[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1357-S1358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, TRANSPORTATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I speak to my colleagues and to the 
American public today about a quiet crisis that is occurring in our 
Nation. This is the crisis that has resulted from our failure to 
adequately invest in the basic services that will render our Nation 
economically productive, with a strong national security, and prepare 
the next generation of our citizens to meet their responsibilities. All 
over our Nation, from the largest cities to the smallest rural 
communities, we are seeing a deterioration of our basic public support 
system. Our schools, our bridges, our highways, our water and sewer 
systems are deteriorating.
  In areas of growth, we do not have enough resources to meet the needs 
of an expanding population. Too many children are learning in 
overcrowded and unsafe classrooms. Too many motorists are driving on 
inadequate roads and highways. Too many communities are being forced to 
make do with inadequate water, sewer, and environmental systems.
  Our ability to compete in the economy of the future, and to maintain 
and enhance the quality of life of our citizens, will, in large part, 
hinge on whether and how we correct those problems.
  As we enter the 21st century, we must build and rebuild the 
foundations which will serve our people and their needs for years to 
come. In the near future, I intend to continue the efforts that are 
underway with my Republican and Democratic colleagues who have 
expressed similar concerns. Out of this will come legislation which 
will assist States and local communities to build the schools, roads, 
and water systems that they need now and in the future.

  The numbers tell the story. A recent General Accounting Office report 
says

[[Page S1358]]

that one-third of our Nation's school districts have buildings in need 
of immediate and extensive repair. The same report states that 25 
million students go to schools with poor lighting and heating, bad 
ventilation or air quality, or a lack of physical security; 25 million 
boys and girls attend schools with those deteriorating conditions. It 
has been estimated that $150 billion will be needed to remedy this 
situation. That dollar amount does not include the cost to meet new 
school construction for expanding populations.
  This affects my State. It affects all of the States of the Nation. 
The school facility crisis is estimated, for instance, in the State of 
North Dakota, to cost $450 million to remedy; $5 billion is needed in 
Texas, $7.5 billion in Florida, $15 billion in New York State, and $20 
billion in the State of California. In Louisiana, 88 percent of the 
1,500 public schools are in need of repair; 77 percent of Connecticut's 
more than 1,000 schools need some rehabilitation. In Illinois, 89 
percent of more than 4,000 schools need improvement.
  I firmly believe the administration of elementary and secondary 
education is the responsibility of State and local communities. It is 
not a Federal responsibility. The Federal Government should restrain 
itself from interfering with curriculum, personnel and other 
educational policies. But I believe there is a role for the Federal 
Government in helping increasingly underfunded and overburdened school 
districts in the construction of badly needed new schools and the 
renovation of existing schools. That is a role in which the Federal 
Government has had some history.
  I recently spent a day working in a rehabilitation project on Opa-
Locka Elementary School in Dade County, FL. I was impressed when I 
looked at the plaque on the wall of Opa-Locka Elementary School, a 
school which is 60 years old this year. It was built by the U.S. Public 
Works Administration as a Depression-era job-creation project. The 
Federal Government has a history of assisting school districts in 
meeting their capital needs and has done so without the criticism of 
inappropriate Federal intrusion.
  Mr. President, I applaud the President's proposed school construction 
initiative. It was one of the 10 points in the education program that 
he presented to the Nation during his State of the Union Address. He 
has opened the door to an important Federal-State-local partnership, 
and we must walk through that door. However, I believe the door needs 
to be widened.
  Our school construction needs are much greater than the President's 
proposal would address. States and local school districts need to have 
a wider range of policy and fiscal options to meet their needs. We must 
aggressively build on the President's plan so that States and local 
governments can solve their tremendous needs.
  School construction is obviously not the only capital issue facing 
States and local governments. For example, the United States has 39 
million miles of roads and 574,000 bridges. Recent estimates show that 
60 percent of our roads and a third of our bridges are substandard and 
in need of repair. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 
we currently invest $35 billion annually in highway construction. This 
is $15 billion less than is needed to keep up with deterioration and 
$33 billion less than the amount estimated to keep ahead of growth, 
change, and congestion.
  Nationally, our water and sewer management investment needs are in 
excess of $138 billion.
  The key question for us and for America is, how will we face these 
problems? We must address these problems in a way that is responsible, 
both to our commitment to a balanced budget and to the needs of States 
and local communities. It is vital that we find a funding source that 
is limited, stable and viable over an extended period of time.
  I suggest that some of the principles of this new partnership of the 
Federal Government with State and local communities in meeting their 
education, transportation and environmental infrastructure needs would 
include these: We must form an expanded and long-term partnership. It 
must be a partnership built on a basic respect for the responsibilities 
of State and local government to make the key policy decisions.
  It must also be built on a requirement that it be a true partnership 
with the States and as a condition of participation that they provide a 
matching source of funds to that which will come from the Federal 
Government and that they maintain their current level of effort so that 
this will truly be an additional effort toward meeting our unmet needs, 
not a substitution for current effort, and that there be maximum 
flexibility to the States in the form in which they choose to meet 
those needs and the priorities which they establish.
  I am going to suggest, Mr. President, as we develop these concepts 
into legislation, that one of the most appealing ways in which to 
provide that stable and sustainable revenue source in order to be able 
to form this partnership is to utilize the 4.3 cents per gallon of 
motor fuels tax which was enacted in 1993 and which goes directly to 
the Federal Treasury, not as does most other federally imposed motor 
fuels tax into a highway trust fund. This revenue source is currently 
generating in excess of $6 billion.
  If States and local communities are willing to provide a substantial 
match to these funds--and I will suggest that that match should be in 
the ratio of one-third State and local to two-thirds Federal--the total 
effect of this Federal contribution for educational, transportation, 
environmental needs over the next 5 to 10 years could be in excess of 
$200 billion, if these funds were used as the basis of innovative 
financing methods.
  Mr. President, this will have the potential of tremendous positive 
impact on our Nation's economy. Clearly, the economy will benefit by 
having children who are educated in appropriate environments. The 
country will benefit by having a transportation system that can meet 
our current and future needs that will not impose excessive costs due 
to congestion and inadequacy of facilities. Our Nation will be enhanced 
by having quality environmental systems that will protect our water and 
our air and our natural resources.
  Those are some of the benefits. But in addition to those, a program 
of this scale will provide employment for literally hundreds of 
thousands of people, as we strive to construct these facilities that 
will have such positive long-term benefits.
  Mr. President, in the next weeks I expect to continue to work with my 
colleagues in developing this into specific legislative proposals.
  Our motorists and our Nation's commercial interests need safe, 
modern, and reliable highways. Our communities deserve responsible 
water and sewer and other environmental systems. Our children will 
require the best quality of educational facilities in order to achieve 
world-class standards of educational performance. We can wait no longer 
to meet the needs of this quiet crisis of deteriorating infrastructure 
in America. Now is the time to act. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. BUMPERS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
permitted to proceed for 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Arkansas is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Bumpers pertaining to the introduction of S. 325, 
S. 326, and S. 327 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on 
Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina is recognized.

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