[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 31453-31455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10658]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 95 / Wednesday, May 17, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 31453]]

                Proclamation 10577 of May 12, 2023

                
National Defense Transportation Day and National 
                Transportation Week, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                To have the world's strongest military and leading 
                economy, the United States must have the world's best 
                transportation system. And to achieve that, we must 
                prepare and equip the world's best workforce to build 
                it. Today and this week, we celebrate the American 
                workers who build our infrastructure, power our 
                economy, bolster our national security, and are the 
                backbone of this Nation. We also recommit to investing 
                in our Nation's infrastructure and strengthening 
                critical supply chains.

                National Defense Transportation Day dates back to 1957, 
                a year after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the 
                landmark Federal-Aid Highway Act. This law helped build 
                America's interstate highway system, which is critical 
                to our national security. In the years since, we have 
                seen how modern transportation makes it possible to 
                deploy service members quickly and to ship defense 
                supplies and equipment efficiently. It also means first 
                responders can act fast when a crisis occurs.

                The interstate highway system also proved vital to our 
                national prosperity--connecting small towns with big 
                cities, allowing goods to ship to all corners of the 
                country and world, and turning our infrastructure into 
                the envy of the globe. But gradually, we stopped 
                investing in our infrastructure. As we allowed the 
                quality of our roads, bridges, ports, and railways to 
                deteriorate, so too did the reliability of America's 
                transportation system.

                I took office determined to change that. I signed the 
                Bipartisan Infrastructure Law--a once-in-a-generation 
                investment in rebuilding America and putting Americans 
                across the country to work doing it. It is the most 
                significant investment in our infrastructure since 
                President Eisenhower. To date, we have already funded 
                more than 25,000 projects--upgrading roads, bridges, 
                and tunnels from California to Ohio to New York; 
                renovating major airports from Massachusetts to Georgia 
                to Oregon; and upgrading our rail infrastructure on the 
                Northeast Corridor, bringing world-class rail to new 
                corners of the country. We are also paving new highways 
                so trucks filled with goods can get to their 
                destinations faster and deepening channels so ships can 
                move in and out of harbors more efficiently.

                Additionally, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is the 
                largest investment in public transit in the history of 
                our country. It improves subways and commuter rail in 
                some of the busiest travel corridors in America, easing 
                traffic congestion and making it easier for people to 
                get where they need to go. Thanks to this law, we will 
                replace thousands of diesel school buses with electric 
                buses so our kids do not have to inhale diesel exhaust 
                fumes, which can make them sick. And we are helping 
                local governments retrofit subway stations so people 
                who need an elevator or ramp can reliably access our 
                rail systems. All told, these actions will improve 
                transit for millions of Americans while reducing 
                emissions.

                These investments are part of our mission to build a 
                clean energy future. As part of that effort, we are 
                creating a national network of electric vehicle 
                charging stations across America. In time, finding a 
                place to charge your

[[Page 31454]]

                electric vehicle will be as easy as pulling into a gas 
                station. And our Inflation Reduction Act, the largest 
                investment ever made to tackle climate change, is 
                providing incentives for companies to electrify heavy-
                duty vehicles and for consumers to buy electric cars 
                and fuel cell vehicles.

                As we improve our transportation system, we must make 
                good on our promise that the workers who are designing, 
                building, and maintaining it are seeing the benefits. 
                Many of these new jobs in construction, trucking, and 
                the railroad industry will be union jobs with good pay 
                and good benefits, providing the breathing room 
                American families deserve. We are also investing in 
                workforce development; expanding Registered 
                Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs; and 
                spurring commitments from employers, unions, and 
                community-based organizations to invest in training and 
                apprenticeships. And we worked hand in hand with the 
                trucking industry to improve safety and job quality 
                through the Biden Trucking Action Plan.

                Finally, we are working to rectify our Nation's past 
                mistakes when it comes to where and how we build new 
                infrastructure. Nearly six decades ago, the expansion 
                of the interstate highway system routed many highways 
                directly through Black and brown communities, 
                destroying entire neighborhoods or cutting them off 
                from economic opportunity. In response, my 
                Administration launched the Reconnecting Communities 
                Pilot Program--the first-ever Federal initiative to cap 
                highways and add green spaces in an effort to unify 
                neighborhoods that had been divided. Our goal is to 
                ensure that our investments reach places that have 
                historically been forgotten, opening doors of 
                opportunity and strengthening communities as cranes go 
                up and shovels dig into the ground.

                On this National Defense Transportation Day and 
                throughout National Transportation Week, I am proud to 
                say that we are embarking on an infrastructure decade. 
                Our investments to create the world's best and safest 
                roads, bridges, railroads, ports, airports, and more 
                will make our economy and country stronger. And by 
                empowering America's workers--who in turn power our 
                national prosperity--we will continue to build an 
                economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top 
                down. That is America at its best--reinventing, 
                rebuilding, and reimagining a future of boundless 
                possibilities.

                In recognition of the ongoing contributions of our 
                Nation's transportation system and in honor of the 
                devoted professionals who work to sustain its tradition 
                of excellence, the United States Congress has 
                requested, by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957, 
                as amended (36 U.S.C. 120), that the President 
                designate the third Friday in May of each year as 
                ``National Defense Transportation Day'' and, by joint 
                resolution approved May 14, 1962 (36 U.S.C. 133), that 
                the week in which that Friday falls be designated as 
                ``National Transportation Week.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, do hereby proclaim 
                Friday, May 19, 2023, as National Defense 
                Transportation Day; and May 14 through May 20, 2023, as 
                National Transportation Week. I urge all Americans to 
                observe these occasions with appropriate ceremonies, 
                programs, and activities as we show our appreciation to 
                those who build and operate our Nation's transportation 
                systems.

[[Page 31455]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-10658
Filed 5-16-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P