My name is Margaret Blackshere, and I am the president of the Illinois
AFLCIO. I am also a member of the Transportation for Illinois
Coalition. The AFL-CIO, Central Labor Councils, including the Chicago
Federation of Labor, and many of the affiliates are part of this organized
effort in Illinois designed to convince you and your colleagues in Congress
that Illinois deserves more funding to support its transportation
infrastructure.
First, I would like to thank Sen. Inhofe and Sen. Fitzgerald for
traveling to Chicago and providing us with this opportunity to tell you
firsthand why you should be championing the cause of more money to fund the
transportation system of this nation and our state,
The private sector and labor must depend on government for its
transportation system. Government provides the overall planning and resources
to develop and maintain our transportation system. And our nation’s
economy is totally dependent on our inter-connected, fullyfunctioning,
multi-modal transportation system. It’s obvious that a greater investment is
needed in our infrastructure nationwide, where many of our aging
interstates and bridges are in poor repair.
Illinois is located at the heart of our transportation system - our
highway system, rail system, waterways and even air transport system. We are a
gateway between the east and west coasts, and between the Great Lakes and the
Gulf of Mexico. The nation’s investment in Illinois is an investment well-made
- and one that needs to be increased to ensure a healthy economy for the
future of our state and of our nation.
Illinois deserves a bigger share of the nation’s transportation
funding to more closely reflect the key role we play in hosting a
critical junction in the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
I can’t overemphasize how much transportation funding matters, Of
course it means jobs, which is one of the reasons why I’m here today. Of course
it affects our quality of life - and the cost of our goods and services.
For the thousands of Illinois residents whose jobs will be affected by your
decisions in Washington, I ask for your help in winning increased funding to
support Illinois’ transportation network.
We ....here testifying today ...each have our own constituencies and
interests to represent. Mine is organized labor, which represents 1 million
workers in Illinois. We strive to represent the interests of all
working people on issues that affect their everyday lives. And transportation
is certainly one of those. Yet, we are united in our appeal to you for more resources for transportation for
this country - and for the pressing transportation needs in Illinois.
You, as Senators, must take a global view of the needs of this entire
nation. And you will undoubtedly see that Illinois merits greater attention and
resources to keep our national transportation system strong and to help
rebuild the nation’s economy.