Buckeye Reporter

Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, spoke at the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD)’s executive committee meeting and discussed the pro-labor, pro-worker infrastructure investments he worked to secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

“America’s transportation workers power this country. We know our businesses and our transportation networks do best when the workers who make them successful have a voice through the labor movement,” said Brown. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will mean more good, union jobs and more opportunity for workers across the country. And as we work to speed up supply chains and make more in America, the talent and ingenuity of American workers will be one of our greatest assets.”

On November 29, 2020, transportation labor and the entire labor movement suffered a devastating loss when TTD President Larry Willis died from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident.  Larry was a leader, advocate, mentor and friend, and he was a trade unionist to his core. At the meeting, Brown was presented with the inaugural Larry Willis Leadership Award for his dedication to the labor movement and to empowering transportation workers. Larry’s family presented the award along with TTD President Greg Regan.

Brown has been meeting with transit leaders across Ohio to discuss the transit investments he helped secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.

In March, Brown announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded five Buses and Bus Facilities Grants totaling $32,639,029 to Transit Authorities across Ohio. This funding will allow Ohio communities to make necessary upgrades to their existing facilities, and replace older buses that have reached the end of their useful life.

In November, Brown announced that his bipartisan bill, the Build America, Buy America Act, was signed into law by President Biden. Brown had been pushing for this legislation since 2017 and reintroduced it earlier in 2021. Brown fought for and successfully included this legislation in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.