[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 106 (Thursday, August 4, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                E X T E N S I O N   O F   R E M A R K S


         H.R. 4867--THE HIGH SPEED RAIL DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                            HON. LYNN SCHENK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 4, 1994

  Ms. SCHENK. Mr. Speaker, on Monday I introduced H.R. 4867, the High 
Speed Rail Development Act of 1994. I am pleased to have been joined in 
this effort by the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Commerce 
Committee [Mr. Dingell] and the distinguished chairman of the 
Transportation Subcommittee [Mr. Swift] in introducing this 
legislation. The legislation passed the Transportation Subcommittee by 
unanimous vote this morning, and I expect the full Energy and Commerce 
Committee will take the bill up on Friday.
  Mr. Speaker, high-speed rail is an idea whose time as come. H.R. 4867 
represents the first commitment in the history of this great Nation to 
develop and implement a high-speed rail transportation network. Our 
ultimate goal is the construction of a safe, fast, efficient, and 
environmentally sound transportation alternative for all Americans. 
H.R. 4867 establishes the policy framework and takes the first steps 
toward achieving that goal.
  In April of last year, I was proud to be an original cosponsor of the 
administration's original high-speed rail proposal. That legislation, 
H.R. 1919, was reported out of the Energy and Commerce committee in 
late July. Unfortunately, two things became very clear to us in the 
months following our full committee markup. First, we understood that 
Congress could not offer funding at the levels specified in the bill. 
Second, certain provisions relating to re-employment benefits and the 
application of Davis-Bacon rules drew strong opposition from the States 
and certain members. For the past several months, I have worked closely 
with our distinguished committee chair [Mr. Dingell], our distinguished 
subcommittee chair [Mr. Swift], the Department of Transportation and 
the Federal Railroad Administration to resolve these matters and forge 
a consensus bill. H.R. 4867 is the product of those efforts.
  H.R. 4867 authorizes total appropriations of $29,000,000 in fiscal 
year 1995, $70,000,000 in fiscal year 1996, and $85,000,000 in fiscal 
year 1997 to the Secretary of Transportation for purposes of carrying 
out this policy. The legislation has two primary components. Section 
26101 of the bill specifies criteria for Federal assistance to States 
for the purposes of corridor planning. In 1992, the Department of 
Transportation identified five high-priority high-speed rail 
corridors--Chicago to St. Louis, Detroit and Milwaukee; Miami-Orlando-
Tampa; San Diego-Los Angeles-San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento via 
the San Joaquin Valley; Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, BC; 
Washington, DC-Richmond-Raleigh-Charlotte. In addition to these five 
corridors, the existing New York State high-speed corridor--New York 
City-Albany-Buffalo--is also eligible for Federal assistance.

  Under section 26101, the Federal Government can provide up to 50 
percent in matching funds for a variety of corridor activities, 
including environmental assessments, economic analyses, feasibility 
studies, preliminary engineering, and the acquisition of rights-of-way. 
This bill grants the Secretary of Transportation some discretion in 
determining which corridors receive funding under this section. 
However, it is our intent that those corridors previously designated by 
ISTEA be a priority for Federal assistance.
  Section 26102 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to provide 
funding for the adaptation and integration of developed technologies 
for commercial application in the United States. This type of 
commitment to technology development is long overdue. High-speed 
innovations like maglev and the tilt train are U.S. technologies that 
have been commercialized and applied overseas.
  Furthermore, the aggressive promotion of high-speed technology will 
ease our conversion from a defense to a civilian economy. Early last 
year, I asked Gary Denman, the Director of the Advanced Research 
Projects Agency [ARPA] to consult with the Department of Transportation 
in making its grants through the Technology Reinvestment Project [TRP], 
because I believe that transportation is a particularly attractive 
commercial market for defense companies. In fact, the majority of TRP 
applications in this past year have been transportation-related.
  H.R. 4867 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to provide 
financial assistance to private businesses, local governments, or 
public authorities that seek to develop high-speed rail technologies. 
The Secretary will coordinate DOT's efforts with other State and 
Federal agencies, so that high-speed rail technology can augment our 
existing conversion policies.
  What this means is American jobs. It is my hope that this bill will 
jump-start the efforts of hundreds of defense companies to seek to use 
their technologies in the commercial transportation markets. If we can 
lend a hand and help coordinate their efforts, we can help the private 
sector create thousands of jobs across the Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, while this is my first term in the Congress, I am no 
stranger to the issue of high-speed rail. As a former Secretary of 
Business, Transportation and Housing in the State of California, I 
advocated this type of Federal support for high-speed rail over a 
decade ago. Despite the absence of such support, the State of 
California has been extremely progressive in pursuing high-speed rail 
over the past decade; our State has invested more than $1 billion in 
its rail system since the passage of ISTEA alone. In my home State, the 
Los Angeles-San Diego corridor has the second-highest ridership in the 
Nation despite operating under normal rail speeds. A Federal high-speed 
rail policy will help California and other States continue to make the 
incremental improvements necessary to realize high-speed rail 
transportation.

  Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer my deep appreciation to both 
Chairman Dingell and to Chairman Swift for including me in their 
discussions and deliberations on this issue. They and their excellent 
staffs have been extremely fair and generous with their time. In 
particular, I want to commend the chairman of the subcommittee for his 
tireless leadership on these issues. He is an inspiration to his 
colleagues, and his impending retirement is the institution's loss. I 
look forward to working with him in the next few months to pass H.R. 
4867 and establish our Nation's first high-speed rail policy.

                          ____________________