OLYMPIA – Sen. Steve Conway, D-South Tacoma, today released the following statement on the failure of the Majority Coalition Caucus to support the transportation revenue package:

"I am deeply disappointed by the failure of the Majority Coalition Caucus to recognize the importance of the transportation revenue package and its failure to allow the measure open and transparent debate on the Senate floor.

“This transportation package has been discussed for months. Yet the Majority Coalition chose not to discuss the package until the final hours of the 2013 second special legislative session. This shows a lack of leadership within the Majority Coalition.

“For months, we have heard the majority talk about jobs: their importance to our state, their importance to our economy, their importance to our recovery. Yet at the very moment they had the chance to stand for jobs and to stand up for our economy, they chose to retreat behind the veil of their anti-tax mantra.

“No one likes to ask for more revenue, but the revenue raised for this transportation package would have provided an economic return to our state in the form of maintenance and improvements to our transportation infrastructure and 100,000 construction jobs.

“Without transportation improvements, our economy suffers. Without transportation improvements, our state suffers. Without transportation improvements, jobs slip away.

“For an example, look no further than the Port of Tacoma. The revenue package meant improvements to the roadways approaching this vital economic driver, including SR 167. Inaction by the Majority Coalition means jobs and business for our city, county and state may slip away to Canada and California.

“This was an opportunity for the Senate to come together and pass the first significant transportation improvement package since 2005. Instead, it struck an ideological road block, that threatens the transportation system that is the lifeblood of our state and its economy.”

# # #

For more information: Ian Cope, Senate Democratic Caucus, 360-786-7535

For interviews: Sen. Steve Conway, 360-786-7656