up there. our focus in wilmington is really two fold. one is partnering with the police department to make sure that when there are shooting incidents, that we are on them very fast and following leads to identify the trigger pullers. the other aspect of what we've had, some in success not only in wilmington, but up and down the eastern seaboard is the traffickers. the iron pipeline up i-95, where there are guns that are available in some quote unquote, source states that travel up, and wilmington's along the pipeline to do what we can to disrupt the firearms trafficking networks.

and we've had some success recently in wilmington with people who are essentially unlicensed dealers, for lack of a better term. and so that effort, focusing on crime gun, draining the crime gun pool helping the local police department identify trigger pullers through leveraging technology and training folks so it's sustainable, really is the short-term focus of our efforts. >> thank you. better ballistic training use of guns, better use of data analysis, i hear all of those have been making a difference. i'm grateful for your personal engagement. i have relatively little time left if any of the three of you would like to contribute to it i would appreciate it. >> senators, i hope you know in our wilmington office, we have a 22-member violent gang safe streets task force that's part of the violence reduction network effort. we're focused on as director

jones said we're trying to focus on the trigger pullers who are part of these neighborhood based gangs. not big fancy national gangs, but thugs who are a set or crew in a particular neighborhood. we're trying to be strategic work with the intelligence that the locals are generating and focus on them in the community to hope that the good people will fill in the space and make the community safer. i've got 22 folks focused on it. it's too early to tell you what success we've had, but we'll watch it closely. >> the cdc has recently completed a fairly thorough review of the data set from a public health perspective as well as from a criminal justice perspective of who's the universe of folks actually committing the violent crimes and what interactions do they have with education, health care and with law enforcement. it's been fascinating data sets that the governor and his cabinet and i went down with the other day. do i have time, mr. chairman, if the director wants to offer an answer? >> as it relates to the violence

reduction network we're particularly focused on the larger cities, the tri-city areas. we're operating out of camden and philadelphia and wilmington. we have over 684 violent criminals arrested, particularly associated with 89 of them gang members, 134 are sex offenders. but there's been 48 of them that are related to homicide arrests also. we work with the state and locals to bring those warrants in. of course, we're able with the fugitives to share information across to the investigative agencies. so i think the earlier questions of how we interface with each other, that's what we push out back and forth to each other. 27 firearms received, 1.86 narcotics -- kilograms of narcotics received. over 47,000 currency. that is all a part of dismantling some of these

organized criminals that are opportunists who are seeking to push drugs out and across. so i think that collective work is really starting to prove beneficial in the violent reductions across the cities. we're focused all of us on attacking the corridors that run. so it's not just the major cities. camden can put out 400 officers, but all it does at the end of the day is push it down to wilmington. they can put their efforts greater to the investigation piece to dismantle. >> we're grateful for your partnership and support. >> i have a couple of questions that i want to submit for the record. one deals with the adam walsh funding, and the dea international drug enforcement priorities. i'll submit them for the record and ask you to hopefully get them back to us within 30 days.

senator mccull ski? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we're now moved to the classified hearing. but -- and i do have questions for the record. i just want to say, again, to the men and women who work at these wonderful agencies we want to thank them not only for their service but we want to thank them there that are people in the united states of america who want to do this work. who really want to do this work. and we owe them a debt of gratitude. therefore, my comments about lifting domestic budget caps is not political grandstanding. if we aren't going to lift the caps to defend in america there's a lot of defense right here in our country of our communities. the second thing is the issues of the appropriations committee, related to hiring and then sustaining the people we hire. my last point is technology. i'm really proud of the labs, and other technology uses we make in our agencies.

i think really about 9/11 and that the maryland state troopers stopped one of the terrorists. but at that time the databases were so skimpy you knew more about a deadbeat dad than somebody who was planning this horrific attack on the united states. that's changed. and when we looked at the sniper, the beltway snipers, when this whole community came to a standstill, when someone who worked at the fbi in a supportive service, killed coming out of home depot this community, i mean, we're all victims of crime, but because of the lab, we didn't know was this terrorism, we didn't know if these were multiple killers, but thanks to this lab, and the way we could work with the fbi we were able to have local law enforcement in charge and we were able to be able to catch the people of these terrible acts. so what you do and i could go through each and every one is just amazing.

and we really need to support you. and i look forward to doing it. >> another question? >> actually i have a comment that i would like to make to follow up on something that administrator lenhart said. i was just at a hearing in the armed services committee with thnewhth southern command. and one of the things he was talking about was the -- their work to interdict drugs coming into central america, and mexico. and the impact that additional sequestration cuts are going to have on their ability to continue with that interdiction and support those countries in central america that are trying to -- and mexico that are trying to address this effort. and i just think it's important for us to recognize that that's going to have a huge impact on the efforts that we're not just -- if those cuts go forward, the impact on the

national security side because of the drugs coming in. but that will then have an impact on the work that you're trying to do that all of you are trying to do if we can't address and roll back those cuts from sequestration. so i thought it was important, mr. chairman, to point out that this has huge domestic potential impact. thank you. >> thank you. thank the witnesses. we'll now temporarily recess and reconvene in a closed session as soon as we can get back over to the capitol. the committee is in recess.

attorney general eric holder commented on wednesday night's shooting of two police officers in ferguson, missouri. here's a look at his brief remarks from the justice department. >> the heinous and cowardly attacks that occurred against two brave law enforcement officers in ferguson, missouri, just last night. i want to be very clear here. i unequivocally condemn these repugnant attacks. i know all of us in the law enforcement family and all americans really across the country are praying for the safe recovery of their -- those two officers. i stand ready to offer the full investigative resources of the united states department of justice, the fbi, to solve this crime. and to hold these perpetrators fully, fully accountable. my brother's a retired law enforcement officer. and he always tells me that cops have the right to come home at night. you know? and that's exactly right. these are people who protect us,

keep us safe, and they have the right -- they have the right to come home at night. you know seeing this attack last night kind of really turned my stomach. because in the last week since the justice department released its pattern and practice report on ferguson i thought we had begun to see important signs of progress. they were good faith steps being taken within the city's leadership to move in a new, more cooperative direction, that i think is beneficial to law enforcement and to community residents. but make no mistake we still have a long way to go to bring about this systemic change that is needed and that is long overdue in that area. but i think the early indications have really truly been positive. but what happened last night was a pure ambush. what happened last night was a pure ambush. this was not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson.

this was the punk who was trying to sow discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that has been fractured for too long. this really disgusting and cowardly attack might have been intended to unravel progress that exists, but i hope that does not in fact happen. incidents like the one witnessed show into sharp belief that conversations like the one we've convened today, and that we're going to be having they serve are really so important. >> out going attorney general eric holder could be replaced as early as next week when loretta lynch's nomination come to the senate floor for expected debate and possible votes. see live coverage on c-span2. here are some of the our featured programs for this

weekend on the c-span networks. saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern c-span2 book tv is live from the university of arizona from the tucson festival of books. sunday at 1:00, we continue our live coverage with panels on the obama administration, the future of politics and the issue of concussions if football. saturday morning at 9:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span c-span3 we're live from longwood university from the civil war seminar talking about the closing weeks of civil war in 1865. sunday morning we continue our live coverage with the immigration of confederates to brazil. let us know what you think about the programs you're watching.

call us at 202-626-3400 or e-mail us. join the c-span conversation like us on facebook follow us on twitter. transportation association holds its annual legislative conference on transportation and infrastructure funding. this portion of the day long event is a discussion on surface transportation legislation. it runs about an hour. good morning after. how's everybody doing? had a great, great session already this morning 7:30. who was all in there to eat breakfast? all right. welcome to the 40th annual legislative conference and to

our nation's capitol. yesterday was some great sessions, weren't they? with the mayor of washington, d.c. and various speakers. it was just wonderful. thanks to everyone for being here. the conference really comes at a momentous time in the industry. we have a lot of things to do this week. we're gearing up for a new service transportation bill out there. in this session we'll hear from the president and ceo. also pete ruhan. first, our sponsor this morning help me welcome joseph hills. vice president for business development who will share a few

comments on teenage here. joe joe. >> thank you. my name is joe hughes. i'm vice president for three parts of the software. product management customer relations and business development. as a brief overview we provide software for public transit in both rural and urban areas. we figure that we've worked with many, many people in this room. phil, to begin with and many other agencies here in the office here. we come to this event because it is the epitomy of the pure partnership. it's the most important event for transportation. it represents a group of people that go off and do their own business separately.

we're very excited to be a part of this. we would like to think that we can help in any way we can, but we hope to get to work with all you guys for the next two days and learn a little bit about where things are going, and hopefully make some impact for the greater good of the whole industry. so with that in mind, i have a couple things. one, don't forget while you're here that the purpose of this event, and it reads to direct the industry's advocacy efforts and legislative strategy. the key words i saw there were the advocacy, so everyone here is an advocate. and second is that you're doing it for the industry. and so please look out for your cohorts, your friends, the other guys who couldn't be here. don't forget the rural folks who don't get to come to these things as often, and make sure you remember that as a partnership that's the way we believe it works and we would like to see that from everybody here.

and finally, please participate if you haven't signed up for the stand up for transportation day on april 9. we think that will be a great thing coming out of here in terms of momentum. again, thank you, apta, thank you, phil, thank you, everybody, for being here. i do believe this is the most important event of the year. that's why we come to sponsor and look forward to seeing you guys in the next two days. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, joe. really appreciate your sponsorship of this opening session. before i get too far in the program, i want to recognize the apta executive committee, the board of directors and past apta chairs. if you're in that group, please stand up so we can give you a round of applause. [ applause ] >> thank you for all your work and all your service. many of the leaders in this room -- i was -- let me say i was honored to share the apta strategic planning effort about a year ago or so. we got it approved by the full

board of directors. this plan really sharpens our focus, guides our operation for the next five years. this is the cover of that document. i think the marketing folks did just a great job in putting this together. five significant challenges that we put forth, and we were calling these mega trends, sort of the environment that we believe that we will be working in for the next five to ten years. just very quickly, and you won't see them -- this is just the cover of the strategic plan itself, but safety and security was the first one. resource advocacy or funding. we've been talking about that all week. work force development, demographic shifts and technological innovation. and so those five things we identified in our strategic plan

as mega trends that we will be facing over the next five years. and i have to say, we've been having conversations about funding for quite a while. we've been talking about safety and security. we had a great session yesterday that i sat in on positive training control. all of these things, these five mega trends that i just laid out are so, so significant. so you'll see these off and on for the next year or so as we work on these issues and look to address these issues. you can go to the apta website. this document is on the apta website, and you can read it, support its objectives and help us address them. let me talk just a little bit about funding, and i've been talking about this for the last six months or so.

you've heard me talk about rebuilding our country's infrastructure. and this is one of the big reasons why we're here in washington at the legislative conference, to advocate for a long-term transportation bill. this is about building our own country. this is about nation building right here. this is about infrastructure investment and rebuilding our infrastructure in this country. and so i have called for this national day of advocacy, this stand up for transportation that you've heard about. and this is the logo that we've put together. and, you know, this april 9 date -- this is actually the

last conference that we will have before that april 9th date. or is there another one? there may be another apta conference. no? all right. so this is it. we are gearing up for this. the strategy is collective power as we bring attention to our infrastructure and talk to congress. on this day, april 9, we're looking to conduct media events, press events in as many american cities as possible. and i'm happy to say that i believe we have about 140 events or so. that is a lot of events all over this country. it's time for us to work together, republicans, democrats, at the white house, it's time for us to work together, as you know, to make sure that we address this what i call embarrassingly massive infrastructure deficit. the last time i looked, this infrastructure deficit was about 88, $90 billion. that's just to maintain our

current infrastructure. so it's time to fund that state of good repair, it's time to do all those things. as we move forward, and i always talk about the whole car analogy. it's almost like buying a car and not changing the oil for 10 years and expecting that car to continue to run. it's really ridiculous. i was at the board of directors meeting. i was talking a little bit about how ludicrous it is for us to have to beg for funding to maintain infrastructure. 10.8 billion trips last year, 10.8 billion trips were begging to maintain our infrastructure in this country. it's really a shame. i was talking about this at the board of directors meeting, and usually i get kind of worked up. i get pretty passionate about this infrastructure thing, and i was talking at an event and i was getting pretty passionate, and i told myself to slow down

or my taxes would be audited if i kept talking bad about our great leaders. but this stand up 4 transportation day is very, very important. so if you have not signed up, please do. i think we have a board out front and we will continue to do that. a couple of things, and i think -- i wanted to show -- i was at the transit ceos meeting, and i talked to the transit ceos about signing up. at that transit ceos meeting in phoenix, we had mayor stanton there. yeah, that's mayor stanton actually signing to have phoenix as a part of this stand up 4 transportation day. everyone has a vital role in this.

as i mentioned, 147 agencies and businesses from coast to coast have signed up. look at that map right there. now, if you're not on that map -- who is not on the map? you're not going to raise your hand. we've got to fill up this map. 147 agencies and businesses with over 100 events so far. so now is your chance. grab a pen, sign up. a few things that i would just mention in order to sign up for this first, is act now. the second is identify your partners. apta has a resource tool kit on the website where you can look, you can figure out who your partners are. we want to recruit all types of groups, bicyclist groups, environmentalists, seniors, veterans, students, people with disabilities. we want to have, in your areas,

in your local areas, we want to engage everyone in this stand up 4 transportation day. the third piece is planning your event. a ribbon cutting, a rally, an employee roundtable, turning your buses into billboards, sharing stats, and the fourth big piece is looking to apta for support. as i said, apta has a resource tool kit on the website providing messages, resources, you can customize it to your area, talking points, suggested talking points, all of these kinds of things. please do that. let me end my comments with sort of a priority of mine. we were talking about the funding. i was talking about this yesterday in another meeting.

we talk a lot about the funding, but i like to talk about the career pathways and growing our own qualified work force. i was talking the other day about if the money begins to flow -- because i do think we're going to get a long-term transportation bill this year. i really believe that because i don't think that infrastructure apathy can last forever. and i don't think dysfunction at the highest levels can last forever in terms of infrastructure. so i do believe we're going to get a long-term bill. but what i talked about is if we get that long-term bill, and if money and manna falls from heaven tomorrow and we have a long-term transportation bill, will we have the qualified work force to build and rebuild this infrastructure in this country? and i'm not sure. i'm not sure that we have the track maintainers of the signal folks, even the run cutters. i'm not sure we have the qualified work force in this country to maintain our infrastructure.

and so this idea of building career pathways for the hardest to fill positions in this industry are very, very important. because we have to grow our own, and that includes in this career pathway community colleges, that includes trade schools, building this type of career pathway where we can grow our own. so when the money does flow, we will have a great pool of folks that are already trained to do this work that is much needed in this country, rebuilding bridges and highways and legacy systems and all of those things. so get on board. let's get started. and i hope to have 200 events by april 9, or on april 9, and i think we can do it. with that, please help me welcome apta's president and ceo, michael melaniphy. please give him a hand. [ applause ]

♪ >> got to start out with some theme music in the morning. good morning, everyone. how we doing? didn't phil do a good job? give him a hand. phil washington, our chair. [ applause ] >> each year at this time we gather here in washington, d.c. to share the message of public transportation with our elected officials in congress to help them understand the important impact that we have on the vitality of this nation, and i am so thrilled to have all of you join us here today. your commitment to come here to the nation's capitol to share our story is so important.

thank you for making that effort. opportunity, as we come here together, is to meet with our colleagues, to share ideas, to share concepts, to influence decision makers. well, this year is more significant. this year is more pressing. mac 21 expires in a short 83 days. and the presidential election, that's only 610 days away. not that far at all. the good news is we have a great message to bring to the administration and to bring to congress. you know what it is? americans want more public transportation! and the numbers tell it all. it's extraordinary. look at the figures for 2014 hot off the press. last year there were 10.8 billion trips taken on public transportation! say it with me! 10.8 billion! it's outstanding. that is 101 million more trips that were taken last year. this, ladies and gentlemen, is the highest public transportation ridership figure in 58 years!

the last time ridership was this high, gasoline was 23 cents a gallon. isn't that extraordinary? the public revolution for public transportation is happening, it's happening now, and it's happening all across the country. this phenomenon isn't just in our largest cities, it's happening all across the nation in cities large and small. look at that, it's not just on the coast. some of the highest ridership happen in cities under 100,000. when you hear people ask, i'm in a small town, i'm in a rural area, why does this matter to me? the ridership increase in cities under 100,000 was actually double the national growth rate last year. this is extraordinary. there are great things happening. from san diego to nashville, from harrisburg, illinois to

bowling green, from wanache, washington to new york city, people opted for public transportation in record numbers. and riders are telling us they want more public transportation. and now you need to let congress know that we need to make the investment in public transportation to meet this growing need. it's incumbent upon all of us to educate our legislators. they need to know that this nation must have a robust, multimodal service transportation bill. we cannot continue to have short-term extensions. in the last 10 years, we've had 23 short-term extensions on the surface transportation bill. this is not how you bill the greatest country in the world. this is not how you lead a national economy. this is short-term thinking. this is not how our country works. we need a big, long-term, surface transportation bill. are you with me? absolutely. when do we need it? now. absolutely right. now, one other reason we need it now is because there's a presidential election coming,

and that is going to suck up all the oxygen in the room. we need to focus now. we need to make it happen now. you need to get up on the hill and make these things happen. how do we achieve our goals? as chairman of washington shared with all of us, advocacy and local education. sure, we could share the messages here in washington, d.c. you hire us to come up and see the experts. but you need to share that local message in your towns and your communities. it is so important. but when you go up on the hill the next couple of days, take this packet with you. it is loaded with information to help you educate our members of congress, to help them see the $10.8 billion that -- or 10.8 billion trips that we've got going on in this country. you need to show them how this investment is paying off in growing demand and how we need it to continue provide safe, dependable, reliable service each and every day. congress doesn't need to go very far to see public infrastructure.

look at the capitol dome. it's happening right where they work every day. now it's time for you to help share the message how we need to make investment in our infrastructure as well. when you're up on the hill, some may ask you, how should we pay for this robust transportation bill? certainly it's our job to explain surface transportation and why it's so vital to our nation's infrastructure and our nation's future. but congress, that's their job to find the resources. now, you may hear that policymakers are asking that we're going to tell you, hey, you should be grateful for the status quo. it's okay to just get what you get. you should be thankful for that. do you know what you need to say to them? good enough is not good enough. a short-term bill, that's not getting it. we need a long-term surface transportation bill that is essential to operating a strong and a secure public transportation system across this nation. remember that you all in this room, you are the subject matter

experts. if we aren't up there saying we need to make these investments, who will? don't be shy. don't hold back. let them know we need to make these investments. now, some people will suggest that the moneys that are going to transportation are a diversion of those highway dollars, that we need to get transit out. if we could just get rid of that, stop this diversion, then we could solve the nation's highway problems. don't you fall into that trap. you let them know that story is not correct. remind your legislators that in 1983, president ronald reagan put forth a program to raise the federal gas tax from 4 cents to 9 cents. you know what he called it? a nickel for america. 4 cents for bridges, roads and

highways, 1 cent for transit. that's the origin of the 80/20 split. the dollars that go to transit in the highway trust fund and the mass transit account have always been there for transit. they've never been a diversion. set the record straight. it's about a system working together. we're here to defend the system to make sure the system works well together. we've had a very long partnership. partnerships are what makes this program work. partnerships between passengers, state, local and federal governments. that's what makes our nation so great and makes our transportation systems work so well. let us not forget, it is an interdependent system. our buses and trains take cars off the roadways so we can have the free flow of goods, products, commerce and services throughout our roads and networks. it all works together as a

system. so removing us from the highway trust fund, well, that's a bit like, i don't know, removing the steering wheel from a bus. it doesn't make any sense. it all has to work together. now, d.o.t., they have their own bill, a robust, six-year bill called the growing america act. it's true, we may not agree with every single subpart or section of it, i have to tell you this bill does a great job of telling congress that we need to move in the right direction and that this stuff matters. but we can't do it alone. we have to work together. we're very pleased that joining us at the conference today will be fta acting administrator teresa miller, and joining her will be acting administrator sarah feinberg. they will be acting on proposals and taking your questions from the audience. we're also thrilled that joining us here on the stage will be two great leaders in the

transportation field that work tirelessly here in washington, d.c. when you see me testify up on capitol hill, there is very often two people standing right there next to me, janet kavinoky and dr. pete ruane. great transportation leaders. they're going to help tell the story about how we have to work together to move the ball forward. now, passage of a surface transportation bill, it's a lengthy process. the first stage, we passed that in december of 2013. we gathered the information, we gathered the needs, we put the data together, and we brought it to the hill and we brought it to our partners so we could all see together what those needs were. now we're in the second stage of that process when different ideas are put together that start to coalesce into a bill. there are lots of different bills out there, lots of different ideas. do not be distracted by the shiny things in the water. stay focused on our mission, stay focused on our message as

we shepherd through the next stage an actual transportation bill. we should be bold in our approach because we know the needs are real. we know that demands from the public are real, we know that the infrastructure investment needs are real. and we know that we have been able to functionally, fully demonstrate public transportation as a significant, financial impact on this nation's economy. in fact, for every dollar invested in public transportation, the economic return is four times that, $4 of economic return for each $1 invested in public transportation. it's not just about that economic return, it's about jobs, it's about getting americans to work. there are nearly 50,000 jobs created or sustained for each $1 billion investment of federal dollars into the public transportation system.

this is a huge return. but even more importantly, the federal government doesn't build our rolling stock, they don't build our buses, trains and transit shelters. the private sector does that, the consultants, the oems, they make this business happen. those federal dollars, those government dollars that come through to our industry, most of those are capital dollars. did you know that fully 73% of the government dollars that come into transit flow right through to the private sector? they're creating jobs all across the nation. good, high-paying, high-quality jobs. be sure to share that jobs story with the policymakers up on the hill. tell them how they're creating jobs and opportunities to get the jobs in cities large and small, urban and rural all across our nation. but with a job, it doesn't end there. you're going to do a great job on the hill the next couple days, i know you are. you're going to storm that hill. when you go back to your communities, that's when the real work happens.

that's when you bring your members of congress and elected officials to your properties, to your companies. show them, don't just tell them, where the federal dollars are going. let them see and touch and feel your trains, your buses, your transit shelters, your factories, your offices, your job sites. let them meet your drivers, your mechanics, your dispatchers, your drivers, your engineers, your field workers. let them understand where these federal dollars are going, that we are creating great public transportation options for people in all 435 congressional districts, all 50 states in this nation. help them understand the perspective of where these federal dollars are going so that when they are in their town, when they're driving to the next rotary club or other event, they can point to that train, that shelter, that station and say there's federal dollars at work there and i'm

proud to see them enhancing that ability in my community. and they can see that it's all part of a system. and you all make that happen. you convey that message. so as we finish up our meetings this morning, as you all take to the hill, as you hear from administration and members of congress and our partners up here, take these messages, take them to the hill, share the story that we need well-funded, long-term surface transportation bill. we need it for our industry. and ladies and gentlemen, we need it for america. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, michael. very insightful remarks. thank you for your strong leadership, your dedication to the industry. now it's my pleasure to introduce our featured speakers. first up is janet kavinoky -- i probably already chopped up your name again. janet. janet. a nationally recognized expert in transportation policy funding and finance with the u.s. chamber of commerce. janet wears several hats at the

chamber. she's the chamber's executive director of transportation and infrastructure and she is vice president of this america's for transportation mobility coalition. she also leads the chamber's let's rebuild america initiative. help me welcome her to the stage. janet, please. [ applause ] >> thank you, phil. and thank you, michael, for having me here today. wow, what an energetic opening. i have not been to a conference that started out with this much energy in the morning maybe ever. i don't know what you guys were doing at 7:30, i don't know what they put in your coffee, but that's pretty terrific. and i'm so pleased to be here again at apta. you're going to hear repeatedly, if you haven't already, it's important for you to be here.

how many of you have heard that it's important to be here? this is a test, by the way, because you just heard it. if you don't raise your hands, i'm afraid you're asleep. all right, how many of you believe that? okay. well, thank god, i don't have to convince you of that, because there is new staff on the hill. you know, some of the people you're going to go talk to you've talked to for years and they're going to say, it was great to see you again but i already know your story. for some of you you're walking into offices when you go up the hill with new staff. it's a 23-year-old that's looking at you going, transit. what's transit? i thought they only had that here in washington, d.c. you've got to tell them your story and why it's important for your community. how many of you have an office of your senate you're going to go see today? these people do not know anything about what you do. i'm going to put money on that.

so you have a chance to go in, and it's not just about, you know, talking about a little bit what's going on in your town and why this is important, you can't kind of sit there like this, you've got to explain to them how you fit in, how transit fits into your economy, how it fits into your transportation system, how it creates jobs, how it sustains employment, but most importantly, how important the federal government is to that. how important federal investment is to that. because there is a lot of noise on capitol hill today. you know, we transportation people, we tend to think that we're unique and we're special. we're like, we're transportation, we got a trust fund, this is all good. except that for the last 10 years or so, well, it hasn't

been quite all that good. and now when you go to capitol hill, you know, it took the senate six weeks to pass a department of homeland security bill, the senate and the house. just an appropriations bill, by the way, nothing complicated, just an appropriations bill for the department of homeland security. the senate spent three weeks debating the keystone pipeline. we've kind of done that one before. i don't know if you're familiar with that, but yeah, we've been there, we've done the keystone thing before. the president vetoed it, will probably have a veto override, but the senate took three weeks to do that. they've got a debt ceiling debate coming up. they need to pass a budget between now and, i don't know, may 31st. in june the export/import bank, that's going to expire again. we have a medicare problem coming up in a few weeks. there is a lot of noise on

capitol hill. so you being here helps cut through that noise. because you're a person from their district, from their state representing employees. you're buying things out of the supply chain. you can say, yep, i'm buying buses, i'm buying rail cars. you're putting a face on it. you might have 10 minutes standing in a hallway with a 23-year-old who doesn't know anything about transportation. you might have a half an hour with a member of congress, but this is your chance. here's why it's really important. transit is under attack in washington. i cannot open a newspaper during a week when i don't see an

article, when i don't see an op-ed that's been placed by the heritage foundation -- i know it's heritage foundation because i've seen their stuff -- that says transit is a waste of money out of the highway trust fund, and that if we just fixed that little problem, we took that waste out, we would solve all of the transportation funding problems, because roads are all that really matter and they're all that are really federal. we're here today -- can i use a bad word? you're here today to call bullshit on that, people. you're here today to say i don't care if carly fiorina signed an op-ed in the wall street journal or one almost identical in the los angeles times that says transit is a waste of money. you're looking those congress in the eye, you're looking at that staff and you say, you tell me this is a waste of money. you talk about the people riding your buses or riding your trains and you challenge them. because it's real easy for them to say in meetings on capitol hill -- you know, they get together, they talk to each other. by the way, these are people the u.s. chamber helped put in office, so when i get fired, michael, my resume is coming to

you. mort, i am definitely not sending you my resume. thank god i'm not qualified to work at metro whatsoever. and they sit around, they're like, hey, this is really easy. we need another 10, $15 billion. we're just going to dump out transit. that's easy for them to say to each other, but it's going to be real hard when you're in their offices. you're going to hear them say, well, the market ought to decide. transit is really local. private sector will build it or the local folks should pay for it. i was in south carolina doing a presentation at the south carolina chamber of commerce infrastructure day. anybody here from south carolina? okay, in the back, thank you very much. you had a congressman there who for the most part said all the right things, including we ought to raise the gas tax. i hear he got some phone calls about that, but i compliment tom rice for saying, you know, what we probably ought to do is raise the gas tax. then rice put up a chart and he showed, well, south carolina, we don't get any real transit money back, and if we just got rid of transit, then we could fix the highway problem. so which i replied, thanks to

brian tynan's quick research to me as i'm typing on my phone, south carolina, 74% of your resources for transit come from the federal government, so don't tell me it doesn't matter, don't tell me it's a small amount. that's a pretty big deal and that's in south carolina. then he said, well, you know, we give all of this money to washington, and it only goes to, like, two transit systems in los angeles and new york. really? so you get to go up to capitol hill today and explain to them, look, it's not all local. this is about the economy. you get to tell them, look, we've been investing in transit for years. this isn't all about the market should decide. again, i'll mention i do work for the u.s. chamber of commerce. i get to say all of the fun stuff. and this isn't waste. this is about investment, and it's about a complete system. so you're important today on capitol hill because you are going to go up there and you're

going to take on those people who are saying, transit doesn't need to be a part of this. you're going to take them on directly, and do not let them off the hook. do not let them tell you, i'm not on the committee of jurisdiction, i don't have anything i can do about it. that's crap. they can call their leadership, they can show up on their monday or tuesday leadership meetings and they can say, these transportation people are wearing me out. we've got to make sure we do a bill. because you know how things get prioritized in the united states house and the united states senate? when members come back from recess and the house is on recess this week, when members come back, they tell their leadership who has been beating them up, and that helps determine the priority list. you know how resources get managed in the united states senate?

when they realize if we don't get something on the floor and get it done, our members are going to get beat up at home. so it's time not to let them off the hook. i'm going to give you one other thing to think about, and that's, you're all in this together. we're all in this together. the u.s. chamber of commerce, the american road and transportation builders association, the americans for transportation mobility coalition which apta has supported for years, which artba helped to start. we're all in this together, but for you in transit, you are all in this together. if you go to the hill and it becomes bus versus light rail or people drag you into conversations, well, i don't know why you're doing a street car, you ought to do this instead. or if it becomes big transit systems versus small transit systems, that's just the kind of division that congress needs, it's just the excuse they need to say, well, there is no unity there, we can get rid of those

guys. you have to go with a unified voice today. you have to be representing transit, you have to be representing transportation, passing a long-term transportation bill. don't let them drag you into a conversation about whether what part of transit is better than the other, should we be using buses? should we be using light rail? i hate that d.c. street car. forget that. that's not what this conversation is about. this conversation is about we need a long-term, fully funded transportation bill that supports growth, that supports investment, that supports jobs. just like michael said, we need it now. we're going to be standing up with you for transportation on april 9th. what perfect timing, phil.

you know, april 9th is the very end of the easter recess, or as they call it, district work period. so for the 10 days before that, because that recess starts on march 30th, you can be taking people out and showing them projects, showing them where federal investment happens, you can show how you're partnering with d.o.t.s. you can show how transit is impacting your business community. and then, on april 9th, just in case any of you hadn't really thought about what you were going to talk about, on april 9th, what a great story you have for the media in your area. what a great op-ed you have to place or a blog post or, shoot, a whole set of tweets. because you can talk about what you've been doing for the last 10 days, showing your members of congress and your delegations, showing your communities what transportation is about, why transit matters, why we need to fully fund a transportation bill. if any of you can't pick up the phone and call your state or local chamber of commerce, you need help with that, let me know. michael has got my cell phone number. shoot, i'll give you my cell phone number if you really want it right now, but it might just be easier if michael gave it to

you later. we will make that happen. phil, that is just a tremendous opportunity for all of us to stand up together for transportation, and i'm proud to stand here with you today. so thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, janet. she's fantastic, isn't she? she really is. [ applause ] >> now we'll hear from peter ruane, president and corporate executive officer with the american road and transportation builders association. pete has 40 years of experience in the economic development, transportation, construction, and national defense, and i heard you were a marine as well. i'm army, but, you know. all right. all one service. he's the vice president of the chamber's america's for transportation mobility

coalition. he previously was a deputy director of the office of economic adjustment and the office of the secretary of defense, and he was on the president's economic adjustment committee. please welcome peter ruane. [ applause ] >> morning. i'm glad i got here early to hear the comments of phil and michael and janet. i have only one response. hoo-rah! i picked up a great idea on how to fund our problems on the way in here. anybody valet park? $42? holy moses. so you tell the members of congress they all are to valet park at this hotel every day of the week they're in town --

that's only three -- and we'll get 10% of that for the rest of the year to fund at least the transit program, if not the whole bloody thing. yikes. well, michael, i heard you twice this morning on wpot. for those of you who don't know about that, that's the leading radio station here. it also has the leading traffic reports every morning. you didn't tell me that truck was broken down on 295! i would have been here on time. good message, two separate messages, by the way. well done, as always. okay, folks. don't have much time and you're on your way -- we're going to hear some other speakers first, but i hope all of you know there is a t in our name, and our members design all modes of transportation, improvements, capital transit projects, in fact, that's a major market for

members, and that t has been there nearly 40 years now. we're about -- what is it, 113, 114 years old? that's a pretty long time. we're very pleased, and janet made reference to this. recently, michael and i co-signed a letter to the wall street journal which got published, and believe me, to get that published responding to the wannabe presidential candidate carly. carly, carly. that was a lot of fun, and of course we did some public opinion surveys at the end of last year together. and over the years, i think many of you know this, we've had a number of joint advertising programs together in our lobbying efforts and past legislation, and, of course, as phil and michael both

referenced, and janet as well, we've been partners on various coalitions for many, many years. so i feel very comfortable here, i feel very much at home. i know there is still some out there that like to divide us and think we only represent the highway industry. that's a crock. we represent the transportation construction industry. generically, our members build all the airports, they design them all, all the rail, all the ports, all the high speed, what little there is, and of course, the highways and transit and bridges of this nation. so working together, i mean, it can't be overstated. it's been said already, but i'm going to say it again. the importance of us working together in these coming days and months. now, you know that we have upon us, janet mentioned this very well, the club for growth and

heritage, i call them out. i'm not afraid to mention who they are. they have informed a lot of people with bad information, and they're out there trying to divide us, they're out there putting bum information in the mainstream, in the media, to the public. and, frankly, most of what they put out there is mythological, it's not fact based, and, you know, those two groups have one thing in common. they're both wrong! they're both wrong. zero sum game is a metaphor we all like to use. we're not going to get trapped in that. we're here to advance the cause of transportation because, frankly, there's a chronic underinvestment in all modes of transportation in this country. so we're not going to get

trapped in a food fight. we're not going to do that for sure. that's happened a few times in the past. in fact, i remember when i joined arthur in the last century, that's exactly the way it was by the way, some of you remember that. we were the highway community. apta was the transit community. never shall they meet. what a crime. that was sad. that was very sad. that has not been the case in recent years. so the vast majority of congress, you already know this. they do recognize, finally, what we're facing. the facts, not the myths, that have been adequately conveyed by all of us, over the years, over the months, over recent days so none of them, none of them can say they don't know the truth. they may refer to the latest ad or radio ad that they've heard. the crime, the crime and need to invest, but folks, the facts are

out there. that's one of the good news things. now the last eight years, the last eight years of uncertainty have clearly led to some bad decisions around the country, a lot of spaces held up their investments because they don't -- they can't count on the federal government's partnership. we've essentially had a frozen program in recent years. in fact, we've had major cuts no one wants to talk about. but we've taken nearly a $3 billion cut in the overall highway program for sure in recent years, so, i'm here not to talk about negative things but to talk about positive things. i said the truth is out there. people know the facts. and more important than that,

more important than that, after this eight-year period of uncertainty, of indecision, of putting things off, i do believe, bill made this comment in his opening remarks, i also believe that we're going to get a long-term piece of legislation this year. now i'm among the minority. see janet and others nodding their heads. there are a few of us here who believe that. a lot of our colleagues don't. they don't. a lot of our members don't. a lot of our member companies do not believe we're going to get a long-term piece of legislation this year. you know what they're doing as a result?

they're laying back. some are laying off. and that has caused serious problems in the economy, and that uncertainty, and i'm not going to, you know, give you the latest on this but we monitor this very closely. you're well aware of some of the major states, that already announced their cutting back. and here we are, march, we got to the end of may, to deal with the extension. but most importantly we still don't know what the solution to the highway trust fund problem is. besides the valet parking approach that i mentioned. but look. they know what they have to do. both sides of the aisle know what they have to do. we think that they will have the courage this time to do the right thing. we're very encouraged. particularly on some, i won't call them jailhouse conversions. they might be. but we had some conversions of

longtime resisters, longtime opponents of doing the right thing. they're now prepared to do the right thing. so we're going to roll out something here in a few days that will add to what's being discussed at the moment. nothing incredibly novel. in some regards, simply a reiteration of past proposals. dressed up a little bit. garnished with new information, new facts, and aimed at getting this debate off of a dime. off its rear end. and you're going to be surprised at the bipartisan support. you're going to run into this

week. i mean maybe not surprised. but maybe shocked. some of you are probably shocked. and i think it's real. i think you're going to see a very serious attempt to finally deal with this in the coming weeks. now we could talk about very specific things and i'm not sure you want to do that. but a couple of things have happened recently, that's why we have this positive outlook. we're naturally optimistic, sometimes people think we're foolish. but we're not members of the surrender brigade in this town. and it's a pretty big brigade. pretty big brigade. but they don't want to face the tough political opposition that's still out there but you know just last week, just last

week, 285 members of the house, 285, at 412, 415, whatever the number is, 435, it's a majority! on both sides of the aisle. trying to say hey, let's get it done, let's resolve this problem, let's get it done. we've also seen, right after the elections, in fact, last november the new senate majority leader on national tv said there's only two things we want to deal with right away, tax reform, and taking care of the transportation trust fund issue. and so, don't tell me there isn't support out there. there is real world support. it's up to us, it's up to us to close the deal. so where are we? people love to ask that

question. you know, where are we? where are we? i don't know. where are you standing? you're right there! you know i love to say, you know, one of the old marine sayings, one hair short of ugly. you know what that means? one hair short of ugly, well it is ugly. and it's going to get uglier come the end of may. so the timing is perfect. you couldn't have scheduled this at a better time. your april events, we also have a transportation, coalition coming in after easter, with all of our gifts from that holiday, and we're going to be storming the hill, as well. so we're going to have a wave, a wave of industry representatives carrying a message, and trying to get congress to do the right thing.

but, you know, we could talk all day about specific solutions, but the bottom line is this. this whole issue, forget about all the ways to divide the pie. it's a political problem. it's a political problem. how do you solve political problems? you solve them politically. they're not going to listen otherwise. we've had facts, commissions, studies, research, up the ying yank for years, decades, centuries. this is a fact free zone. you solve this politically and that's why you're here. it's been well side, bill, michael teed this up perfectly.

janet added the icing on the cake. you got to tell your story. you got to tell the specific facts, and you got to say, folks, you don't do the right thing, there will be consequences. political consequences. now a lot of people don't like to do that. you know we tell our members you got to talk to them back home, you got to get in their face. you got to tell them your story. but what good is all that? today, they know most of that, and that's very different than in the past. you now have to add that final sentence, we are keeping score. we're paying attention. we're not stupid. we're not naive. you are here to sent -- you were sent here to do a job.

and guess what? it's a very tough job. with all respect. it is a very tough job. that our elected representatives have. but they wanted it. they knew that ahead of time. we didn't force them to come here. i don't see these guys and gals up there in chains. they're here on purpose. and that is to solve our nation's problems. to deal with our nation's challenges in the future. that's why they're here. keep reminded of that. so how are we going to do it? well, we've got to change the debate. the debate is, you know, as i said, i think there's clarity in most quarters now. but you know you got to remove, you got to remove the bubble wrap around these discussions. if i get bruised, i might get hurt. baloney. take it away.

and say, these are the hard facts. these are the hard facts, and if you ignore them, there will be consequences. we keep score. we're not up here on some band trip. not up here to go out and get ripped off. we're here to do a job. so it's no time for subtle decency.subtleties. no time for subtleties. and, as janet said, if you think you're talking to daffy duck up there, you know hey be patient. be patient because remember, what is the key after these meetings? follow up. follow up. you got to follow up with everybody you met with everybody you talk to. and you follow up back home. you go back and visit their

local offices. i just went to d.c. i saw senator umti-ump. i want you to know that next time they come to recess -- and there's lots of them coming up -- i'm going to see him again. i'm going to take him out to my job site as janet mentioned, et cetera et cetera. so also in terms of avoiding the subtleties, don't, you're going to hear ideas that, you know we had this, i guess my -- i don't know. i was in annapolis yesterday. we don't, you know, and for the st. paddy's day parade. i live in annapolis. and the new governor was leading the parade. and i'm there with six of my nine grandchildren with my wife,

and of course i'm drinking lots of beer. so the governor comes up. he's got a green thing on and i said governor, you going to build a purple line right? he said i'm in favor of the green line. i'm in favor of the green line. i'm serious. we did. we did intervene. on that project, just so you know. we don't normally do that. in fact, i just sent a nice valentine's letter to governor cuomo last week about the situation in new york. some of you, i'm sure we've got plenty of folks from new york. we don't normally do that either. but both of those situations had national implications. far beyond their respect testifyfstify testify -- respective states. it effects the whole bloody

country. my grandson pulls on me and says, pop how come he didn't give us any candy? he didn't give us any necklace. i said peter that was bad. they give you candy after you give them candy. okay. so you're going to hear some what i call jedi mind -- i won't say the next word -- crap in turns of how they're going to solve this problem. there's an elementary, basic, known way to deal with this. what's it called? race raise the bloody user fee. raise the bloody user fee. have the political courage to do

it. it's the most proven most efficient way to get it done. do it! do it! hoorah! [ applause ] wow, wow. give all three of our speakers a great hand. now bear with me. we're going to do a photo op. i'm going to ask the speakers to come back up and guess what, we got the tee shirt. and the bag of chips. come on up please. no. we don't have the bag of chips. i was just joking. [ laughter ] >> thank you.

>> over here. >> what are we going to do? >> stand up! >> stand up! [ applause ] ♪ ♪ >> okay we'll hear more about transportation infrastructure in our next session. we have the mayor's transit round table starting promptly at 10:30 right back in this room. we are adjourned. thank you for coming. ♪ stand up ♪ ♪ stand up ♪ ♪ stand up ♪ ♪ stand up ♪ on the next washington

journal, trita parsi discusses the iranian nuclear negotiations. then we look at the status of women in 2015 and what's being done to improve rights and of of of opportunities. and then talk about hillary clinton's personal e-mail account. all on washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. coming up friday on our companion network c-span, we'll be live with more of our continuing road to the white house coverage. see remarks from senator rand paul at bowie state university on criminal justice reform. live at 1:00 eastern. then at 7:45 we'll be live in new hampshire for comments from

former governor jeb bush. he'll be at the home of a former chair of the republican party. this sunday on q&a, director of the georgetown medical center watchdog program pharmed out. >> the promotion of a drug starts seven to ten years before a drug comes on the market. and while it's illegal for a company to market a drug before it's been approved by the fda, it's not illegal to market a disease. so sometimes they invent diseases or exaggerated the importance of conditions or a mechanism of a drug for example and then blanketed medical journals and medical meetings and other venues with these messages that are meant to prepare the minds of clinicians

to accept a particular drug and also to prepare the minds of consumers to accept a particular condition. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. now we return to the american transportation of of ofpolicy conference. they discuss rail and transit initiatives. this is an hour and 25 minutes. please take your seats. good afternoon everyone. good afternoon. thank you for joining us this afternoon. the capitol steps were

outstanding, were they not? [ applause ] >> all right. this afternoon, we're going to hear from our leaders from the department of transportation. this is one of my favorite sessions, actually. we get to beat up on fta. first step is fta acting administrator therese mcmillan, therese is representing secretary of transportation anthony foxx today who could not be with us. she will also speak specifically about fta's initiatives for 2015. therese joined fta's dispute -- deputy administrator on july 9th, 2009. she has assisted the administrator in leading a staff of more than 500 in the washington, d.c. headquarters office and ten regional offices throughout the united states. with the passage of map 21, she assumed a key role in guiding fta's implementation of

transit-related provisions in the law and overseeing the development of critical guidance. she's also played an integral leadership role in advancing several critical fta priorities to improve the quality and delivery of transit services to the american public. including assisting in a streamline process for the new and small starts program and secure new funding opportunities for state and government transit assets. she took the lead in working with fta staff to ensure the allocation of 8.8 billions for 1072 grants. she also represented fellowships in the partnerships for

sustainable communities, epa colleagues and hud. please help me welcome acting administrator mcmillan. [ applause ] thank you. and it is great to be with again. as you know, secretary foxx planned on being here today, and the only reason he didn't is because he's having surgery on his knee. i'm sure if he was here, he'd be the first to point out that iron that like our infrastructure, all of us are getting older and in need of repair from time to time. there was one very important message, however, he wanted to be with you today to share. and that is to thank each of you for coming to washington and to visit with your members of congress. he's been to the hill many times himself over the past year. and he's worked hard to share with lawmakers the stark facts and a sense of urgency. he's explained how we're investing much less than we

should be in transportation. and he's warned that because of that disinvestment, we've fallen behind on repairs. something we have to address even as we plan for the new capacity we must have for growing demand. but these same arguments carry so much more weight when they come from you. you are able to speak in concrete terms about communities that are struggling to stay on the move. large ones and small ones. urban and rural. red and blue. that context matters. when states like arkansas and tennessee and delaware speak up and say they're postponing billions of dollars worth of projects it demonstrates in bold terms what the uncertainty of short-term measures is costing us. and it's up to each of us out there to convince our elected leaders that america's future

growth and prosperity depend on the decisions that they will be making in the weeks ahead. working shoulder to shoulder with local business leaders, you are in the best position to tell your own story, and to make it clear how important public transportation is in your community. so, now, i want you to imagine that you have the opportunity to write a postcard to yourself and send it back 30 years in the past. what would it say? maybe on the front side, you would send a picture of your family as an encouragement to your past self. i really can be successful. maybe you send a warning of the troubles we face as a nation. or maybe you would advise your 1985 self to invest in microsoft, look out for a company called google. and don't count apple out just yet, there's this thing called

an iphone. well, we've already received our postcard from 30 years in our future. and on the front, it shows broad highways, full of cars at a standstill. and trucks full of goods going nowhere. it shows a nation with 25% more people and an inability to connect them to jobs, education and health care. it shows bridges that have fallen with tragic results. and on the back, it simply says invest in transportation. so, why are we getting such a pessimistic postcard from our future selves? and will we follow the advice that it holds? now, you have to understand that the future america is a much more crowded place. when our nation could grow by as much as 25% over the next 30 years, adding more than 70

million people. pick any highway, bus, railcar at rush hour, in almost any city in america today, and you tell me if you can squeeze in 25% more people. americans are already spending five days a week in traffic. in new york city, a record number of riders on an ageing subway system has already resulted in a greater number of overcrowding delays. in fact, in december, there were more than twice as many delays as just the year before. and this is not only a problem for our big cities. some of the fastest growing areas in the u.s. are places like frisco, texas, south jordan, utah. gaithersburg, maryland. and mt. pleasant, south carolina. in the town of san marcos, texas, they saw an 8% growth

rate from 2012 to 2013, making it the fastest growing nation in the city with more than 50,000 people. and we are not talking about a tech hub or a wealthy oil town. in fact, the median household income is $26,000 in san marcos. that is far below the average for the state of texas. while the population in cities like these are growing, nationwide, the number of people 65 and older, will more than double over the next 50 years. and when the aarp asked older americans what amenity they most wanted close to home, the number one answer was a bus stop. not a pharmacy. it was more important than a grocery store. it's how important their mobility and independence are to those seniors. what that postcard from the future is trying to tell us is that we will not be able to

accommodate that kind of demand. driven by change in growth, unless we invest in transportation today. and specifically, public transport. of course, more people also means more people trying to get to work. and because this is america, it also means more people starting and growing businesses, and they will need to connect to workers. a very recent example, when the big blizzard in january shut down boston's public transportation, massachusetts general hospital had a real problem. according to the hospital, nearly half of their employees take public transit. so, in the midst of this very dangerous storm, they were literally working overtime to make sure they could get enough staff on every shift. to serve their patients. and that's a situation that is

not as unique as it sounds. in atlanta, a university study looked at more than 50 industry sectors that make up the region's economy. and it found that 14 of the 18 fastest growing sectors are among those, whose workers rely heavily on local transit services to get to and from work. so, although atlanta doesn't suffer from any nor'easters any long-term disruption in the city's system would seriously throttle that region's ability to grow. nationwide, 4 of the 5 projected fastest growing jobs, pay wages less than $27,000 a year. we're talking about retail salespersons. home health aides. personal care aides. general office clerks, many of whom rely on public transport.

and the reason our future selves are such debbie downers is that at the rate we're going today, we are not going to be able to keep up. in fact, decades of disinvestment are going to make our job even harder. if there's one thing that people in this town can agree on is is that our national infrastructure is in a woeful state of disrepair. the american society of civil engineers gave the nation a "c"-plus, our roads a d-minus. in transit systems nationwide as you well know we have an $87 billion backlog in repairs that's estimated to grow by over $2 billion a year. your elected leaders are aware of this fact.

and if they somehow missed it before, secretary foxx has recently traveled through many of their communities on a big blue bus, to call attention to it. his message was very clear and it's very simple. we need to do something now. and we need to do something big. to these urgent reasons to invest, let's add another. the health and well-being of our communities and their people. later this week, fta is hosting a conversation called "rides to wellness" that aims to improve cooperation and coordination among transit, health care and social service providers. we will be joined by representatives from health and human services and the u.s. department of agriculture as part of our ongoing efforts to work together more effectively on behalf of the people we serve. with more americans covered by health insurance, it is

important that they're able to access preventive care and regular checkups at the doctor's instead of at the emergency room. for instance, there are 15 free screenings provided by law. and this is fantastic. but it can be really hard to convince someone to go to the doctor before something is broken or bleeding or hurting them. and that is especially true when they lack reliable transportation to get there. 80% of medicaid's health care costs are attributable to chronic diseases that could be better managed with more frequent care. but you have to get there. improving access to health care and doing it in a more coordinated way is going to be a growing challenge, particularly in rural areas that lack transportation options. so as you speak to elected

leaders about the urgent need to invest in transit, remind them that you not only connect people to jobs and education, but you also connect them to vital services like health care. so with so many compelling reasons to invest in our nation's transportation infrastructure, the only question seems to remain how can we possibly afford to fix this all. but i submit to you today is that the real question we should be asking is how can we possibly afford not to. and as secretary foxx likes to ask, if figuring out how to provide for the future is going to be so difficult, shouldn't we make it worth it by going for something big, instead of something half measure? this administration's answer is the grow america act. and you've heard a lot about it in the year since it was introduced. we will be building and

expanding on our proposal this year, and the president's proposed budget for fiscal year '16 is a good indication of where we're headed. as the secretary has mentioned, it includes six years of funding for transportation, totaling $478 billion. fta's share for fiscal year '16 is $18.4 billion and 16% funding. and over the sixth year it would grow for a total of $115 billion over the proposed authorization period. the fy-16 budget for fta includes a record $3.2 billion for our capital and investment grant program better known as "new starts and small starts." it would also increase the bus

program dramatically providing for funding reintroducing the new rapid bus transit system which would provide $500 billion for new services. these are in response what we've heard from you in terms of what your customers want. and because the transit industry is changing along with the rest of the nation, we want to make major investments in workforce development to build the skills and train the personnel that we are going to need for the future. if much of this sounds familiar, and it should, it's because by the time the latest short-term measure expires in may, the grow america proposal will be one year old. and yet, here we are, having the same conversations and staring down the same decisions.

it's clear that not all of us have picked up that postcard from the future and turned it over to see what it says. that's why it's up to you to deliver the message. i know what secretary foxx would have asked of you today, to tell the truth, the unadulterated, unvarnished unambiguous truth. tell congress about the many good projects that are stalled, the ones that will create jobs and ease congestion and bring us into the 21st century in a bold way. a postcard today can take many forms. though i still like getting the old-fashioned kind on a paper with a stamp. it can be a knock on a door. it can be an e-mail. it can be a tweet. for the younger generation, maybe it's a post to instagram with a picture of stalled traffic.

or an overcrowded rail platform. or a picture of someone they love boarding a paratransit is van to go to dialysis. the bottom line is that the message has to be seen. it has to be heard and it has to be acted on. let's go out and do it. thanks so much. [ applause ] >> thank you, administrator mcmillan. now, i want to turn the program over to our session moderator, dan amendez, senior vice president director of america's transit at ae com. dan, please. [ applause ] well, good afternoon, everybody. welcome.

and thank you very much acting administrator mcmillan for communicates the message from secretary foxx and the update from fta. please do send secretary foxx all our well-wishers from avenue that and a speedy recovery. i'm diana mendes as phil mentioned. i'm delighted fob your moderator where we'll having having a lively discussion with the federal. transit administration and the railway association. i'm now joining administrator mcmillan. we're also hearing from sarah feinberg who joined the administration january 9th, 2015. in this capacity, she managed a $20 billion rail investment portfolio and helps develop and enforce rail safety regulations and oversees research and technology development programs.

prior to coming to the fra, miss feinberg served as chief staff to the secretary of transportation. providing strategic advice and counsel regarding operational and legislative initiatives across all modes of transportation. now, updating us about the major goals and initiatives of the federal railroad administration, we'll turn to miss feinberg. please join me in welcoming her. [ applause ] good afternoon. it is such a pleasure to be here today with my colleague and friend therese mcmillan. you know in my old world as the chief of staff of secretary foxx, i always appreciated the commitment that this organization shares with the administration's goal of making our national transportation

network safer, more interconnected more reliable and more efficient. to the president, michael, your board, your members and staff, thank you for your partnership and support over the years. i am so honored to be with you today as there are no greater friends to the department of transportation. now, i'm a pretty frank person, so let me get right to my main points and then we'll get to the moderated conversation. today, i want to spend our time talking, first, about safety and the importance of bringing a fresh perspective and new thinking to some old problems. and then about rail and surface reauthorization and the incredibly important opportunities we see there. but first, safety. as all of you know, and much to the credit of the people sitting in this room, over the last decade total train accidents are down. derailments are down. highway grade crossing incidents have declined. the rail industry in many ways is safer than it has ever been in history.

that is all good news. and all of you deserve great credit for these improvements. but most recently, some of those numbers look to be ticking up on us again. over the last year, the number of incidents at grade crossings increased by 9%. and the number of fatalities, at grade crossings increased by 16%. and while this less figure is less of an issue for the commuter rails to worry about, reported on fra data showing the number of fiery and violent rupture accidents also on the rise. so my point is this. those most recent statistics alone serve as a stark reminder that our work is not done. we still have a long way to go to get to zero accidents, zero injuries and zero fatalities. you know, just two weeks into my new job at the fra, a grade

crossing accident occurred in new york killing six people and injuring 15. three weeks later, another passenger rail grade crossing accident occurred in california and a metrolink crew member died and 27 other passengers were injured. stark and painful reminders that we have a ways to go to make grade crossing safer. i will add we have news of another grade crossing incident just an hour ago in north carolina. so we're hopeful that will be less dramatic on everyone there as well. so that's just reason why safety is the centerpiece of the reauthorization proposal. but in addition to our own legislative proposals, we have to take independent actions as well. just because a problem san old problem, maybe one we think will never be fully solved doesn't mean we shouldn't give it a fresh look and ask ourselves what more can we be doing. following the metro-north grade crossing incident, i immediately asked our fra staff, men and women who have literally

dedicated their entire careers to keeping people safe at or near crossings to take a fresh look at how we approach safety. last week, i called upon law enforcement agencies to staff up more patrols at grade crossings. to increase the efforts to issue citations to drivers who don't obey the rules of the road. and to immediately begin employing best practices to our in the coming weeks we will have more to announce. about incoming dangers of grade crossing dangers. and how we might be better to increase funding to assist local communities who might want to improve safety at crossings. other than the friends and families of grade crossing victims, of course no one understands the pain of these incidents quite like the train crews and operators. these incidents are truly devastating for everyone. and we shouldn't lose sight of the price that so many of your

own colleagues have paid. as we have said on many safety items over the years, we look forward to working with all of you, partnering with you and to bring down the number of injuries and deaths. on to reauthorization. you know, there's a lot of talk in washington about getting a rail and surface reauthorization done this session and we are so encouraged by that progress. few things could be more important or more valuable use of the congress' time. the fact that the house of representatives took an important first step just last week in adopting a rail reauthorization measure is say huge sign of momentum. and i congratulate chairman schuster and everyone who worked so closely with him and his staff to get that. but we need to do more. we need a comprehensive rail reauthorization package that included funding and safety assistance to commuter railroads to implement tpc. as this process moves ahead we look forward to working with

both chambers of congress as they craft a measure that builds, sustains and enhances a safe and reliable rail network for both passenger and freight rail service. we are their ready partner, and we will do anything in our power to assist them in moving a package forward. after all, we have a lot at stake here. as you just heard therese eloquently say, our grow america proposal a six-year transportation funding bill would give states the funding certainty they need to bridge the nation's infrastructure gap. as all of you know, rail is unique when compared to other modes of transportation isn't that it lacks a committed source of federal revenue. grow america will provide predictable, dedicated funding for rail, with the establishment of a rail account and a new transportation trust fund. for the rail industry, grow america means a $29 billion investment over six years to improve rail safety and invest in a national high performance

rail system. the act also builds on current investments to vastly improve the system in areas ranging from ptc implementation to enhancing flexibility and financing programs that will better enable the rehabilitation of ageing infrastructure. grow america would make changes to improve existing programs. among other topics, the act would enhance the rift program making it more accessible and flexible for borrowers. revamp amtrak's planning process to address immediate and long-term goals such as addressing the backlog of state of good repair needs. advanced safety research by focusing on risk reduction and new equipment testing. assist the railroad industry in implementing ptc as the back bone of the next generation of rail safety. grow america would also create new programs that will focus on both current passenger rail service and the development of future passenger rail service. these programs include the

establishment of new amtrak grants that would provide a longer term view of maintaining passenger rail assets and services in good working condition. the rail service improvement program which will provide competitive grants to drive development of high-performing passenger rail networks. this program also includes funding for ptc implementation for commuter railroads and support for state and localities to mitigate rail and grade crossing improvements in rail line and relocation efforts. simply put to close rail infrastructure gap and setting the table for the next generation of safety. these are forward-thinking, large-scale improvements that come with some extremely important by-products. the creation of good paying jobs and the strength of our national economy. and bridging our nation's infrastructure gap gets more important with every passing day

of an action. it's no secret that our ageing infrastructure and gaps that exist in our transportation system must be dealt with were and soon. congress is aware of these needs but only congress can act on them by passing grow america. i believe congress will ultimately take action. but it's up to all of you to make sure that congress gets it right. we must build on the proposal put forward bit house in order to see a comprehensive rail reauthorization bill enacted that would address rail safety. benefit our freight partners and other modes of transportation. continue to support the successes of our inner city passenger rail networks. and provide the resources and predictable, dedicated funding to both address our backlog and make the improvements required to meet the passenger and freight mobility needs of our growing population. we will all benefit from a comprehensive bill. rehabilitating our ageing infrastructure simply cannot wait any longer. thank you.

and i look forward to working with all of you and taking your questions. [ applause ] >> well, thank you, miss feinberg for your remarks. and certainly, both of you gave us very inspirational and insightful speeches, but certainly, clearly communicated that it's up to all of us to make the future successful. so we're going to take some questions from the floor. but before we do, i'd like to start out just talking about funding and financing. obviously, demands increasing and funding and financing is becoming more and more challenging. so, one strategy to address potential long-term financing involves public/private partnerships. and i'm just curious, what you

see as some of the great success stories and what advice you might have for those seeking public/private partnerships. >> sure. >> am i all right? >> yeah. >> so, i think you're exactly right. public/private partnerships, we're seeing increasing numbers of them all the time. i think what secretary foxx and the president have both said which i think is really important is that it is part of the answer, but it is not the answer. so i do not want to take public and private partnerships as the reason why congress does not have to pass a big comprehensive bill. but it's fine for them to supplement a bill. it's certainly one path forward that i hesitate to put too many eggs in that basket. we still need a good bill. >> i think other thing to think about, too, is certainly, we want to broaden our sense about

what effective private sector participation is in the private industry. so, for example, a lot has been turned to transit-only development. but capturing the value of that development for transit i think is a very important and very rich area to build a good relationship with the private sector. because not only in the more common way where you may get contributions towards the construction of a project, what about capturing that ongoing value for ongoing operations and maintenance. so we've been working closely with a number of our agencies with a lot of creative work that's going on out in the industry right now. we want to bundle that up and see if there's a more aggressive way that we can encourage that type of partnerships. in bringing the private sector forward. >> so, the federal railroad

administration has been working on a number of improvements to the railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing program. >> we need a lot of improvements. >> you can share with us -- and we're happy to see them advancing. can you share with us some of the improvements that you see? >> yes. we are very focused on this. first, i give secretary foxx a lot of credit. he has said that one of his priorities is is that by the time he walks out the door on january whatever 20th, 2017, that he would like that account to be at zero, which means we have about $35 billion to loan out. which if anybody knows how loan programs work, it is going to be difficult. but it's a very good challenge to have. so, we're doing a couple things. one, we are trying to think more creatively about potential applicants.

i think we may have been a little narrow in our view of the right applicants with this program previously. so whether it's the mayor of new haven who wants to come in and talk about what union station in knew haven needs. or whenever it's recall emanuel wanting to talk about new haven station. or the potential for the ability for stabilizing crude. i think we would be much more open to that. we're much more creative on who the applicants would be. and also to work a little faster. this administration has to walk a fine line as to improving infrastructure projects but obviously being very careful with taxpayer dollars and making sure that all of that money is going to get paid back at some point.

so all the loan terms are excellent, it's important that money comes back. i think it's taking time to get over some of those barbs but also working through being more efficient in how to get through the process and get those loans out the door. >> great. so, as you're looking at and evaluating projects to be a program, or railroad investment program, how has the current climate affected how you look at and evaluate projects? and what advice do you have to people to make the projects competitive and attractive to federal investment? >> well i think certainly, for new starts and small starts, we've put -- you know, we actually have, you know, statutory criteria we have to examine. so by its own design, there's a number of different factors that we evaluate. i think they'll give them the incredible competitiveness of the program.

clearly, those agencies that are able to leverage the federal dollar well, will be able to play in that pool. and there's another aspect to that that's very important as well. once you get the project built, you have to run it. and that's not a small -- a small issue. i think one of the things we've seen with a number of different agencies, addressing the point as i did in my remarks with secretary foxx has said over and over, you know, we have to expand for the growth that we see in the country. we have to be nimble about the types of investments we can pursue. it's not just heavy rail and light really. but it is brt, but at the same time, you have to be in a stable enough environment that once that project is done and that is

concluded, you're able to operate and maintain that system. and we invest in the system over time. so it's really -- i think, to be competitive you need, to i think, demonstrate that you have a handle on that holistic view. and you that can convince us as the federal government, as a partner, that you're able to be in there for the long haul. >> would you like to add? >> i would just say that we are invested in trying to make these programs work. and so, being in touch with us on the front end, talking through a project, talking through a loan application, talking through the financial audit, all of that, we want to be able to loan this money out. and so we are not going to suggest you figure it all out on

your own and then turn in a big package to us and we'll mark it up and say no thank you and send it back. you get in touch with us on the front end, and we can work with you and make sure the application is in great shape so we can move things along faster. >> thank you for that. so safety, obviously, is at the forefront of all of our minds every day. i'm sure you have advice and insights to share with the audience as different safety programs are starting to come online in advance of the new safety regulations. what would you advise people to think about and get prepared for? >> well, with federal transit, and it's interesting because, you know, sarah and the fra have had a federal safety portfolio a long time. and as all of you no a great challenge for the federal transportation association is that map21 gave us significant regulatory authority. so we've been working very closely, afta has been a great