[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 118 (Monday, September 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ENHANCING INFRASTRUCTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, citizens chronically complain about the 
state of America's public capital, about dilapidated school buildings, 
condemned highway bridges, contaminated water supplies, and other 
shortcomings of the public infrastructure.
  In addition to inflicting inconvenience and endangering health, the 
inadequacy of public infrastructure adversely affects productivity and 
the growth of our economy. Public investment, private investment, and 
productivity are intimately linked.
  For more than two decades, Washington has retreated from public 
investment as the costs of entitlements and of the interest payable on 
rapidly rising debt have mounted.
  State and local governments, albeit to a lesser extent, have also 
slowed investments. Their taxpayers were frequently reluctant to 
approve bond issues to finance the infrastructure.
  Whereas, in the early 1970s, non-defense public investment accounted 
for 3.2 percent of GDP, it now accounts for only 2.5 percent. That is a 
huge loss. Widespread neglect of maintenance has contributed 
substantially to the failure of the stock of public capital assets to 
keep pace with the Nation's needs.

                              {time}  1900

  For instance, the real nondefense public capital stock expanded in 
the past two decades at a pace only half that set earlier in the post-
World War II period.
  Evidence of failures to maintain and improve infrastructure is seen 
every day in such problems as unsafe bridges, urban decay, dilapidated 
and overcrowded schools, and inadequate airports. A General Accounting 
Office study finds that education is seriously handicapped by 
deteriorating school buildings and that an investment of $110 billion 
is needed to bring them up to minimally acceptable.
  The problems take a toll in less visible and perhaps even more 
important ways, in unsatisfactory gains in private sector productivity 
and a diminished rise in real income for the Nation at large. Seemingly 
endless traffic jams, disruptions to commuter service and backed-up 
airport runways, everyday experiences for Americans, spell waste and 
inefficiency for the economy at large. Congestion on the Nation's 
highways alone costs the Nation over $100 billion a year according to 
the Competitiveness Policy Council estimate. That estimate does not 
include the cost of added pollution and the wear and tear on vehicles.
  This legislation is designed to help the Nation take a significant 
step both toward overcoming its infrastructure debt and promoting the 
productivity needed to meet the competitive challenges of the 21st 
century.
  The plan is fiscally sound. It follows the best accounting procedures 
of the private sector and is designed to recognize the statutes that 
mandate a balanced Federal budget. In salient ways, it advances sound 
fiscal operation. The plan would provide $50 billion a year for 
mortgage loans to State and local governments for capital investment in 
types of projects specified by Congress and the President. These 
mortgage loans would be at zero interest. They would thereby cut the 
overall cost of projects about in half, depending on the prevailing 
interest rates, for State and local taxpayers.
  We have a plan, the opportunity to rebuild and maintain our 
infrastructure for the 21st century. By using an innovative and logical 
approach to sound public financing without debt and without huge 
interest payments.

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