great the construction we are celebrating today will create desperately needed jobs right now, but it will be even greater, that finishing the construction will create and sustain jobs that will last for decades. of course, there will always be critics of bold visions like these. even abraham lincoln was criticized for the transcontinental railroad. but once california has experienced the joe i come on duty, and productivity of traveling rail, those critics will no longer be heard. so on behalf of the governor, i want to congratulate speaker pelosi, congressman miller, secretary lahood, near new some, chairman ford, and the new executive director come on this wonderful vacation. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, david.

the transbay project will serve nine counties including southern california sunday and will serve 11 the contracts that operators, including the east bay. representing the east bay is congress miller. congressman george miller may be best known as the house education committee leader. here at home, he has been a longtime supporter of the transbay project and the affordable housing component of the program. many of his constituents commute to san francisco daily, and we both look forward to the day that the commuters will arrive at a transit center. i want to thank congressman miller for his support over the years. [applause] >> thank you very much. i am here, not just representing the east bay but the rest of the california delegation of the bay

area. we understand while this project is in san francisco, it adds value to the entire economy of the bay area, to the employment opportunity, opportunity of families to come and relocate. they know they will be able to take advantage of a modern intermodal transportation system. as we look at the data, there are two things families and businesses are interested in. what is the education system like, what is the transportation system like? with a great host city, like san francisco for this facility, we think we will attract the best from all over the world. with the california transportation team that put this together, the initial legislation by john burton who allowed this to take place, the high speed rail authority, it has been phenomenal. but you do not just show up for

the ribbon cutting. we are here because of the final portion added to this as well, the recovery act. the obama administration insisted we needed to move this country forward, and throughout the country, there were many who said that the recovery act was too big. now of course, the year and a half later, they say that it should have been larger because the economy is struggling. no matter how big, the speaker of the house said this needs to be a recovery act that can speak to today, in terms of projects that are ready to do with this economy, but they have to be large enough to embrace the future. we have to put people to work in a way that will embrace the future 30 years from today. that is what this project does. that was the house and aren't.

then we have to go to the senate. [laughter] i just want to make sure you knew what i was talking about. and then barbara boxer had to go through and explain we are not building for today, this is for tomorrow. yes, we will put the shovels in the ground, we will put people to work now, but we have to address the future, the problems that the mayor addressed, the governor and legislature talked about. that brings us here today, her success, and that is how we have to address this to get the nation moving again. it is very exciting to work with speaker pelosi, senator boxer, senator feinstein on these huge projects. we have always believed california is on the cutting edge. being here in this great city

with this great leadership is once again the proof that we are on the cutting edge. thank you for the vision of the transportation secretary as well for recognizing that. [applause] >> thank you. now it is with great pleasure that i introduce senator barbara boxer, who from the beginning, has worked on the transbay project. a forceful advocate for families, children, consumers, the environment, and state of california, barbara boxer became a u.s. senator in 1993 after 10 years of service in the house of representatives. elected to a third term in 2004, she received more than 6.9 million votes, the highest total for any senate candidate in

history. a liter on environmental protection, she is the first woman to chair the u.s. senate's environmental and public works committee. she advocates forcefully for clean air and water and the fight against global warming. in addition, senator boxer also serves on the senate foreign relations committee, commerce committee, is the democratic chief majority whip, and serves on the committee of oversight and investigation. she has been married to her husband for 35 years -- 48 years. has two children, a daughter in law, two sons, and an inspiration to all of us here today. senator barbara boxer. [applause] >> thank you. if i did not have this box, honest to god, i would not be able to see anybody. i have to update that biography. we have been married 48 years,

but who is counting? i also have a granddaughter. thank you so much for the introduction. looking at the people on the stage, i think half of you have been in my office, in washington, speaking to me in detail about the need to move forward on high-speed rail and this transbay terminal. here we are, 2017, we are going to see the grand central station of the west. i am so proud of that. [applause] i have to say, as we all focus so hard on creating jobs, this transbay transit center project is, quite simply, a bullet train for job creation. the first phase has 48,000 jobs. 48,000 families will have that

security. the entire project will employ 125,000 californians. it is so important in these tough times to get behind projects like these, that are so necessary, and produce so many jobs. and the center will be so much more than a transit hub, as mayor newsom said. it will be an asset to the city, and entire bay area. i am very proud to have worked with speaker policy. let me tell you, without speaker pelosi, nothing gets done. she has proved that we need to put more teachers back on the job so that kids have teachers in the classroom. but i digress -- senator feinstein, my partner in

all of these great things, congressman miller, my buddy, a friend -- i do not know how many times john burton wrote us about this, but we thank you for your persistence on this. let me just take a moment to thank the person that i have called one of the greatest secretaries of transportation, is not the greatest -- ray lahood. you need to know about this man. he knows i feel this way about him. when you called ray, you cannot make small talk, you just get to the point. he knew about this because i remember i was with him when we were announcing another grant. he said, don't worry, i know about the transbay terminal. in other words, you do not need to talk to me about it again. he is a hero to me because he

showed that we can work across party lines. lord knows that we need to come up particularly in times like these. i want to thank one more group of people and then i will sit down. i want to thank the people in the state of california who voted for nearly $10 billion in state funds to support high speed rail. that is why our state is so great, because the people of the state. we are going to keep the state moving forward. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, senator boxer. it is an honor and/or to introduce our next speaker, secretary ray lahood. i could not agree more with sec -- senator boxer. he is a breath of fresh air, a

man of great courage and vision. when ray lahood became the secretary of transportation, he brought with him a vision of transforming communities through transportation. nominating him, then-president- elect obama said that fewer understand the challenge better than the man that i am asking to the department of transportation. ray lahood lead to an agency with more than 150,000 employees and a $7 billion budget. today, he is paving the way for sustainable and livable projects to move forward, such as the transbay transit center. mr. secretary, thank you for everything you are doing to move the safety and movement of people, goods, and for your support of the transbay project. >> thank you. good morning, san francisco.

i am delighted to be here. i asked the mayor -- let me put it this way. i go to a lot of the bench, and i judge them by how many people show up and how much media shows up. this is a big deal. [applause] i asked the mayor who all these people were. i hope us -- this does not detract forfrom votes for lieutenant governor. he said that they are working on the project. he also said when mayer brown shows up, this is the only city in america that has two mayors that the same time. [laughter] you have to elect someone just for his humor. i want to say, first of all, we

would not be here today if it was not for the extraordinary courage for of the delegation from california, led by the speaker, who was one month from being sworn in, one month from the president being sworn in, passed a $780 billion economic recovery plan. they cast a courageous vote that made this money available for california and san francisco. thank you. [applause] it would not have happened without that bill. speaker pelosi pushed it through with the help of her delegation, senator boxer pushed it through with the help of her partners. senator feinstein, you have a great delegation. they know what it takes to put people to work. the economic recovery plan,

which our department got $40 billion, now we are going around the country making these kinds of announcements. we would not be here today if it was not for their courageous votes. we are grateful to them. let's thank them for what they did, putting americans to work. we would not be talking about high speed rail -- people who have been to europe, asia have ridden high-speed rail, they come back to america and ask, how come we do not have that here? because we never made the investment. this year, we have a million times more money than we have ever had invested, thanks to president obama's vision to connect us with high-speed rail. that is his vision. and it is also vice-president biden's vision. that money had -- would not have

been in there if the president, chief of staff, others, said that we need a high speed system in america. this year, we will have $2.5 billion additionally. i have no doubt you will be competing for that, here in san francisco, and around california. the third thing i want to say, the reason california got the most money, you have your act together. you have been working on this for a decade. i agree with what senator boxer said. the people deserve a lot of credit. to go to the polls to cast votes to raise taxes in order to develop the kind of infrastructure, the people deserve credit. it takes great leadership, and you have it in california. california got the most high- speed rail money because you

have your act together and you want high-speed rail, you have to been working on it for a decade. now you are way ahead of the curve. fourth, when this bill passed, the first person to call me was my friend, someone whom i served with, whom i have the utmost respect for, speaker nancy pelosi. she said, i want you in my office. i went to her office. she said, the only thing i want you to do -- make sure it is done the right way, we are not cutting any corners -- i want to make sure we do what we can to make this transbay project possible, by the book. those were her words. then how about once a week, my

phone would ring and it is speaker policy. how are we doing on transbay? thanks to her staff and to the people of california, we are here today because of that kind of leadership. speaker, thank you for holding our feet to the fire on this and making this happen. i can tell you senator boxer was also very tenacious on this. i met with a lot of members of your delegation. as a result of that, we are making this a great announcement today, launching this important project, the first in the state. you have your act together, here in california. as usual, california is way ahead of the curve. everything has already been said, just about everybody has

said it. i have said what i wanted to say. congratulations, california, to the governor, a delegation, speaker, you are in the catbird's seat because of the kind of leadership that you have in this state. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. secretary. now in is an overwhelming joy and honor that i introduced speaker nancy pelosi, who has been a role model and inspiration for me and come was women across the country. congressman pelosi has represented the eight districts in congress since 1987. speaker pelosi is in her second term as the speaker of the house of representatives, making history in 2007 to serve as the first woman of the house. job creation has been her top priority for san francisco.

she has worked to transfer treasure island from the navy, work to clean hunters point, and transformed the transbay transit center into a multi modal facility. speaker pelosi provided the first seed money to the project which allowed us to begin the planning process to get to this point, and has consistently worked tirelessly on behalf of the transbay project, culminating of the equipment -- commitment of recovery act funds. working with president obama, speaker pelosi has focused on creating american jobs and moving the economy in a new direction. under her leadership, congress passed tough wall street reform legislation to rein in big banks and protect consumers. historic health care reform is for promised achievement and she continues to be done energy, security to create jobs, combat climate change, and physician america to a clean energy

economy. thank you, speaker pelosi for everything that you have done. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. thank you all very much. i accept your kind reception on behalf of the members of congress who have worked so hard to make this day possible, the role that we played -- we heard from congressman miller on behalf of our california delegation. of course, we are proud to work with our former colleague in the senate, barbara boxer, whose leadership was instrumental in making this possible, working with senator feinstein. i think we all have a good team. maria, thank you for your

leadership as director of the transbay joint powers authority. nat ford, mayor newsom -- i just want to the knowledge of the i am to be with these people. while they said a few words, their presence is fraught with so much meaning. they are in our office all the time, relentlessly pursuing the goal of what we are here to celebrate. anaheim mayor kurt pringle, thank you. i think you know how much we enjoyed working with you. the mayor has put everything in perspective for us, including the role of willie brown, the approximate time of his arrival. [laughter] we are so proud of our major. he understands what we need in this community and has taken us

to where we are today. when the secretary talked about me calling him regularly, that is because that phone call follows a regular call that i received from john burton. how is it coming? and this is a priority for us. let me talk about secretary lahood. he has been a colleague to many of us in the congress for a little while. when he became the secretary of transportation, it was no surprise to us he shared a representation of illinois with the president, served as a great leader on the transportation and infrastructure committee. we knew full well his knowledge of the issues, the possibility

and opportunity for the future. he knew about infrastructure in transportation being job creators, improving the quality of life, the air we breathed, lowering the amount that people are spending in their cars. he understood that this was not just about infrastructure. it was about jobs for the future that make our community better. when he became the secretary, he had all of that experience. he had the respect from both sides of the aisle in congress. most importantly, he had the confidence of the great president of the united states, barack obama barack obama trusts ray lahood.

one other person that is not here that i want to technology is jerry brown. this has been a decade for him for decades. i know he is in southern california right now. it is very important to acknowledge, as others have, that for generations, california has stood as the beacon for innovation for the nation and world. yes, we salute our governor for the role he plays -- david, give him our guards. i am sorry that he could not be here with us. every manifestation of our state, whether it is the people who vote, local, regional authorities to participate, elected officials, everyone agrees that this was a priority.

when the secretary says we have our act together, mr. secretary, we have been ready for a long time. what made such a difference, what tipped it over, of course, was the vision and leadership of president barack obama and the courage to go forward with this american reinvestment and recovery act which has saved or created millions of jobs, and now so many more in our state. we have been the bastion of creativity and the entrepreneurial thinking. we have embraced what is possible in technology and science, clean energy, and essential to all of that, under george miller's leadership, education. california, in our view, has always led the way. our great city has led the charge to the future of

prosperity founded in the drive, determination, and the spirit of our workers. i, too, want to salute the building trade for the role they will play in making this dream come true. today we are breaking ground on the transbay transit center. we are opening up a new chapter in the history of progress. we are coming together to create jobs and revitalize our economy, to make san francisco once again a national model for economic development. not that there was not competition, but we were chosen because we were a model, a good example, a project of national significance that we would like others to follow. maybe not in the exact same way, but in terms of creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, with our eyes on the future. in breaking ground the transbay

transit center, we are laying down the first steps for the grand central station of the west, connecting cities and communities throughout the region and state. it will be a crossroads of commerce, john, transit, and retail, will increase public transit options, reduce congestion on the roads, and cut carbon emissions. this project represents the best product of a strong public- private partnership, a thriving center for economic activity, a center for a good paying jobs, and a better quality of life for local workers and families. it is about sustainability. the mayor spoke about that. he has been a leader on that issue. increasing access to quality transportation and improving san

francisco's infrastructure have long been among the top priorities of our delegation in congress. that is why we have fought to secure critical investment from the government for transbay, not just the money for today, but the recovery act, $400 million in funding, enough money to put people to work sooner with good paying jobs and reducing the overall cost, over all by $100 million. [applause] starting in 1998, more than $60 million in designated federal transportation funds getting us ready for today. this year -- thank you, mr. secretary -- a $171 million loan from the department of transportation. i would like to hear some applause for $171 million. [applause]

out of these investments and partnerships with private businesses and local and state governments, transbay will create at leastç 48,000 jjobobr a seven-year construction period, 5000 for the rest of the year just to get started. when completed, it will boost the gross domestic product to $80 billion in increased personal income in the area by $1 billion. [applause] transbay success will mark a significant step forward with the dream of high-speed rail across california, and is across california, and is central to our work to invest in