Investment now is vital for Virginia's future

April 23, 2012

The Washington Post editorializes, "For decades regional planners have worked to extend Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, a critical transit link that would juice Northern Virginia's economy and bring first-world convenience to the Washington region's preeminent international hub. Now, incredible as it may seem, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, seven of whose nine members are newly elected and mostly novices at regional issues, may be poised to delay, and possibly scuttle, the project halfway to completion."

Progressive Point: Investing in Metro to Dulles Airport is a down payment on job creation and economic growth. Politicians in Richmond and Loudoun County are playing politics, threatening to stymie economic growth in order to advance their own partisan agendas. Investment in our infrastructure not only creates jobs now, it spurs economic growth to make sure we're still thriving in the years ahead. That means investing in Metro to Dulles now.

Conservatives dragging their feet on rail to Dulles are putting their political priorities above Virginia families. Job creation shouldn't be a partisan football. Virginians deserve real leaders who will stop playing politics with our future and start investing in infrastructure and creating jobs.

Get the Facts:

• Failure of the county to extend the Metro line would sacrifice more than $55 billion in potential economic activity, and some 40,000 jobs, by 2040, and its rate of growth would be 10 percent slower." (Washington Post, April 21, 2012)


• "Extending the Silver Line into Loudoun would make the difference between the county continuing mainly as a bedroom community that exports workers into neighboring jurisdictions and transforming part of it into a employment magnet for highly educated and well-paid professionals." (Washington Post, April 21, 2012)


• States that have cut the most spending over the past years have lost the most jobs. (Center for American Progress)


• President Obama's stimulus saved or created millions of jobs. (Economic Policy Institute)


• Failure of the Loundoun County Board of Supervisors to vote in favor of the Metro project would set the project back for one or two years or possibly kill the deal. Furthermore, the we would all lose out on currently extremely low constuction costs and interest rates. (Washington Post, April 21, 2012)

Forward to a Friend via email

Share on Facebook

Tweet it: Investment now is vital for Virginia's future http://bit.ly/I58vnZ via @ProgressVA