[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 41 (Monday, March 9, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WELCOMING NINTH ANNUAL NATIONAL BIKE SUMMIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, occasionally there is some controversy 
and conflict here in our Nation's Capital, but this week we have an 
opportunity for celebrating events that bring people together. We have 
the ninth annual National Bicycle Summit, which will be welcoming 
people from 47 States and four foreign countries who will be fanning 
out across the Capitol to talk about the opportunities for this country 
in promoting bicycle activities.
  This has been an exciting period for people who believe in cycling. 
Under the leadership of now Chairman Oberstar, the House Transportation 
and Infrastructure Committee in the last reauthorization celebrated the 
most significant biking, hiking, and walking bill in history. Now, as 
Mr. Oberstar is chairman, we anticipate that there will be even more 
initiatives that will be undertaken. In the economic recovery package, 
there were $825 million of projects all across the country that are 
shovel-ready that actually put more people to work per million dollars 
than highway construction.
  Bike partisanship is alive and well on Capitol Hill, with over 200 
members in the Bike Caucus. There is a reason why people are focusing 
on cycling activities. Since 1980, the number of miles Americans drive 
has increased three times faster than the population, and almost twice 
as fast as vehicle registrations. We have reached a point where our 
roadways simply demand relief.
  We have an obesity epidemic. Sixty-five percent of American adults 
are either overweight or obese. Thirteen percent of our children and 
adolescents are overweight, due in large part to lack of regular 
activity. There is an opportunity to burn calories instead of fossil 
fuel. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that if all these 
physically inactive Americans become active, we have the opportunity to 
save over $75 billion a year in health care costs.
  The transportation sector contributes one-third of our greenhouse gas 
emissions that are contributing to cooking the planet.
  There are opportunities for individuals to make a difference in their 
lives. A bike commuter saves almost $2,000 a year in auto-related 
costs, avoids 50 hours of being stuck in traffic and saves almost 150 
gallons of gasoline. And you don't have to be a regular long-distance 
bike commuter. Forty percent of American trips are two miles or less. 
Over a quarter are less than one mile.
  We all have an opportunity to make a difference. We can start by 
working with our children. Only 15 percent of students were walking or 
bicycling to school as we began our new century, yet in an earlier 
generation more than half the children were able to get to school on 
their own.
  We watch as bicycles have been integrated into day-to-day activities. 
Right here on Capitol Hill, you will watch bicycle patrols with Capitol 
police. In fact, more than 96 percent of the large cities in this 
country have routine bicycle patrols, and they are spreading across the 
country.
  It is also big business. I am not just talking about a bicycle-
friendly community like mine in Portland, Oregon, where it is about 
$100 million dollars of economic activity and employs about 1,000 
people. Nationally we are talking about $133 billion, supporting over 1 
million jobs, producing over $17 billion in annual Federal and State 
tax revenue and producing over $53 billion in annual retail sales and 
services. These are activities that help revitalize the economy exactly 
at the time we need them. Even those ever-present bicycle rides that 
are mushrooming around the country support in excess of $100 million a 
year in critical medical research.
  It is time for us to focus on what we in Congress can do to be more 
bike partisan. We urge you to join in welcoming the cyclists to Capitol 
Hill and become a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus.

                          ____________________