[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 110 (Friday, July 30, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1693-E1694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   UNLOCKING THE AVIATION TRUST FUND

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                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 1999

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, last week the New York Times ran an 
editorial by Chairman Bud Shuster, Chairman of the House Transportation 
and Infrastructure Committee, concerning the Aviation Investment and 
Reform Act (AIR-21). I agree with Chairman Shuster 100 percent. Last 
year, Chairman Shuster unlocked the highways trust fund and ensured 
that highway taxes were spent on highways. Now, we are preparing to do 
the same thing this year with the aviation trust fund. I am proud to be 
a part of this effort to ensure that the taxes paid by aviation users 
will be spent only on aviation improvements. Unlocking the aviation 
trust fund will benefit the entire aviation community.
  I have attached a copy of Chairman Shuster's editorial that I would 
like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the 
Record.

                [From the New York Times, July 17, 1999]

          Once, Conservatives Knew the Value of Transportation

                            (By Bud Shuster)

       Abraham Lincoln called Senator Henry Clay ``my beau 
     ideal,'' largely because he was dedicated to building 
     America. Clay, whose nickname was ``Capital Improvements 
     Harry,'' helped pass legislation to construct roads and 
     inland waterways to tie America together. During the Civil 
     War, Lincoln authorized the construction of the first 
     transcontinental railroad. Teddy Roosevelt championed the 
     Panama Canal, and Dwight Eisenhower created the Interstate 
     System.
       Fiscally responsible Republicans, all.
       Fortunately, most modern-day conservatives still believe in 
     building America. Witness the strong support last year from 
     conservatives at all levels of government for the 
     Transportation Equity Act, which unlocked Eisenhower's 
     highway trust fund and allowed it to be used for its intended 
     purpose of improving highways and transit systems.
       Unfortunately, some conservatives seem dedicated to 
     breathing new life into Benjamin Disraeli's adage that ``it 
     is much easier to be critical than to be correct.'' These 
     critics have little inclination to deal in facts or face the 
     reality of a growing America. They know the cost of 
     everything but the value of nothing. Some have called this 
     ``Know-Nothing Conservatism.''
       They criticize increased spending on transportation, but 
     they do not differentiate between transportation trust-fund 
     dollars and general tax dollars. They do not tell you that 
     the trust fund receives money from an 18.3-cent-per-gallon 
     tax on gasoline and an 8 percent surcharge on airline 
     tickets, all of which is designated solely to pay for our 
     country's transportation needs.
       These conservative critics oppose investments by trying to 
     discredit them. They call spending on public works in someone 
     else's backyard a pork barrel project, but that is far from 
     the truth. In the Transportation Equity Act, for example, 
     only 5 percent of the money goes to Congressionally mandated 
     projects. The rest goes to the Department of Transportation 
     or to the states.
       This year, some conservatives are once again keeping their 
     heads buried in the sand. The House overwhelmingly passed the 
     Aviation Investment and Reform Act last month, by a vote of 
     316 to 110; 67 percent of Republicans--including the Speaker 
     and the majority leader--approved this measure.
       But this didn't stop some conservative critics from 
     immediately attacking the bill as ``busting the budget'' and 
     ``fiscally irresponsible.''
       Never mind that many Americans are furious over the decline 
     in air service. Never mind that our antiquated air-traffic 
     control system, which fails somewhere nearly every week, 
     needs both reform and an infusion of capital investment.
       Never mind that the National Civil Aviation Review 
     Commission established by our Republican Congress warns that 
     ``the United States aviation system is headed toward gridlock 
     shortly after the turn of the century'' and that ``it will 
     result in a deterioration of aviation safety, harm the 
     efficiency and growth of our domestic economy, and hurt our 
     position in the global marketplace.''
       Never mind that the money in the aviation trust fund will 
     skyrocket to $90 billion within 10 years if we don't make the 
     investment. Never mind that the aviation taxes would 
     otherwise be used in smoke-and-mirrors budget gimmickry to 
     help finance general

[[Page E1694]]

     tax cuts. Never mind the bill does not contain any projects 
     earmarked for any specific Congressional districts.
       And never mind that some ``Know-Nothing'' conservatives in 
     the media will attack this session for being a ``do nothing'' 
     Congress. The one thing Congress is doing, over their 
     objections, is building assets for the future of our country.
       Perhaps the next time they attack Government spending, they 
     might reflect on an observation by the columnist George Will: 
     ``Many of today's conservatives rallied 'round keeping 
     control of the Panama Canal. But would such conservatives 
     have built it in the first place?''

     

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