WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10) today reacted to the $40 million in high-speed rail funding Michigan will receive from the stimulus fund for three current rail station construction and improvement projects - that is a small fraction of the funding originally requested for high-speed rail projects located within Michigan.
Representative Miller said:
“I voted against the failed $787 billion stimulus plan because I did not believe it provide the assistance necessary to get our economy moving and create new jobs. I was particularly opposed to the removal of a provision that would have provided a $9 billion incentive for new auto purchases, which would have created jobs in Michigan, and redirected the funding to advance high-speed rail.
“Following this move, Governor Granholm and other state leaders put together a plan that called for nearly $1 billion to be spent to develop a high-speed rail line from Detroit to Chicago, with $815 billion of that plan to be spent in Michigan. The Governor sought to leverage this spending to also encourage the building of railcars in vacant Michigan factories that would have provided more jobs for our unemployed workers. I fully supported this effort to at least attempt to get our fair share of funding since our state has the highest unemployment in the nation.
“Today, President Obama announced where the money would be going and Michigan is slated to get just $40 million, less than 5% of the amount we requested and one half of one percent of all the money allocated in the program. And this money won’t even be used to develop high-speed rail, but will instead be used to improve existing rail platforms in Battle Creek, Dearborn and Troy. The bulk of the funding will instead be directed to California, Florida and President Obama’s home state of Illinois.
“So once again, Michigan must go back to the drawing board to develop yet another plan to get economic development going in this state while the Obama Administration continues to direct job funds to states with less need than we have in Michigan. Even more troubling is that while we in Michigan get just one half of one percent of the investment, hard pressed Michigan families will share equally with the rest of the nation in the debt incurred to fund projects in states with far less need.
“Since the passage of the failed stimulus plan, Michigan’s unemployment rate has risen from just over 10% to around 15%. The announcement from the Obama Administration today will keep Michigan on the slow track to job creation.”
###