Civil and Human Rights Coalition Responds to Administration’s Transportation Bill Reauthorization Proposal

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Transportation sending a transportation reauthorization proposal, the GROW AMERICA Act, to Congress:

“Access to transportation is vital to connecting communities to jobs, schools, housing, and health care services – and even to grocery stores and nutritious food.  But millions of low-income and working-class people, people of color, and people with disabilities live in communities where quality transportation options are unaffordable, unreliable, or nonexistent.

 With the Highway Trust Fund  likely to run out this summer, compromising transportation projects, jobs, and hurting already ailing communities, we commend the administration for taking action by sending the GROW AMERICA Act to Congress.

The administration’s proposal helps lay the foundation for a transformative surface transportation reauthorization bill, one that ensures that the civil and human rights of all individuals can be protected through robust investments in transit, increased safety protections, and the creation of job opportunities in the transportation industry.

We look forward to working to make this bill an even better model that Congress can adopt and pass without delay.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

The Leadership Conference and PolicyLink co-chair the Transportation Equity Caucus, a diverse coalition of organizations promoting policies that ensure access, mobility, and opportunity for all.