Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Friday plans to speed up spending on $470 million in unused earmarks, making them available to governors who request the money for projects by Oct. 1.
“At a time when one in five constuction workers is out of work, those are the jobs we need and we need them right now,” LaHood said.
The White House has taken to highlighting executive actions its taken, however modest, that might boost the economy given Congress’s unwillingness to pass more robust jobs legislation. LaHood, however, denied that the timing of the latest move was political.
“Our goal at the Department of Transportation and the president’s goal is to get as many people to work as possible,” he said.
