[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 132 (Thursday, September 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9530-S9532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Transportation Appropriations

  Mr. DeMINT. Madam President, I wish to speak to an amendment of mine 
that is to be on the floor on the transportation bill in a few minutes. 
It is an amendment that would cut funding to a particular airport in 
Pennsylvania. I wish to discuss why we are targeting this particular 
cut.
  As all of us know, all over America for the last several months, 
millions of Americans have come out to TEA parties and townhalls, 
expressing concern and even anger over the level of spending and 
borrowing and debt we are incurring here in Congress; the concern about 
all the new taxes we are talking about; the takeover of everything from 
General Motors to insurance companies. People are concerned, I think 
for a lot of good reasons.
  The question is now, particularly after the hundreds of thousands of 
people gathered in front of the Capitol last Saturday from all over the 
country, expressing many of those same concerns: Is anybody listening? 
Is anyone here listening?
  It reminds me of a couple of weeks ago when my 2\1/2\-year-old 
grandson was spending the night with my wife and me. He was sleeping in 
another room, and we have these intercoms that everyone knows about. He 
knows about the intercom and how it works, so when he got up in the 
morning, as usual about 6:30 or something, he said: I am up. Is anybody 
home?
  He kept saying: Is anybody home? Is anybody home? I knew he was going 
to keep saying it until I got up and went in and got him up.
  I think that is the question Americans are asking us here in 
Congress: Is anybody home? A lot of people last weekend, when I was 
here, said: Keep speaking for us. Someone has to speak for us. These 
were not mobsters, they were not the right wing. They were Americans, 
moms and dads with kids in strollers, grandpas and grandmas, here from 
all over the country, of all political parties, who know enough to say 
we cannot keep spending and borrowing, and the more we spend, the more 
waste and fraud there is.
  All of us here seem to agree, especially at campaign time: Oh, we 
need to cut out the waste and fraud. But no matter what we bring up to 
cut, even if we pick the most egregious waste the Government 
Accountability Office comes up with every year and says these are the 
most wasteful and inefficient programs, we can put them on the floor of 
the Senate for a vote and we cannot cut them.
  Where do we begin, when all we seem to do, week after week, month 
after month, year after year, when all of us come in from all around 
the country and for every problem we see we have a new government 
program or an earmark or something that is supposed to fix it? 
Everything adds to the deficit. We never make those tough decisions 
about cutting anything.
  My amendment actually cuts something. It was not my invention. I have 
learned about it over countless television documentaries on the 
Congressman John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, PA. It is a small airport 
that over the last 20 years has received $200 million in taxpayer 
funds. This is an airport that only has 3 flights a day, an average of 
a total of 20 passengers a day. All of those three flights come to 
Washington and they are always mostly empty. The people who buy the 
tickets spend about the same amount per ticket as the taxpayers' 
subsidy for those tickets.
  Earlier in the year, after we passed the stimulus package, another 
$800,000 went to this airport to pave the alternate runway that is 
seldom used. After I brought up this amendment to discontinue funding--
and I want to make this clear; this is on this bill, the transportation 
bill, and it only discontinues funding for 1 year. It is not permanent. 
It does not discontinue any funding related to defense or the military, 
so the National Guard and others continue to use it. The Defense 
Department can spend whatever they want on this airport. It is just 
that the Department of Transportation cannot spend any more money to 
subsidize air traffic from this airport.
  It also does nothing to cut any safety funds for air traffic control. 
It is a couple of paragraphs that say enough is enough, this airport 
has received an inordinate amount of money. It has equipment it doesn't 
even use, millions for radar equipment that is not even staffed. Again, 
3 flights a day, only to Washington, DC, with less than an average of 
20 passengers a day. Most of the time there are more airport security 
people in this airport than there are passengers.
  This is not some partisan attack. In fact, if you will remember, the 
bridge to nowhere, which was a Republican project, was exposed by 
Republicans. It helped America see an example of waste and abuse. That 
is what this amendment is about. It is not an attack on any party or 
any State, it is just an example that has been brought to light by 
countless media sources all over the country of us wasting money--not 
just one time but year after year.
  If my amendment is not agreed to, another $1.5 million of subsidies 
will go to this one airport because their Congressman likes to fly back 
and forth from a local airport. Many Americans have to drive an hour or 
two to get to an airport. Folks in Johnstown could drive an hour to 
Pittsburgh Airport if the tickets were too expensive from Johnstown. 
This is not a particular attack on a Congressman or a State or 
community. It is a beginning. It is a demonstration that here in the 
Senate we get the message. We are listening. We are actually home and 
we are going to speak for those millions of Americans who say enough is 
enough, we cannot keep spending and borrowing and creating debt.
  For every dollar we spend here, about half of it now is borrowed. We 
are actually on our knees begging countries such as China to loan us 
some money so we can pay some of the debt that is coming due. Yet we 
keep creating cash for clunkers and ``Fannie Travel,'' which is a 
travel promotion agency we created a couple of weeks ago. Now we are 
passing a spending bill that is about 23 percent over what it was last 
year. At a time with down economics, Americans out of jobs, we are 
increasing spending that much.
  With this amendment we are saying we can make a tough decision. We 
can begin the process of starting to cut waste and fraud. But the 
reason so many people are going to vote against this amendment is there 
is a code here: I will support your spending for your State if you will 
support mine. I will not mess with the spending in your State if you 
won't mess with mine. We have been doing it for years, so we have been 
adding earmarks and projects in all of our States, supporting each 
other, and the budget and the spending get bigger and bigger and no one 
has the courage to say no, we have to stop.
  A few of us did on the bridge to nowhere. Thanks to millions of 
Americans saying you are right, we were able to stop that one project. 
But we are still spending like there is no tomorrow.
  I am asking my colleagues to agree we can cut one thing, one thing 
that is obviously wasteful and unfair. It is not fair to ask taxpayers 
all over the country to subsidize half of every ticket that is bought 
in a little airport in Johnstown, PA. They are not helping all the 
other Americans around the country or all the other small airports. 
Certainly small general aviation airports have gotten Federal funds but 
nothing to this degree.

[[Page S9531]]

  We are not interfering with the general aviation function of this 
airport at all or any military use. We are just going to stop for 1 
year subsidizing the tickets and hopefully helping America to focus on 
part of our problem here.
  Part of correcting a problem is admitting you have one. I don't think 
we have done it yet in this Senate. My hope is on this vote a majority 
of the Senators will step up and say we do have a problem and this is 
one amendment where we can show we are beginning to turn it around. I 
encourage all my colleagues to vote for this amendment to cut funding 
for 1 year, at least cut these subsidies and at least demonstrate to 
America that somebody is home.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, in a few short minutes we are going to 
be going to a series of votes, including a number of them on the 
transportation and housing bill that has been before the Senate for a 
week now. I want to take a few minutes to remind all of our colleagues 
about the importance of this bill that we will be passing here shortly 
this afternoon. This is a bill that has broad bipartisan support 
because it addresses some very real housing and transportation needs of 
families in every region of this country. We worked very hard with our 
colleague, Senator Bond, my ranking member, who has been amazingly 
great to work with this week. We faced some real challenges with our 
bill this year but together we made some important infrastructure 
improvements, including providing over $75 billion for the Department 
of Transportation to support continued investment in our transportation 
infrastructure.
  It includes $11 billion for public transit and $1.2 billion to invest 
in inner-city and high-speed rail.
  This bill also supports the FAA's efforts to develop its next-
generation air transportation system to support projected growth in air 
travel in coming years. It also invests $3.5 billion for capital 
improvement at airports across the country.
  The bill provides nearly $46 billion for the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, including $100 million for HUD's housing 
counseling program that will help families who are facing foreclosure 
today to stay in their homes. The bill also provides more than $18 
billion for tenant-based rental or section 8, including an increase of 
over $1 billion for the renewal of section 8 vouchers.
  It also provides increased funding for the operation of public 
housing for a total level of $4.75 billion, to make sure our Nation's 
low-income families, which are also, as we all know, among the hardest 
hit in these tough economic times, continue to have access to safe, 
affordable housing.
  The bill includes $75 million for a very important program I worked 
on with Senator Bond, the joint HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing 
Program. This is extremely important to our Nation's veterans. It will 
provide an additional 10,000 homeless veterans and their families with 
housing and supportive services.
  The bill also addresses the needs of some of our most vulnerable 
citizens, by providing increased funding to support affordable housing 
for the elderly, disabled, those suffering from AIDS, and the Nation's 
homeless.
  Finally, the bill provides almost $4 billion for the Community 
Development Block Grant Program to support investments in public 
infrastructure, housing rehabilitation, and public service, assistance 
that is critical to our States and our local governments right now.
  In summary, this bill provides assistance to those who need it most, 
and it directs resources in a responsible and fiscally prudent way. It 
will help our commuters, it will help owners, it will help the most 
vulnerable, and it will help our economy.
  I hope all Senators will support the bill when we move to the final 
vote here shortly this afternoon, after we consider several amendments. 
Before I close, I do wish to take, again, a moment to thank my partner 
and friend, Senator Bond, whom it has been a pleasure to work with 
throughout this process, as he and I go to conference now to work hard 
to make sure we find the differences and fix the differences between us 
and the House so we can get this bill to the President.
  I most importantly wish to thank all our staff, from the floor staff 
who have been so generous with their time and help as we have worked 
through this, to all the staff who worked on the transportation and 
housing subcommittee, including John Kamarck, Ellen Beares, Joanne 
Waszczak, Travis Lumpkin, Grant Lahmann, Michael Bain, Dedra Goodman, 
and Alex Keenan, our new staff director on transportation who has done 
an excellent job, and especially Matt McCardle and Mike Spahn for all 
their efforts during floor consideration.
  I am pleased we were able to consider and debate so many amendments 
and have produced a strong bill. But I would be remiss if I did not 
single out and thank two members of our staff, Meaghan McCarthy and 
Rachel Milberg, for all the outstanding efforts they made over the past 
several months under very trying circumstances late at night working so 
diligently.
  I wish to especially thank them for all the work they have done to 
assemble this bill and write the report. I know it was a daunting 
challenge. I am so grateful to them for all the extra effort they have 
had to go through under some very trying circumstances. They have done 
an excellent job. They are a delight to work with.
  With that, I see that my ranking member is on the floor. I wish to, 
again, thank him for being a great partner and for all his help and 
support to get this bill to the floor today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BOND. Madam President, the real kudos and plaudits go to my 
colleague, the chair, Senator Murray, for having worked this through.
  It is also a very interesting and challenging measure. But this year, 
we have advanced a bill, we have had lots of amendments, we have 
adopted some on strong bipartisan votes. I think this is a great 
tribute to the way she has worked with us closely on the committee and 
with the cooperation of all parties on the floor.
  This is a bill in which many people have good ideas, and, as I said, 
we voted on and took a few of them. But I join Senator Murray in 
thanking her staff: Alex Keenan, Meaghan McCarthy, Rachel Milberg, 
Joanne Waszczak and Travis Lumpkin for their work. They have worked 
very closely with us.
  Thanks for the hard work on my side to Ellen Beares and Jon Kamarck. 
The staff contributed. And also the work of the newest member of our 
team who came in at a time when we were badly understaffed, Dedra 
Goodman. But a very special thanks to Matt McCardle for his leadership 
and masterful management on the floor.
  This was due to a lot of unforeseen circumstances. There were lots of 
times when he had to carry the load, and he also did it with good 
humor. When I was frazzled and confused about where things may be 
going, Matt had it under control, and he did a truly outstanding job.
  Again, I thank our colleagues for allowing us to proceed with this 
bill. We did not plan on being here this the eighth day, having started 
last Thursday. But we are very optimistic that this bill can emerge 
from conference as a freestanding bill and be adopted by this body. I 
do not want to see this wind up in an ``ominous'' appropriations bill 
that does not reflect the hard work that went into it. When our work 
goes into what they call an omnibus, what I call an ``ominous,'' 
appropriations bill, strange things happen to it. We hope we can work 
this bill and keep it together as crafted. It is a critical piece of 
legislation.
  It has vitally important safety needs for transportation, 
particularly in aviation. It continues, although not as robustly as I 
would like, the development of more transportation infrastructure. 
There are badly needed elements in the housing part of the bill. We 
have to continue housing for those people who have assisted housing, 
public housing authorities, particularly in this economic downturn, 
when so many

[[Page S9532]]

people are feeling the pinch, special needs from the disabled, the 
elderly, to veterans, who have particularly been well served by the 
veterans assisted in supportive housing that we have provided.
  But also, as I have warned many times before, the FHA program is a 
high-risk program that could subject us to billions of dollars being 
thrown on the taxpayers' credit card. And this bill provides resources 
for HUD to get up the IT systems it needs, to get the people in place. 
It provides for more oversight. It provides increases for the inspector 
general to doublecheck to make sure the predatory lending which 
inflicted the entire economy does not transport itself into FHA-
supported housing.
  So we do have some more amendments. And we look forward to working on 
those this afternoon. We thank all our colleagues for letting us come 
this far. We hope to get it passed and get these badly needed 
appropriations enacted into law.