[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 36 (Thursday, March 26, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1624-H1625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRESS MUST REFORM THE NATION'S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND REGAIN THE 
                             PUBLIC'S TRUST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a matter of grave 
concern to me and many of my colleagues. I am in great hope that the 
American public is paying attention to what I am about to say.
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk about transportation dollars and 
budget authority and busting the budget. The transportation dollars 
that are being handled in this country are being handled in a way that 
I believe does not support the best interests of the American public 
nor support the quality of this institution.
  Next week the House will be asked to vote on a transportation bill 
that could cost the American taxpayers $216 billion, money they have 
already paid into a taxpayers' fund. This will make this bill one of 
the largest public works bills in our history. The chairman of the 
Committee on the Budget has called the bill an ``abomination'' because 
it will bust the budget by at least $26 billion. That is $26 billion 
that we are going to pass on to our next generation. We have the 
assurances that this will be paid for in conference. Anybody that has 
been here for any length of time knows that that is not much in terms 
of assurance.
  This Congress has made important steps toward reversing the fiscal 
irresponsibility of its recent past, and we must stay that course. We 
must not lose our bearings when we are so close to making significant 
strides towards reducing our $5.5 trillion debt.
  I want to explain to the American people how transportation dollars 
are divided up in this country and where that process is corrupt and 
needs to be reformed. Every time Americans fill their cars up with gas, 
a few cents goes towards a massive Federal transportation fund. 
Congress has set up a committee to divide these funds. Each member of 
this committee exercises enormous influence over where these dollars 
are spent.
  Every Member of Congress has the authority to request special 
projects, based on the needs of their district and the recommendations 
of their respective State's Department of Transportation. Money should 
be awarded to these projects based solely on their merit, but this is 
often not the case, as anyone who has observed this process recently 
will admit.
  Instead of dividing transportation money according to the merit of 
projects, money is divided based on political favors and political 
expediency. Stories in today's Associated Press will help explain what 
I mean.
  The AP reports North Dakota and South Dakota are similar in size and 
population, but when it comes to the House's highway bill, they are 
nothing alike. The bill earmarks $60 million in special projects for 
South Dakota, six times as much as its neighbor to the north.
  Mr. Speaker, let me ask my colleagues and the American public a 
question. Is it likely that the projects in South Dakota have six times 
more merit as the projects in North Dakota, or is there some political 
motivation involved?
  In Minnesota, one district out of the eight congressional districts 
in that State received $80 million of the $140 million earmarked for 
projects in that State. Does that one district have such a 
disproportionate need for highway funds, or is there some other reason 
for this imbalance in funding? Is it a coincidence that an inordinately 
high proportion of transportation funds are targeted to districts 
represented by members of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure? Is it a coincidence that this bill sends outrageous 
sums of money to members in both parties who will face difficult 
reelections?
  Also, if my colleagues examine this bill, they will find striking 
disparities in the amount of money one State receives over another, 
regardless of what they put into the trust fund.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite the public and the press to examine this bill 
and decide for themselves whether this money is being divided according 
to merit or to politics. This bill includes over 1,400 special 
projects. In 1987, President Reagan vetoed a bill that had 150 such 
projects, which is just one-tenth the number in this bill.
  We should ask ourselves what the typical American thinks of this 
process. I think we know. The public finds that it is sick, dirty, and 
corrupt, and a throwback to the system of ``good ol' boys'' that we 
came here in 1994 to end. We have $5.5 trillion worth of debt in this 
country. We cannot afford to play games with the public's money and 
more importantly we cannot afford to play games with the public's 
trust.
  That is why I and several of my colleagues turned down funds in this 
year's highway transportation bill. I made a statement to the press 
that the committee had approached me in hopes of buying my vote. I 
stand by that statement.
  But this is not an issue of one Member against another Member or one 
Member against a committee. This issue is about whether Congress will 
continue to look the other way on a system that encourages Members to 
do the inappropriate and wrong things. This system not only wastes the 
public's money, it degrades the public's trust in this institution. It 
is difficult to put a dollar value on trust because it is invaluable. 
As legislators, the public's trust is our most precious and scarce 
resource. Once that trust is lost, we all know it is hard to earn it 
back.
  If this Congress and the class of 1994 is known for one thing, I hope 
it is for our unwavering crusade to regain the public trust. Without 
that trust, we are governed by suspicion, cynicism, and our society 
cannot be sustained for long with that foundation.
  We can blame the spread of this acidic public cynicism on a variety 
of familiar culprits: the liberal media, a debased entertainment 
industry, voter apathy, and Presidential scandal. All of these factors 
have played a role, but we are wise to first seek improvement among the 
group we can most directly effect--ourselves. The Congress has lost the 
confidence of the public, and it is our duty to do what we can to win 
it back.
  The typical American believes politicians are more concerned about 
preserving their position than the long-term consequences of their 
policies, and this system perpetuates that perception.
  Reforming this system will be an important step in that process. We 
should let the states make decisions about transportation funding and 
get it out the hands of Washington.
  We must do the right thing for the country on this issue before we 
throw away more of the public's money and trust.
  Today, I believe the greatest temptation facing legislators in our 
party is to postpone doing the right thing for the country until our 
position as the majority party is more secure.

[[Page H1625]]

If we make this our practice, with every compromise, with every 
sellout, we will drain the lifeblood from the movement that brought us 
into Congress. Our souls will depart from us and we will become the 
hollow politicians the public expects us to be, but sent here to 
replace.
  I urge my colleagues to do what is necessary to reform this system 
when the House takes up the transportation bill next week.

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