Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), and local leaders from the 2nd District pushed to protect vital investments in infrastructure and small business from cuts in the majority party’s budget proposal to fund the government under a continuing resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year. They emphasized that cutting these investments will undermine economic growth and job creation efforts in Northwest Washington. Under this budget proposal, in Washington state over $880 million would be slashed from transportation and infrastructure projects, resulting in an estimated job loss of over 30,000 jobs.
“Investing in transportation and infrastructure is a surefire way to inject dollars into our local economy and put people to work improving the roads, bridges and railways in our region,” said Rep. Larsen. “This industry has already been devastated by the economic downturn; we can not afford to make any more cuts in construction projects that will keep our economy moving and provide good jobs for folks in the community.”
“There is no better way to jumpstart the economy than making investments in critical transportation and infrastructure funding, which support private sector economic expansion. The construction sector has experienced a catastrophic unemployment rate, and putting construction workers back to work at solid family wage jobs will have a tremendous ripple effect on the economy not just for the short term, but well into the future,” said Liz Evans of the Associated General Contractors of Washington.
During consideration of funding legislation, Rep. Larsen voted against an attempt to completely defund the Small Business Innovation Research program.
“Our small businesses are the backbone of our economy,” said Rep. Larsen. “In these tough economic times, we need to be providing small business owners with the tools and resources they need to grow and hire new workers-not slashing the vital help that allows them to compete and thrive in the global marketplace.”
“The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is critically important to my small business. The “I” in SBIR is a key aspect in my opinion. To compete globally, U.S. companies must continually innovate; most small businesses like mine can’t afford to invest in research without a defined application and market. The SBIR program provides an efficient way to develop new technologies that have immediate impact on the needs of U.S. government agencies, as well as commercial customers. Easily 50% of my firm’s sales to government and commercial (domestic and foreign) entities stem from advances that were made possible by the SBIR program,” said Travis Ayers, owner of Luxel Corporation in Friday Harbor.
