We’re doing what we’ve always done in this country. As President Johnson said more than 40 years ago when he signed the legislation creating this department, the Department of Transportation, “America’s history is a history of her transportation” — of railroads that pushed frontiers, and waterways and highways that opened up markets, airplanes that connected us to one another and to the world.
Throughout our history, there have been times when a generation of Americans seized the chance to remake the face of this nation. And this is one of those times. And that’s what we’re doing today — building a 21st century infrastructure that will create jobs, spur growth, and sustain an economy that creates shared and lasting prosperity.
So thank you to the folks here at DOT; you’re doing an outstanding job. Thanks to Ray LaHood for being a terrific leader of the department. And thank you to Joe Biden for helping to drive this thing home. And thanks to all the workers who are standing behind us. We don’t want to keep them too long. They’ve already got their hard hats. (Laughter.) They are going to go straight into their cars and they’re going to go back to work. So, thank you, everybody. (Applause.)
(Source: White House)