[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 936 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 936

  Honoring the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads and 
Canals, celebrating the national unity the Gallatin Report engendered, 
 and recognizing the vast contributions that national planning efforts 
                  have provided to the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2008

 Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Walsh of 
New York, Mr. Petri, and Mr. Farr) submitted the following resolution; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads and 
Canals, celebrating the national unity the Gallatin Report engendered, 
 and recognizing the vast contributions that national planning efforts 
                  have provided to the United States.

Whereas President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his Secretary of the Treasury 
        Albert Gallatin to provide a new vision for transportation that would 
        unite the young Republic;
Whereas 2008 marks the bicentennial of the report that Secretary Gallatin 
        presented to President Jefferson, which proposed transportation 
        improvements not as ends in themselves but as means to further national 
        unity, which was part of the promise of the American Revolution, as 
        James Madison, writing in The Federalist No. 14, emphasized, ``Let it be 
        remarked . . . that the intercourse throughout the Union will be 
        facilitated by new improvements. Roads will everywhere be shortened, and 
        kept in better order; accommodations for travelers will be multiplied 
        and meliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side will be 
        opened throughout, or nearly throughout, the whole extent of the 13 
        States'', and whose words have served as a worthy reminder of the needs 
        for transportation infrastructure since that time;
Whereas Gallatin incorporated the legacy Benjamin Franklin bequeathed to the 
        country through his improvements to the Postal Service, including 
        Franklin's route surveys, his placement of milestones on principle 
        roads, and his development of shorter transportation routes;
Whereas the United States, as a result of Gallatin's legacy, has a record of 
        successful infrastructure partnerships, including--

    (1) the partnerships that built the Erie Canal, which vastly reduced 
transportation costs to the interior;

    (2) the partnerships that built the transcontinental railway, which 
united the country;

    (3) the partnerships that built transit projects across the country 
that promote freedom and opportunity;

    (4) the partnerships that built the National Highway System, which 
fostered interstate commerce, national unity, and broke down barriers 
between the States; and

    (5) the partnerships that formed the Tennessee Valley Authority, 
devised by President Theodore Roosevelt as a ``corporation clothed with the 
power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a 
private enterprise'', which brought electricity, conservation planning, and 
opportunity for thousands in the Tennessee Valley and across the country;

Whereas any national planning endeavor, to be regarded as a success, must 
        address and reconcile the needs of different regions of the country;
Whereas the genius of the Gallatin plan was its alignment of the hopes of the 
        Nation with the opportunities presented by access to new markets, 
        populations, and territories;
Whereas the United States currently faces new challenges financing the 
        infrastructure necessary for the future economic needs of the country; 
        and
Whereas America must have a plan for its future if it is to succeed in a world 
        of increasing international competition: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms the goals and ideals that formed the impetus 
        for Gallatin's national plan two hundred years ago;
            (2) calls on the Federal Government, States, localities, 
        schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the citizens 
        of the United States to mark this important anniversary by 
        recalling the important legacy of public investment in 
        infrastructure that connects and enhances the economies, 
        communications, and communities of our several States; and
            (3) supports the creation of a new national plan to align 
        the demands for economic development with the resources of the 
        Nation.
                                 <all>