ATA disappointed in President’s State of Union message

Leaders of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) expressed disappointment with President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech for his lack of detail about U.S. infrastructure investment.

“Just mentioning infrastructure is not a solution to our nation’s critical needs, and by simply bringing the topic up without details President Obama missed an opportunity to underscore the critical role our highway system plays in our economic well-being,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves.”Now is the time, with the Highway Trust Fund set to go bankrupt in May, to show vision and leadership and most importantly, find funding, to keep that from happening. The trucking industry calls on the President and Congress to end this unnecessary uncertainty by funding our nation’s infrastructure and passing a new highway bill.”

The trucking industry was represented at the State of the Union by ATA First Vice Chairman Pat Thomas, vice president of global public affairs at UPS Inc.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Thomas said of attending the State of the Union. “We were very pleased to have the president mention infrastructure… however we were a bit disappointed he didn’t spend any more time or get into any more detail about the importance of infrastructure.”