[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 9 (Thursday, February 7, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RESTORING TEA 21 FUNDING LEVELS

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, for the past 6 months Congress has been 
discussing the best ways to stimulate the economy. Even though we are 
no longer working on an economic stimulus bill, we face a real crisis 
that will negatively affect our economy. We face unprecedented losses 
to our highway program. Every state will lose money.
  If we want to create true stimulus and maintain jobs for our citizens 
then there is an easy solution. Highways. For every $1 billion dollars 
that goes into the highway program, 42,000 jobs are created. In an 
attempt to address unemployment concerns and immediate stimulus to the 
country's economy, I, along with others on the Environment and Public 
Works Committee, propose an increase in obligation authority for the 
fiscal year 2003. This would restore the authorized levels for that 
fiscal year. It doesn't get us all the way there, but it's a start.
  This is about jobs. Skilled and unskilled jobs in highway 
construction are well-paid. These jobs would provide employment 
opportunities for workers who have lost manufacturing jobs, with 
minimal training requirements. In addition current jobs will not be 
lost in many of the supplier and heavy equipment manufacturing 
industries. This is money that can be spent quickly by state DOTs. Fast 
spending means fast jobs. Both state DOTs and contractors confirm that 
money can be spent and jobs maintained within the first 6 months. 
Without restoring TEA 21 levels, over 360,000 jobs will be lost.
  There is $20.5 billion in the Highway Trust Fund. We can afford at 
least the $4.369 billion from that balance to be distributed over the 
next year. In fact, we can't afford not to.
  This extra $4.369 billion begins to take care of this huge problem 
that we face. It is a problem that we addressed the other day in the 
Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on TEA 21 
reauthorization. We are looking at a highway program that is $9 billion 
lower for FY 2003 than it was in FY 2002. For my state of Montana that 
means a $79 million loss to our highway program. And in Montana, 
highways are our lifeblood. We need the highways and we need the jobs 
created from new highway funding. Also, we can't afford to lose any 
highway-related jobs because of this under funding.
  We passed a six year highway bill for a reason. So states knew how 
much was coming in from year to year. My State Department of 
Transportation is counting on at least the TEA 21 level.
  Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta was at that hearing I just 
mentioned. And when I pressed him about this extra obligation authority 
for highways, his response was that highway money is good economic 
stimulus.
  In conclusion, I propose that we give States at least what they were 
expecting for highway projects in fiscal year 2003. They say there is 
no such thing as an easy fix, but let me tell you--this idea comes as 
close as any.

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