Richmond, VA - As part of his campaign for U.S. Senate, former governor Tim Kaine today toured the construction site of a Tysons Corner Metro station that is part of the Dulles Rail project he helped get under way as governor. Kaine was joined by U.S. Senator Mark Warner and U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly for the tour and an update on the progress of Phase I of Rail to Dulles, which is projected to be completed largely on time and on budget.
“When I took office as governor this project was just a model on a table,” said Kaine. “It is so gratifying to see such progress on Rail to Dulles because it was the single hardest project I have worked on in public life. Things like Rail to Dulles and the Beltway HOT Lanes, while they may cause some inconvenience during the construction phase, are putting people to work right now, will give Northern Virginia commuters more transportation options, and increase economic growth in this corridor for decades.”
As governor, Kaine worked to get Rail to Dulles underway after decades of delays and inaction. He worked with a bipartisan coalition of Virginia leaders and the Bush administration to secure $900 million in federal funding for Phase I, finally getting shovels in the ground on this critical project. As senator, he would be an advocate for infrastructure investments as a way to put people back to work immediately and develop world class assets that keep our nation globally competitive.
“The work of the Bush administration and Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters was absolutely critical to making this project a reality,” said Kaine. “I will fight just as hard for federal investment in Phase II as I did for Phase I because I think this is a project of national significance. Without appropriate investment by the federal government and Commonwealth of Virginia, Northern Virginia commuters will face unreasonably high tolls, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Today’s visit was part of a two-day campaign swing through the Commonwealth with Warner. During economic events in Norfolk, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Ashburn, Kaine has shared his strategies to create jobs and strengthen the economy, responsibly reduce the deficit, and break through Washington’s partisan gridlock. He also shared with defense-related businesses his plan to avoid the looming sequestration cuts by using a balanced approach of $500 billion in revenues generated by the expiration of the Bush tax cuts over $500,000, up to $240 billion of savings from ending Medicare’s prohibition on prescription price negotiations, and $24 billion by ending subsidies to big oil companies.
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