Freight Policy CP

1NC CP Text: The Freight Policy Council should provide a new freight network specifically for ________ (insert what infrastructure they increase) prior to the aff’s plan and increase [insert what transportation/what the aff have does]

Freight Policy Council is a pre-requisite to solve case- allows an independent body to focus on the condition of transportation, reduces traffic congestion, environment impacts, shipping costs, and provides a more efficient freight network that is critical to economyAkien Leader Aug 24, 2012 News Source For The Aiken Area “U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

Announces Creation of Freight Policy Council” http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/business/story/u-s-transportation-secretary-ray-lahood-announces-creation-of-freight-policy-council/887915 WASHINGTON - U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the launch of the Freight Policy Council which will focus on improving the condition and performance of the national freight network to better ensure the ability of the United States to compete in today’s global economy.  The council will develop a national, intermodal plan for improving the efficiency of freight movement and will work with states to encourage development of a forward looking state freight strategy. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined Secretary LaHood for the announcement at the PCC

Logistics Duwamish Facility in Seattle, WA. “Our freight system is the lifeblood of the American economy, moving goods quickly and efficiently to benefit both businesses and consumers across the country,” said Secretary LaHood. “With the launch of the Freight Policy Council , we have an opportunity to make not only our freight system, but all modes of transportation, stronger and better connected.” The recent transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or MAP-21, signed by President Obama last month, established a national freight policy and called for the creation of a National Freight Strategic Plan.   DOT’s Freight Policy Council will implement the key freight provisions of the legislation.   A strong freight transportation system is essential for helping meet President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015. The Council will be chaired by Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari, and will include DOT leadership from highways, rail, ports and airports and economic and policy experts from across the Administration.   The freight and logistics industries, consumers and other stakeholders will also play an advisory role, and states will be asked to offer proposals for improving the freight system in their region. “With increasing

competition abroad, Washington businesses require a 21st century approach to moving goods,” said U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). “This new Freight Policy Council provides the roadmap our nation needs to stay competitive and grow our trade economy. Smart freight planning is especially important to Washington state, where more than one million jobs are in freight-dependent industries.” The nation’s freight transportation system moves goods on ships, rails and roads.   Today, every American is responsible for 40 tons of freight a year. A more efficient freight network will reduce traffic congestion, environmental impact and shipping costs, which will lead to lower prices for consumers. The Department of Transportation continues to invest in freight through our grant and loan programs. Over $953 million in Transportation   Investment   Generating Economic Recover (TIGER) funds have gone to 50 projects that improve freight. More than a third of TIGER funding— $354 million—went to 25 port projects from coast to coast. Freight projects are also eligible for the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) program which provides up to $35 billion in loans and loan guarantees. Under MAP-21, freight projects can also qualify for $1.75 billion in Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) funding for the next two years.

Solvency

Federalism

The Freight Policy Council solves federalism AGC New Freight Policy Council Created August 24, 2012 http://news.agc.org/2012/08/24/new-freight-policy-council-created/ Associated General Contractors. The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) is the leading association for the construction industry. Operating in partnership with its nationwide network of 95 chartered Chapters, AGC provides a full range of services satisfying the needs and concerns of its members, thereby improving the quality of construction and protecting the public interest.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week the formation of a policy group created to improve the condition and performance of

the nation’s freight network. The group was formed to begin implementation of MAP-21 requirement to develop a National Freight Strategic

Plan. The new Freight Policy Council, will be chaired by Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari and include Administration representatives covering highways, rail, ports, and airports, as well as economic and policy experts. States will be asked to offer input to improve the freight system in their regions , while the freight and logistics industries, consumers, and other stakeholders will serve in an advisory capacity to the council. AGC will provide input to the Council. According to Secretary LaHood, the Freight Policy Council’s main focus will be to develop a national, intermodal plan for improving the efficiency of freight movement, and will work with states to encourage development of a freight strategy to move the nation into the future.

Economy

A freight network is critical to the economy and competitiveness DOT August 24, 2012 http://fastlane.dot.gov/2012/08/freight-policy-council-will-keep-us-goods-economy-moving.html#.UEQxWMFlRK0 Department of Transportation “Freight Policy Council will keep U.S. goods, economy moving”

As I wrote in yesterday's blog post, America's freight system is the lifeblood of our economy . When it's healthy, we can move goods quickly and efficiently to benefit both businesses and consumers across the country. So I'm pleased to announce that we're launching a   Freight Policy Council   to focus on improving the condition and performance of our national freight network to better ensure our ability to compete in today’s global economy . The recent transportation bill--Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or MAP21--that President

Obama signed earlier this summer establishes a national freight policy and calls for the creation of a National Freight Strategic Plan.  And DOT’s

Freight Policy Council will develop these and work on other key freight provisions in the legislation.  A strong freight transportation system is

essential for helping meet President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015. And nowhere is our progress toward the President's goal

better demonstrated than in the State of Washington, where the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma move $20 billion in cargo each year and support

more than 300,000 jobs. Their capacity is complemented by a rail and highway network that in 2010 allowed shippers to move 533 million tons

of goods across the state. We must develop a national strategic vision to get freight where it needs to go . That means coordinating the way we build our transportation networks and getting roads, rails, rivers, ports, and planes on the same page . As U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell said, “With increasing competition abroad,

Washington businesses require a 21st century approach to moving goods. This new Freight Policy Council provides the roadmap our nation needs to stay competitive and grow our trade economy ." This approach has been a huge

success in the State of Washington with its Freight Mobility Investment Board. It's what MAP-21 calls for. And business leaders will tell you it's

just the smart thing to do. America has one of the best freight networks in the world. In fact, every American is responsible for 40 tons of freight

a year, so when you do the math it's plain to see that, across the country, America's shippers are delivering the goods. But we can do better, and

we must. That's why DOT continues to invest in freight through our grant and loan programs. More than $953 million in Transportation

Investment Generating Economic Recover (TIGER) funds have gone to 50 projects that improve freight. More than a third of TIGER funding—

$354 million—went to 25 port projects from coast to coast. Freight projects are also eligible for the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement

Financing (RRIF) program that provides up to $35 billion in loans and loan guarantees. And under MAP-21, freight projects can also qualify for

$1.75 billion in Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) funding for the next two years. The   Freight Policy Council --with leaders from DOT and input from business, industry, and academic stakeholders--is another step forward in our efforts to keep America's economy moving. This Administration is absolutely

committed to making the U.S. freight system the best in the world. DOT's Freight Policy Council will help us get there.

AT’s

AT Perm Do CP

1. The perm is intrinsic—the counter plan advocates a freight networking which is a pre-requisite to placing transportation in a spot—this is a voting issue—intrinsicness lets them co-opt neg offense by adding planks to plan text which are key to stable negative strategy

2. Textual competition is badA. It allows them to insert any word from the CP into any part of the plan to create unpredictable permutations that entirely sever the original plan’s function.B. The test of competition is itself unpredictable – we have to negate the function of the plan in order to win, not the words in it. Textual competition arbitrarily excludes counterplans that disprove plan’s desirability.C. Justifies language PICs which are worse – there are dozens of ways to re-write the plan to do the exact same thing which restricts their ability to generate offense and eliminates debate over the substance of the plan, killing policy education.

3. Any reason the CP is good is a reason why this perm is bad.

AT Lie Perm

1. The perm is intrinsic—the counter plan advocates a freight networking which is a pre-requisite to placing transportation in a spot—this is a voting issue—intrinsicness lets them co-opt neg offense by adding planks to plan text which are key to stable negative strategy

2. The perm creates an intention to deceive which is morally wrong and corrupts policymaking—perm should be rejectedMurphy ‘96 (Mark C., 41 Am. J. Juris. 81, The American Journal of Jurisprudence, “Natural Law And The Moral Absolute Against Lying,” lexis)Bok's remarks capture the insight that what disturbs people about lying is not fundamentally that lies are contrary to the good of knowledge, though lies certainly are contrary to that good. What

is most troubling about being lied to is that lies infect the decision making process, undermining the good of practical reasonableness. Thus, the account of the moral absolute against lying defended here does justice to what bothers reflective people about being the victim of lies. 39 I have argued that although Finnis is right to think that the lie is an act directed against the intrinsic good of knowledge, the wrongfulness of lying is most adequately

explained by reference to the good of practical reasonableness. Lying is absolutely morally forbidden, in last analysis, because refraining from lying is necessary to show adequate respect for the status of other agents as practical reasoners. On this matter, at the very least, natural law theory should affirm its agreement with Kant. 40

3. US political system cannot keep secrets—the perm would leak Shafer, 4 (Jack, June 23, Editor of Slate quoting “secrecy czar J. William Leonard” who “heads the Information Security Oversight Office, the National Archives branch that develops classification and declassification policies at the behest of the president,” http://slate.msn.com/id/2102855/ )Don't mistake Leonard for an ACLU firebrand: As Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists (whose excellent listserv alerted me to the speech) puts it, Leonard "is not an 'openness' advocate or a free-lance critic of government secrecy." He's a career security professional who deplores the leaks of classified material to the press. Leonard attributes what he calls an "epidemic" of leaks to the press to the dysfunctional classification system, which has recently taken to using the war as an "excuse to disregard the basics of the security classification system." Leaks are coming out of the "highest levels of our government" (the Valerie Plame affair); a former Cabinet secretary is alleged to have handed off classified material to a book author for publication, and the classification machine is operating so poorly down at Guantanamo Bay that a chaplain was publicly charged

with pilfering secrets on his computer and then released. "The problem [Leonard] has identified is that the currency of classification is being devalued by questionable, sometimes suspiciously self-serving secrecy actions," writes Aftergood in e-mail. "This produces an erosion of security discipline , which in turn fosters an environment in which leaks are more likely to come about. The net result is bad security policy and bad public policy." Because leaks of classified information make for such great headlines, journalists rarely give much thought to why something was leaked or why it was classified in the first place. Leonard's speech encourages us to look for the important story behind every leaked classified-info story and ask these questions: Why was the information classified in the first place? Who or what was served by its classification—some self-interested bureaucracy or our national interest? (Think Abu Ghraib.) Who was served by the leak? Who was damaged? (Think Valerie Plame.) Who is served by declassification delays? The secrecy czar has spoken. But who's listening? According to Nexis, nobody. I couldn't find a single story about the speech. Maybe he should have leaked it to the press instead of posting it on the Web.