In addition to traveling the district and visiting with constituents and businesses one-on-one this week, I held the first meeting of my Transportation Advisory Council. The meeting, which was held in Lee County, was well attended and a variety of issues relating to transportation were discussed.
Online this week, the House GOP New Media Challenge continued and my office is still in the running. The competition has moved to the Facebook round and the challenge is to add as many new page “likes” as possible. If you have not already “liked” my Facebook page, please follow this link and do it now. If you have already liked my page, please encourage your friends and family to do the same.
While on Facebook, please be sure to see the Washington Post editorial I posted regarding the strong case for the Keystone XL Pipeline and answer my two poll questions on the issue.
I hope that you will continue to follow the work I am doing in Congress and to share your thoughts and concerns with me through my website at ellmers.house.gov and on my social media outlets including Facebook and Twitter.
Transportation Advisory Council
This week I held the first meeting of my Transportation Advisory Council in Sanford, North Carolina. Over 40 local business owners and representatives from the trucking, rail, and concrete sectors turned out for a productive dialogue on the challenges facing their industry.
Several issues were discussed, including the tolling proposal on Interstate 95, rising fuel costs, the NC gas tax, and the transportation reauthorization bills passed in the House and Senate – – to name a few.
As I noted to the council, I was proud to introduce H.R. 4174, the “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012” in March. This bill will prevent the North Carolina Department of Transportation from using a federal pilot program to impose tolls on I-95 users and protect businesses and commuters from unnecessary financial burdens.
The Transportation Advisory Council will meet at least once a year and continue to update my office on issues affecting the industry.