[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1831-S1833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONTINUING RESOLUTION
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the Senate to talk about my
strong support of the House Joint Resolution 20 that is the joint
funding resolution for the current fiscal year we are considering this
week.
I am very concerned because we are fast approaching the wire on
getting this important resolution passed. If we don't pass this
bipartisan bill, the safety of American citizens could be put in
danger. If this bill is not passed this week, our air traffic
controllers will be furloughed. Our air safety inspectors will be
furloughed. It we don't pass this bipartisan bill in the next several
days, we are going to see a decline in our ability to provide railroad
inspections, pipeline safety inspections, and truck safety inspections.
As chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing on
Appropriations, I am very concerned. I am here to talk about some of
the consequences if we don't get our work done on the CR this week. We
are going to be feeling the consequences in the area of housing. If we
don't pass this bill, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to
face a housing crisis.
Mr. President, 157,000 low-income people could lose their housing if
we don't get this bill passed in the next several days; 70,000 could
lose their housing vouchers; 11,500 units that are housing the homeless
could be lost. Those are some of the consequences Americans will face
under my jurisdiction if this Congress fails to pass the joint funding
resolution in the next few days.
But don't take my word for it. Last Thursday, I held a hearing with
President Bush's very able Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters.
Secretary Peters is not a newcomer to transportation. She has spent her
entire career working to ensure safety and execute infrastructure
projects, largely in her home State of Arizona, but she also served as
the Federal Highway Administrator.
Secretary Peters told us last week, in very clear terms, how safety
would be affected if we failed to pass this joint funding resolution. I
share her exact words from a few days ago. Secretary Peters told the
Senate:
[I]f we were funded at the '06 levels . . . it would have
drastic consequences, not only at the FAA, but as you
mentioned with our other safety programs, such as our rail
safety programs, our truck inspection programs and of course
the air traffic controllers and inspectors at maintenance
facilities for the aviation community.
The Bush administration's Transportation Secretary is warning of
drastic consequences if we fail to pass this continuing resolution. I
am here tonight to talk about some of those consequences. I asked
Secretary Peters what it would mean for safety and what it would mean
for hiring if Congress doesn't pass this joint funding resolution.
President Bush's Secretary of Transportation said:
[W]e will see a serious decline in the number of safety
inspectors: Truck safety inspectors, rail safety inspectors,
aviation inspectors across the broad range in our program.
That is directly from the President's Transportation Secretary.
I don't think any Senator wants to be responsible for voting for a
serious decline in the number of truck safety inspectors, rail safety
inspectors or aviation space. I don't think Members want to explain to
our constituents we voted to undermine their safety as they travel by
car, train or plane. Let me be clear: No one can say Members didn't
know how your vote would hurt a State because we have very clear
warnings from the Transportation Secretary herself.
The first reason we need to pass this joint funding resolution is to
keep our critical safety inspectors on the job, protecting the American
people, as they are doing today. We also need to pass a joint funding
resolution because, without it, States will not be able to address
their most pressing highway, bridge, and road problems. In fact,
Secretary Peters also warned us that some States could miss an entire
construction season if Congress does not enact this bill.
She said that State transportation commissioners need to know how
money will be available to them this year. So she said to us last week
at the hearing:
It is especially important to those states who have a
construction season that will be upon us very, very shortly
and if they are not able to know that this funding is coming
and be able to let contracts, accordingly, we could easily
miss an entire construction season.
That is what this joint funding resolution is about. Let me be very
clear. Your constituents, my constituents, all of our constituents will
feel the impact of our vote on roads that are not fixed or roads that
remain clogged or congested or unsafe.
Those are a few of the safety consequences if we fail to pass the
bipartisan joint funding resolution in the next several days. The
failure to pass H.J. Res. 20 will also have a painful impact on housing
for hundreds of thousands of Americans. In this bipartisan bill, we
worked very hard to make sure vulnerable families would not be thrown
on the streets or face out-of-reach rent increases.
We provided some critical support for section 8, homeless assistance
grants, housing equity conversion loans, HOPE VI, and the Public
Housing Operating Fund.
For Section 8 project-based assistance, this spending resolution we
will be considering this week provides an increase of $939 million over
last year's fiscal year 2006 level. It provides $300 million over the
President's 2007 budget request. This is essential, I want my
colleagues to know, to preserve affordable housing for 157,000 low-
income households. Without this increase, without us acting in the next
several days, many of these low-income residents are going to become
homeless or be displaced or face unaffordable rent increases.
For section 8 tenant-based assistance, this spending resolution
provides an increase of $502 million, equal to the President's 2007
budget request, to continue to renew expiring vouchers. Without this
increase, without us acting in the next several days, more than 70,000
housing vouchers are going to be lost. That means residents may become
homeless or displaced or forced into overcrowded housing.
For homeless assistance grants, this funding resolution we are
considering provides an increase of $115 million to meet expiring
contracts for homeless individuals and their families. Without this
increase, without us acting in the next several days, as many as 11,500
units will not be renewed--not be renewed--forcing these homeless
individuals and families back onto the street.
The joint resolution also helps thousands of seniors to stay in their
homes because it supports the housing equity conversion loans.
Currently, 90 percent of all reverse mortgages for the elderly fall
under this guarantee program. Without this language, this popular
program will shut down, and it will hurt the ability of thousands of
elderly individuals and couples to remain in their homes and pay for
critical living expenses.
The joint resolution we are considering this week also extends the
authorization for the HOPE VI Program, which is helping us across the
country knock down the most deteriorated public housing units and
replace them with new, safe housing units for families. If this funding
resolution is not adopted this week, not a single dollar will go out
for this popular program for the rest of this year.
Finally, this resolution will help housing authorities meet their
soaring expenses. This resolution supports the
[[Page S1832]]
Public Housing Operating Fund. It provides an increase of $300 million
over the 2006 level to meet the tremendous shortfalls being faced by
our public housing authorities when it comes to meeting things such as
increased energy costs and providing necessary security to help them
prevent crime. Recently, more than 700 public housing authorities have
announced layoffs. According to HUD, without this increase--without
this resolution--public housing authorities will receive only 76
percent of their true operating needs in this fiscal year. So the
consequences will be severe for very vulnerable families if this
Congress fails to pass the joint funding resolution by this Thursday.
Mr. President, I want to step back for a minute and share how we
developed this bipartisan bill we are considering and how we worked to
make sure those critical needs are met.
Today, every agency in the Federal Government, with the exception of
the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, are operating under
what is called a continuing resolution. That freezes almost every
Federal program at last year's level. If a program is not frozen at
last year's level, it is operating at a level consistent with the cuts
that were adopted by the House of Representatives last year. So at
present, almost all of our Federal agencies are operating under a
funding formula that makes no accommodations for the true needs of our
agencies or the true needs of the American people. What that means is
we are not addressing critical education needs, health care needs, the
needs of our veterans, the needs of law enforcement, transportation,
housing--you name it.
The current continuing resolution expires this Thursday, February 15.
The time has now come for us in this Congress to finally stand up to
our responsibility and implement a spending bill that will meet the
needs of the American people. And that bill will be in front of us this
week. It is H.J. Res. 20. That bill passed the House of Representatives
by more than a 2-to-1 margin. The time has now come for us in the
Senate to finally fulfill our responsibility.
H.J. Res. 20 was developed by both the House and the Senate
Appropriations Committees on a bipartisan basis. The joint funding
resolution, for the most part, freezes programs across the Government
at their 2006 funding level. Importantly, however, the bill also makes
necessary funding adjustments to deal with critical programs that
cannot and should not endure a funding freeze.
In the case of the Transportation Department, we were not about to
ignore our responsibility to ensure safety in our skies or on our
highways or on our railways. This bill provides funding increases
totaling more than a quarter billion dollars to ensure there are
adequate numbers of personnel to control air traffic--control air
traffic, critical to all of the American flying public. It also
provides funds to make sure we inspect and enforce safety rules
governing our commercial airliners, trucks, railroads, and pipelines.
Without this additional funding--if we do not pass the CR this week--
the FAA Administrator told us that she would be required to put every
air traffic controller and every aviation inspector on the street for 2
weeks without pay between now and the end of September.
The joint funding resolution before us this week also boosts funding
for Amtrak to $1.3 billion. Operating under the current continuing
resolution, Amtrak's funding would remain $200 million lower than it
was last year. If we do not pass this funding resolution which is
before us, we will endanger our passenger rail service across the
country, as well as the annual maintenance expenses that must be made
to ensure safe operations in the Northeast corridor.
Finally, the bill pending before the Senate provides an additional
$3.75 billion in formula funding for our Nation's highway and transit
systems. That funding will serve to create almost 160,000 new jobs
while alleviating congestion. It is an important infusion of cash to
our States to help them address their most pressing bridge
replacements, highway widenings, and safety enhancements. When you look
at all the highway needs across just my home State of Washington, that
additional $71 million our State will receive is urgently needed and
will be put to work right away.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table provided to me by
the Federal Highway Administration that displays the highway funding
increases that will be enjoyed by each and every State be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
COMPARISON OF ACTUAL FY 2006 OBLIGATION LIMITATION AND ESTIMATED FY 2007 OBLIGATION LIMITATION INCLUDING REVENUE
ALIGNED BUDGET AUTHORITY
(Including takedowns for NHTSA Operations and Research)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL FY 2006
STATE OBLIGATION ESTIMATED FY DELTA
LIMITATION 2007
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALABAMA................................................ 535,056,170 600,869,788 65,813,618
ALASKA................................................. 228,288,252 270,731,918 42,443,666
ARIZONA................................................ 499,506,758 593,277,405 93,770,647
ARKANSAS............................................... 330,837,555 381,949,909 51,112,354
CALIFORNIA............................................. 2,381,267,388 2,680,526,468 299,259,080
COLORADO............................................... 338,198,419 400,663,892 62,465,473
CONNECTICUT............................................ 376,937,736 402,325,874 25,388,138
DELAWARE............................................... 104,178,113 121,131,724 16,953,611
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA................................... 112,407,878 123,804,359 11,396,481
FLORIDA................................................ 1,289,559,918 1,544,927,499 255,367,581
GEORGIA................................................ 940,654,903 1,067,010,791 126,355,888
HAWAII................................................. 120,644,520 127,596,268 6,951,748
IDAHO.................................................. 197,536,278 222,829,360 25,293,082
ILLINOIS............................................... 898,006,320 1,010,811,302 112,804,982
INDIANA................................................ 661,150,145 775,353,318 114,203,173
IOWA................................................... 288,499,793 330,589,700 42,089,907
KANSAS................................................. 292,376,091 309,772,956 17,396,865
KENTUCKY............................................... 460,544,276 520,949,132 60,404,856
LOUISIANA.............................................. 404,683,450 474,862,364 70,178,914
MAINE.................................................. 128,192,073 136,355,671 8,163,598
MARYLAND............................................... 418,246,584 490,032,577 71,785,993
MASSACHUSETTS.......................................... 466,003,994 501,926,732 35,922,738
MICHIGAN............................................... 828,533,266 909,761,902 81,228,636
MINNESOTA.............................................. 425,664,013 485,442,279 59,778,266
MISSISSIPPI............................................ 310,973,491 367,059,847 56,086,356
MISSOURI............................................... 618,465,606 711,268,494 92,802,888
MONTANA................................................ 255,215,718 287,386,573 32,170,855
NEBRASKA............................................... 197,252,237 223,867,736 26,615,499
NEVADA................................................. 172,076,917 210,350,302 38,273,385
NEW HAMPSHIRE.......................................... 130,407,725 137,769,576 7,361,851
NEW JERSEY............................................. 695,744,922 822,265,394 126,520,472
NEW MEXICO............................................. 250,952,902 290,194,749 39,241,847
NEW YORK............................................... 1,292,715,319 1,366,155,757 73,440,438
NORTH CAROLINA......................................... 755,312,308 872,183,722 116,871,414
NORTH DAKOTA........................................... 166,994,190 189,098,718 22,104,528
OHIO................................................... 951,965,833 1,109,710,100 157,744,267
OKLAHOMA............................................... 413,931,430 459,904,524 45,973,094
OREGON................................................. 299,292,210 347,410,836 48,118,626
PENNSYLVANIA........................................... 1,287,067,418 1,357,719,130 70,651,712
RHODE ISLAND........................................... 134,484,666 154,154,462 19,669,796
SOUTH CAROLINA......................................... 424,589,865 511,384,433 86,794,568
[[Page S1833]]
SOUTH DAKOTA........................................... 174,696,675 202,845,805 28,149,130
TENNESSEE.............................................. 572,103,666 672,761,834 100,658,168
TEXAS.................................................. 2,183,334,526 2,574,558,747 391,224,221
UTAH................................................... 190,146,092 220,645,255 30,499,163
VERMONT................................................ 115,678,528 129,379,891 13,701,363
VIRGINIA............................................... 697,407,933 830,852,486 133,444,553
WASHINGTON............................................. 448,545,807 519,595,013 71,049,206
WEST VIRGINIA.......................................... 285,867,458 325,592,845 39,725,387
WISCONSIN.............................................. 520,781,728 586,036,437 65,254,709
WYOMING................................................ 174,357,693 207,256,184 32,898,491
--------------------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL........................................... 26,447,336,756 30,170,912,038 3,723,575,282
--------------------------------------------------------
ALLOCATED PROGRAMS..................................... 9,103,451,278 8,794,320,215 -309,131,063
--------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL.............................................. 35,550,788,034 38,965,232,253 3,414,444,219
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMOUNTS INCLUDE FORMULA LIMITATION, SPECIAL LIMITATION FOR EQUITY BONUS AND APPALACHIA DEVELOPMENT HIGHWAY
SYSTEM. AMOUNTS EXCLUDE EXEMPT EQUITY BONUS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF.
ALLOCATED PROGRAMS AMOUNT REFLECT NHTSA TRANSFER OF $121M.
Mrs. MURRAY. I understand some of our colleagues have apparently
suggested we should not adopt this new joint funding resolution.
Instead, they have advocated we simply just extend the current existing
CR for the remainder of this year. Well, they are saying we should
forgo these desperately needed funds for our highways and transit. They
are saying we should allow the FAA to furlough all its safety personnel
for 2 weeks. They are saying we should allow our aviation, truck,
railroad, and pipeline inspection workforce to dwindle.
If we want to keep our air traffic controllers on the job, we have to
pass this bill. If we want to keep our air safety inspectors on the
job, we need to pass this bill. If we want to keep highway, pipeline,
and truck inspections on track, we need to pass this bill. If we want
to help our States address their most urgent bridge, road, and highway
problems, we have to pass this bill. And if we want to keep our
vulnerable families from losing their housing, we have to pass this
bill.
The consequences are very high. That is why I came to the floor this
evening, to outline to my colleagues, under just my jurisdiction, on
the transportation and housing bill, how important this joint funding
resolution is and to urge my colleagues to help us move it through this
week by the Thursday deadline.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, am I correct, I was scheduled to speak
next?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct. Under the previous order, a
Republican Senator, the Senator from New Mexico, is now recognized for
10 minutes.
Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I want to ask, does the Senator want
to speak for a short time?
Mrs. McCASKILL. Go ahead.
Mr. DOMENICI. The Senator does not mind listening. I thank her so
much. I would have yielded, if she had a short speech.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that whatever time I had be
extended, if necessary, to 15 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________