[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1188-E1189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ANNIVERSARY OF TEA 21

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 9, 1999

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate the anniversary of the 
signing of TEA 21, the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century. 
Our commemoration of this event is a fitting recognition of the 
importance of this legislation to the American people and to the 
nation's economy.
  This afternoon, I was joined in our main committee room by the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership, Chairman 
Shuster, Chairman Petri, Congressman Rahall, Senators Chafee and 
Voinovich, Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, and Federal 
Highway Administrator Ken Wykle in recounting some of the important 
achievements of that landmark bill. I would like to take this 
opportunity to share some of my thoughts with my colleagues.
  First and foremost, Mr. Speaker, TEA 21 is important because it 
secured the future health of our transportation infrastructure system 
with guaranteed federal funding. The budget rules in the Act ensure 
that all federal gas taxes will be spent on needed surface 
transportation improvements. And we now have an opportunity to apply 
the same principles to our nation's irreplaceable economic jewel: our 
nation's aviation system.
  TEA 21 reversed a dangerous 30-year trend in which transportation 
spending as a percentage of public spending dropped by one-half. It 
authorized $218 billion for six years--the highest funding levels ever 
for surface transportation--including $177 billion for highway and 
highway safety programs and $41 billion for transit programs, 43 
percent more than its predecessor legislation, ISTEA, the Intermodal 
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. Of the amounts provided, at 
least $198 billion is guaranteed for obligation under the new budget 
rules in the Act.
  TEA 21 is important because transportation capital investments have 
profound effects on national economic growth and productivity. 
Investment in the transportation system reduces the cost of producing 
goods, resulting in lower prices and increased sales, in virtually all 
sectors of American industry. These productivity effects allow 
businesses to change the way they organize their production and 
distribution systems for the benefit of all Americans.
  The Act has significant employment impacts in the transportation 
construction sector. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 
each billion dollars of construction investment supports a total of 
44,709 full-time jobs at the national economy level. These include 
8,390 ``direct'' on-site construction jobs, 20,924 ``indirect'' jobs in 
industries providing construction materials and equipment for 
transportation projects, and 15,395 jobs produced in other sectors of 
the economy as a result of these ``direct'' and ``indirect'' employment 
effects. And we're talking about good jobs in the construction sector 
that compensate the average construction worker $17 per hour or higher.
  TEA 21 and ISTEA made important policy shifts and took new directions 
to solving our transportation problems. TEA 21 continues the legacy of 
ISTEA by enhancing the intermodal balance of our transportation 
network. TEA 21 provides more than $3.6 billion for enhancement 
projects, compared to just $41 million spent on bicycle and pedestrian 
facilities in the 18 years before ISTEA. In addition, TEA 21 designates 
a full 20 percent of the legislation's total funding for rebuilding and 
expanding existing transit systems and constructing new ones. It also 
supports maglev and high speed rail development and provides loans and 
loan guarantees for freight railroad rehabilitation and improvement.
  Second, TEA 21 further integrates transportation, stewardship of our 
natural resources, and protection of the environment. It maintains and 
expands the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program 
providing $8 billion to help communities address environmental concerns 
related to transportation and enable them to develop innovative 
transportation solutions, such as rail transit, to address problems 
traditionally tackled by pouring more concrete. TEA 21 also created a 
new $120 million pilot program to coordinate land use and 
transportation planning. TEA 21 shows that increased transportation 
spending need not be harmful to the environment.
  Third, TEA 21 includes strong provisions to reduce transportation 
risks and promote safe driving. TEA 21 establishes a new $500 million 
incentive program for states that enact and enforce a .08 blood alcohol 
standard for drunk driving and that severely punishes repeat drunk 
drivers and prohibits open alcohol containers in motor vehicles. TEA 21 
also increases funding for highway safety data collection for the 
National Driver Register to track

[[Page E1189]]

dangerous drivers across state lines. Finally, TEA 21 preserves 
national size and weight limits on big trucks.

  While we should be proud of the giant steps forward that we have 
taken in ISTEA and TEA 21, we must also recognize that we have to build 
upon its framework if we are to solve the enormous transportation 
problems that we face today. We must begin thinking now about the 
successor to TEA 21 and the future of our surface transportation 
system.
  Our best hope for dealing with the difficult, complex transportation 
problems that increasing travel demand creates is to channel our 
creativity toward continuing to develop innovative approaches to 
relieve congestion and protect the environment, leverage our federal 
investment, and improve safety. As Albert Einstein once said, ``We 
can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we 
created them.''
  One way to relieve our congestion is to develop alternative modes of 
transportation. To relieve our congested highways, we do not need to 
develop new technology from scratch--we can begin by merely looking 
across the oceans.
  To the West, we see the Japanese high speed rail system, the 
Shinkansen. Traveling to and from Tokyo and Osaka at speeds of up to 
170 miles per hour, 250 million passengers a year sense the innovation, 
comfort and productivity of the ``bullet'' train. To our East, we see 
the French Train a Grand Vitesse (TGV), the German ICE, the Spanish 
Thalys, and the international Eurostar--all high-speed trains 
connecting the great cities of Europe. Today, we can ride high-speed 
trains from Paris to London but not from Chicago to Minneapolis. We can 
ride on a maglev prototype in Bremen, Germany, or Yamanashi, Japan, but 
not in Washington, D.C. or New York.
  TEA 21 provides the opportunity for states and localities to 
establish high-speed ground transportation in the United States: it 
reauthorizes the Swift Act; continues a modest program for development 
of high-speed corridors; and specifically authorizes $1 billion for 
magnetic levitation over five years. The innovative finance programs of 
TEA 21 are also a source of funding for these high-speed projects.
  Let me close by emphasizing the importance of safety as an overriding 
objective of our surface transportation system of the 21st Century. In 
1997 alone, 42,000 people were killed and an additional 3.3 million 
people were injured in motor vehicle accidents on our nation's 
highways.
  I believe that as our technical capabilities improve early in the 
next century, these appalling statistics will become simply 
unacceptable. Americans will demand a safer system. Last year, not a 
single person died as a result of a U.S. scheduled airline accident. As 
we look to the future, we should establish the same goal for surface 
transportation.
  Although the legacy of the surface transportation system of the 21st 
Century is far off, we have begun the journey of writing that legacy 
here and now. ISTEA and TEA 21 have set the framework for the beginning 
of the new century. Nevertheless, we must continue to develop 
innovative solutions if we are to overcome our nation's many 
transportation problems.
  One hundreds years ago, it was difficult to envision the Interstate 
system. Yet don't forget there were a few cartographers in the Office 
of Road Inquiry who had developed a national map of roads, laying the 
foundation for development of the Interstate system. Let us hope that 
there are a few mapmakers among us and that we begin to lay the 
foundation of the surface transportation system of the coming century.

                          ____________________