and robert from the amalgamated transfer union who is filling in for larry hanley, their new international president. they're also hosting their own annual conference today and robert kiely agreed to fill in for larry was busy taking off that meeting. so we have a lot to discuss this morning to let me introduce our first speaker. john horsley is the executive director of aashto and serving in this role for 13 years, john and his folks at aashto have partnered with aashto many times. many times over the years as it relates to promote a long-term reauthorization bill that ensures a stable funding source for our members. so let's welcome john to the podium. john? [applause] >> thank you very much. it's great to be here. this is sort of a multimodal day for me. i usually think of myself as one of the highway guys. and then this morning my first event that i had to spee-2 was aashto's real community in north carolina. the president has asked us to deliver his high-speed rail and initiative, plus the passenger rail act passed, got two or 3 billion there. so we have 33 states that are busy delive