[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 134 (Thursday, August 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12120-S12122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  1996

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 2348

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Arizona [Mr. McCain] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 2348.

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       On page 72, after line 15, insert: ``(c) This section shall 
     take effect on April 1, 1996.''
       On page 73, after line 24, insert: ``(c) This section shall 
     take effect on April 1, 1996.''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the amendment? Without 
objection, the amendment is agreed to.
  So the amendment (No. 2348) was agreed to.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the 
amendment was agreed to.

[[Page S 12121]]

  Mr. ROBB. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, we are prepared to go to third reading.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment of the 
amendments and third reading of the bill.
  The amendments were ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read 
the third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  Mr. STEVENS. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. BYRD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I expect to detain the Senate for a few 
minutes.
  Mr. President, I commend the chairman of the full Appropriations 
Committee, Mr. Hatfield, for assuming the chairmanship of the 
Transportation Subcommittee.
  May I say to Senators I expect to speak 10 or 15 minutes. I do that 
with some apologies, but I think this is a very important bill, and I 
will not overly detain my friends. This will not be one of my long 
speeches. Cicero was asked which of the orations of Demosthenes he 
liked most. Cicero answered, ``the longest.'' This will not be my 
longest. However, I have a few things I want to say about this bill.
  I have been a member of the subcommittee for many years and have long 
been an advocate for increased and sustained funding for our Nation's 
transportation infrastructure. This is fundamental to the economic 
health of this Nation.
  I know that Senator Hatfield agrees that our Nation's economic 
prosperity depends heavily on the adequacy of our highways, our 
airports, our railroads, and transit systems. And as such, Mr. 
President, H.R. 2002, the Transportation appropriations bill, is a 
critically important bill for the overall economic health of our 
Nation. I also want to congratulate not only Senator Hatfield but also 
the former chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee, Senator 
Lautenberg, for the expeditious manner in which this bill has been 
reported to the floor. The bill was passed by the House of 
Representatives just 2 weeks ago. The Senate Transportation 
Subcommittee met to report its recommendations to the full committee 
just 1 week later. The full Appropriations Committee reported the bill 
to the Senate this past Friday, and the Senate is about to approve the 
bill.
  Senator Hatfield and Senator Lautenberg wasted no time in preparing 
and advancing a bill once the House of Representatives completed its 
work. In addition to thanking the managers of the bill, I want to 
recognize the contributions of the staff of the Transportation 
Subcommittee, Pat McCann, Anne Miano and Joyce Rose of the majority 
staff, as well as Peter Rogoff of the minority staff, for their hard 
work on this bill.
  Unfortunately, the House bill, as well as the bill before us, is 
substantially below a freeze in both discretionary budget authority and 
outlays. Indeed, the bill before us is a full $1 billion in outlays 
below a fiscal year 1995 freeze. As such, I fear that this bill 
continues a trend of Federal disinvestment in our Nation's physical 
infrastructure. That is why I have taken the valuable time of Senators 
at this point. I want to make us all aware again of the fact that we 
have an investment deficit in this country and have had. I pleaded that 
case when I was at the summit in 1990. I urged that we spend more money 
on America--on America's people, on America's infrastructure. We not 
only have a trade deficit, we not only have a Federal budget deficit, 
we also have an investment deficit. Since 1980, the investment in 
physical infrastructure has declined, both as a percentage of all 
Federal spending, and as a percentage of our Nation's gross domestic 
product. The cuts embodied in this bill only exacerbate this trend--a 
trend that is both shortsighted and unwise.
  Any businessman will tell you that a business cannot prosper for very 
long if the necessary investments are not continually made in the tools 
and machinery that provide the engine for that prosperity.
  The owner of a small manufacturing plant can, perhaps, delay 
investments in new tools and machinery for a brief period of time. He 
may be able to piece that machinery together using temporary fixes. He 
may be able to cannibalize and hold out for a little while. But over 
the long haul, more often than not, the failure to adequately invest in 
that machinery and equipment will prove to be a very expensive mistake. 
And, in the end, that machinery must be replaced, often at a cost that 
proves to be considerably higher than the cost of continued and steady 
maintenance and investment. If it is not, then the plant will fall 
further and further behind its competitors, and eventually the 
businessman will go bankrupt. The same is true for our Nation's 
investment and maintenance of its infrastructure. But, increasingly, in 
recent years, we have embodied this penny-wise and pound-foolish 
frugality when it comes to our Nation's transportation infrastructure.
  Now, there is a place for frugality, and I am all for that. For the 
last several months, we have heard much debate on the Senate floor 
regarding the tragic maladies that are brought about by the Federal 
budget deficit, maladies that should not be passed on to our 
grandchildren. The danger of continued budget deficits are very 
evident, but it is equally true that a less than robust economy only 
exacerbates our national deficit problem. I would like to take a moment 
to recount some of the maladies that we will also pass on to the next 
generation if we continue to fail to adequately invest in our 
transportation infrastructure.
  According to the Department of Transportation, there are currently 
more than 234,000 miles of the nearly 1.2 million miles of paved, 
nonlocal roads which are in such bad condition that they require 
capital improvements either immediately or within the next 5 years. The 
Nation's backlog in the rehabilitation and maintenance of our Nation's 
bridges currently stands at $78 billion. According to the Federal 
Highway Administration, 118,000 of the Nation's 575,000 bridges--more 
than one of five--are structurally deficient. While most are not in 
danger of collapse, they do require that heavier trucks be prohibited 
from using them--an action that has an immediate adverse impact on the 
Nation's productivity. Another 14 percent of the Nation's bridges are 
functionally obsolete, meaning that they do not have the land and 
shoulder widths or vertical clearance to handle the traffic that they 
bear.
  Fully 70 percent of the Nation's interstate highways and metropolitan 
areas are congested during peak travel times. Such traffic congestion 
costs the economy $39 billion a year in wasted fuel and low 
productivity for both passengers and commercial traffic. Congestion 
also undermines our ability to clean up our Nation's air, since more 
than 70 percent of the carbon monoxide emitted into the atmosphere 
comes from motor vehicles. To make matters worse, the Department of 
Transportation continues to estimate increased road and vehicle use 
that will put us in even worse shape. It has been estimated that the 
number of vehicles on our Nation's highways will grow about 8 percent 
by the year 2000. However, over the same period, freight tonnage 
carried by our Nation's trucks will grow by more than 30 percent. Yet, 
under this year's Transportation appropriations bill, and it can be 
anticipated for each of the next 7 years, we will be required to cut 
rather than increase our investment in maintaining our Nation's 
transportation system.
  As Mr. Hatfield, the distinguished chairman of this subcommittee and 
of the full Appropriations Committee, has said more than once in recent 
days, as we have marked up our appropriations bill, ``You ain't seen 
nothing yet. If you think it is tough this year, wait until next 
year.'' He has said that. He is right.
  Just as our Federal funding patterns have ignored the anticipated 
growth in highway use, so, too, are we ignoring the anticipated growth 
in airport use. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the 
number of enplanements expected at our Nation's airports will grow 
almost 60 percent over the next decade. If no new runways are added, 
the number of severely congested major airports will grow by 

[[Page S 12122]]
250 percent. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that in 
order to bring existing airports up to current design standards, as 
well as provide sufficient capacity to meet the projected demand, it 
will cost no less than $30 billion over the next several years.
  Now, Mr. President, we talk about our grandchildren, passing on this 
great deficit to them. I have grandchildren. I want us to do whatever 
we reasonably can do to reduce the deficit and to ameliorate the burden 
that we are going to pass on to those children and those grandchildren.
  But we do ourselves and our grandchildren no favor by ignoring these 
trends and by balancing the Federal budget on the back of critical 
domestic investments, and at the same time we are talking about passing 
on to the American people $250 billion in tax cuts. What folly, utter 
folly.
  How can we hope to ensure a prosperous future for our children's 
children, if we leave the next generation with a transportation network 
so dilapidated, unsafe, and inefficient that it is a national 
embarrassment rather than a source of national pride? Unfortunately, 
the funding allocation granted to the transportation subcommittee is 
not close to sufficiently accommodate the necessary investments to 
enable us to even begin to meet the backlog of highway, bridge and 
aviation needs that exist throughout this nation. How can we hope to 
bring the budget into balance if we destroy the efficiency and 
productivity of private industry with a transportation network so 
seriously inadequate as to cost billions in lost hours and lost 
profits.
  With the ill-advised funding levels contained in this bill, we have 
put the nation's vital needs on hold. I am sorry to have to impose on 
the Senator at this time, but I cannot help but contrast this bill with 
the profligate spending contained in the defense appropriations and 
authorization bills which this body is considering and is about to 
consider later today. It has been considering the authorization bill 
and is about to consider the appropriations bill later today. I can 
only come to the sad conclusion that we have turned our national 
priorities on their head and enacted appropriations that reflect the 
paranoia of the past and not the priorities of the future.
  I close with the words of Daniel Webster when he spoke at the laying 
of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument on June 17, 1825:

       Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its 
     powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great 
     interests, and see whether we also in our day and generation 
     may not perform something worthy to be remembered.

  I thank all Senators. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall it pass? On this question, the yeas and nays have 
been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] 
is absent because of illness in the family.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 98, nays 1, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 383 Leg.]

                                YEAS--98

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brown
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Exon
     Faircloth
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hatfield
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnston
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Nunn
     Packwood
     Pell
     Pressler
     Pryor
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Simon
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner
     Wellstone

                                NAYS--1

       
     Heflin
       

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Bradley
       
  So the bill (H.R. 2002), as amended, was passed.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I would like to take just a moment to do 
two things. First of all, I would like to pay commendation to an 
extraordinary staff which worked so long and so diligently on this 
bill: Pat McCann and Anne Miano and Carole Geagley and Peter Rogoff.
  I want to also point out a special situation surrounding our staff 
person, Joyce Rose. This body has listened to the chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee over many years, and the ranking member, 
discuss the uniqueness of our staffs on our Appropriations Committee.
  I know that we are served well by staff on all committees. But I want 
to share with my colleagues a very special happening during the markup 
last Wednesday during the readout of our bill on transportation.
  Joyce Rose, who is a mother of a 10-year-old boy, that boy fell out 
of a tree and broke both arms, broke his nose and was badly bruised. 
She spent the time at the hospital, and then appeared on the scene to 
perform her duties at night when we were doing the readout; back to the 
hospital, back to her committee functions. I think it not only is the 
demonstration of a very dedicated and devoted person maintaining her 
duties as a mother as well as her role as a staff person, but even 
through the crises and problems that she faced with her child, she was 
able to--using more hours of the day than anyone else--cover both bases 
and still perform her duties here on our staff.
  I just want to pay her this tribute, and through her example, such 
tribute to our entire staff.
  Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its amendments and 
request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two 
Houses and that the Chair appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.
  The motion was agreed to; and the Presiding Officer (Mr. Inhofe) 
appointed Mr. Hatfield, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Specter, Mr. Gramm, Mr. Bond, 
Mr. Gorton, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Harkin, Ms. Mikulski, and Mr. 
Reid conferees on the part of the Senate.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  I also thank my colleagues for assisting us in disposing of No. 6 of 
the 13 appropriations bills, 6 of the 13.
  Now Senator Stevens will hold forth on presenting the seventh that we 
hope will be completed expeditiously so that when we leave on our 
recess--when I leave on recess beginning tomorrow afternoon, I would 
like to feel that maybe we will all be in that similar position, under 
the leadership of Senator Stevens and ably assisted by Senator Inouye, 
the ranking member.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak on morning business for not to exceed 12 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Faircloth pertaining to the introduction of S. 
1145 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the remainder 
of my time.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________