[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 10, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1000-H1001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REAUTHORIZATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to discuss the 
reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.
  Mr. Speaker, in regards to transportation, we are indeed at a 
crossroads in this country. We have the intersection of the demands for 
creating the type of infrastructure which will facilitate commerce and 
move our citizenry, and trying to achieve some type of rational 
spending limits within our Federal budget.
  Back home in my area of north Texas, we face a silent crisis. This 
crisis is unrecognized by residents until

[[Page H1001]]

they find themselves in an unbearable commute to work or unable to make 
the necessary connections between home, work, and the other activities 
that consume our daily lives. North Texas has experienced an increase 
in traffic over the past 3 decades, which is a result of unprecedented 
population and employment growth. Added to that is the underinvestment 
in Federal transportation dollars for my area.
  The time is now to make necessary investments in our transportation 
infrastructure. In Texas, our transportation needs outstrip available 
funding 3 to 1, and these are not trivial funding needs. These relate 
to supporting international trade transportation, streamlining the 
environmental process, and expanding innovative financing techniques. 
Handling taxpayer dollars with care is, in fact, one of our highest 
callings in the House of Representatives. That obligation is enshrined 
in the Constitution. Our charge as congressional representatives is to 
protect dollars taken from the taxpayer by, in fact, streamlining and 
improving activities of our Federal Government, not just to simply 
spend and dispose of those tax dollars. And sadly, when Federal tax 
dollars are not handled with care, important Federal programs such as 
our transportation programs find themselves being hurt and neglected.
  Last year, shortly after my election to my first term in Congress, I 
was very fortunate to be chosen to be a member of the House Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure, and I wanted to be certain that 
the United States Department of Transportation was ensuring the most 
efficient business practices within the agency. So I requested a 
meeting with the Department of Transportation Inspector General, Mr. 
Kenneth Mead, to discuss the business practices of the agency and how 
Congress could better facilitate removing inappropriate expenditures 
related to transportation funding.

                              {time}  2115

  The Department of Transportation has not changed the way the agency 
disburses transportation funding to State and local entities since 
President Eisenhower was in office. The Inspector General recommended 
that if one cent had been saved on every dollar spent over the last 10 
years in transportation programs, the Department of Transportation 
would have had an additional $5 billion to spend.
  This $5 billion would equate to the amount of funding needed for four 
of the eleven major transportation projects currently under way in this 
country. Clearly, greater efficiency within DOT could have an enormous 
impact on more efficiently spending taxpayer dollars.
  Mr. Mead shared with me examples of how transportation projects could 
be used as examples or models of government efficiency. In the State of 
Utah in preparation for the Winter Olympics, Interstate 15 needed 
substantial improvements. By streamlining the design build process on 
that stretch of roadway, Interstate Highway 15 in Utah was completed 
ahead of schedule and under budget and available for individuals 
traveling to the Winter Olympics that year.
  Similarly, in north Texas, the Dallas area rapid transit system 
worked within their budget last year and actually returned over $21 
million in transit funding to the Federal Government. Unfortunately, 
there are examples of transportation projects that are not carefully 
managed; and as a result, dollars are not wisely spent.
  The Ted Williams Tunnel of the Central Artery Project in Boston, 
Massachusetts, known affectionately as the Big Dig, is perhaps the 
poster child for inefficient Federal spending in a transportation 
project.
  The General Accounting Office has estimated that from fiscal years 
1998 through 2001, the Highway Trust Fund Account lost over $6 billion 
because of the ethanol tax exemption and the general fund transfer. 
Using the Department of the Treasury's projection of gasohol tax 
receipts, the GAO has estimated that the Highway Trust Fund Account 
will not collect $13 billion because of the tax exemption from fiscal 
years 2002 through 2012. There is an almost $7 billion shortfall from 
the general fund transfer between the same years.
  Prior to the last reauthorization bill in 1998, the Highway trust 
fund earned interest on its balance, which was paid by the general 
fund. If the Highway trust fund had continued to earn interest on its 
balance, the Department of the Treasury estimates that the Highway 
trust fund would have had an additional $4 billion from September 1999 
through February 2002.
  Between modifying DOT's practices within State and local governments 
and reevaluating the true purposes of the Highway trust fund, I believe 
we can work together to ensure our Federal Government is more effective 
and more efficient to the American taxpayer and that we indeed have the 
funds necessary to pay for our projects.
  If we are unwilling to make the monetary investment and the necessary 
policy changes, I am afraid our vision for our Nation's highways will 
be that of a congestion-bound commuter sitting in a traffic jam 
watching the bridges and roadways crumble before our very eyes.
  I think, Mr. Speaker, a very worthwhile goal would be to allow 
Americans to spend as much time in family discussions at the dinner 
table as they currently spend trying to get home.

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