(rshsdepot) Laurel, MD

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From The Washington Times.

Original article and photo at:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/biden-wants-upgrades-md-train-st
ation/ 

Bernie Wagenblast

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Biden: Upgrade Md. train station

Christina Bellantoni

LAUREL | Ramping up rhetoric and local pressure for the economic stimulus
package, the White House deployed Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the
Republican transportation secretary to a suburban Maryland train station
Thursday to call for swift action to get people to work. 

Like the president has lately, Mr. Biden took a sharper tone against his
former Senate colleagues. 

"There are some in Washington who still haven't gotten the message," he
said. "Maybe they don't understand that America has lost almost 2 million
jobs in the past four months. Maybe they don't understand that the American
people voted for and want change now, not tomorrow." 

Mr. Biden joined Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Ben Cardin on the
chilly platform to say that rail would be a priority for the administration,
though he did not take the train himself. 

"We cannot wait another two weeks, three weeks, four weeks" to pass the
nearly $900 billion stimulus plan that is being debated in the Senate, Mr.
Biden said. 

"Laurel is one of the thousands of rail and commuter stations all over the
country where we need to make these improvements, creating jobs and creating
a better transportation system for the 21st century," the vice president
said, adding the MARC train station is "typical of the sort of work we need
to be doing in this country to rebuild the infrastructure and restart our
economy." 

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he has asked each state's
transportation secretary to huddle with him Wednesday in Washington to come
up with the best list of projects and accountability standards so the money
can get moving right away. 

Mr. LaHood said the plan aims to "jump-start the economy by getting money
out the door for projects that are ready to go, projects that have met the
environmental standards, projects that have gone through all the necessary
paperwork, so that people can begin working this spring, summer and fall." 

He also announced a "TIGER Team - Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery" to develop accountability and reporting standards for
highway, road, bridge and rail investments in the bill. 

"Just like this new rail project in Laurel, there are critical
transportation projects all over the country that are just waiting for
funding," he said. "While we create jobs today, we are also laying the
foundation for sustained economic growth and a better quality of life
through passenger, freight, and high-speed rail and transit systems that
ease congestion on the roads and in the air and through the airports, and
also other important projects." 

Mr. Biden repeated Mr. Obama's deadline of President's Day this weekend. 

"The economic policies of the past eight years are proven failures," he
said. "The nation's economy is hurting - hurting. It needs action now. And
we can't think small. We can't stand by and do nothing, and we can't repeat
the failures of the past." 

Mr. O'Malley said the measure is "one of the most important pieces of
legislation in a generation" and would bring 20,000 new jobs to Maryland
while sustaining another 70,000. 

The White House has supplied similar state-by-state figures to pressure
congressional holdouts to support the plan. 

"If we truly want to see the end of this recession, if we truly want
America's economy to recover, then we must make investments today that will
bring our economy back," the Democratic governor said. 

Mr. Cardin, a Democrat, said the MARC train station here, the most used on
the Camden line, is an excellent example of crumbling infrastructure because
it was built in 1884 and "in desperate need of change." 

He added the stimulus plan "may even save some health dollars, because we
have people literally fall through the platforms here, causing health care
costs." 

Mr. Cardin, a Democrat, used the three keywords that critics of the massive
stimulus plan have said it needs: "targeted, timely and temporary." 

"It is targeted, targeted to the types of investments that America needs in
order for our economy to be able to compete internationally. It is timely,
in that it will create jobs now that are desperately needed for our economy.
And it's temporary, because we know we need to restore fiscal discipline in
Washington," he said.

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