[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H5751-H5754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SURFACE TRANSPORTATION SAVINGS ACT OF 2010

  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 5604) to rescind amounts authorized for certain surface 
transportation programs.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5604

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Surface Transportation 
     Savings Act of 2010''.

     SEC. 2. SAFETY BELT PERFORMANCE GRANTS.

       (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), of the amounts 
     authorized for fiscal year 2010 by section 2001(a)(4) of 
     SAFETEA-LU (119 Stat. 1519) to carry out section 406 of title 
     23, United States Code, $80,994,029 is rescinded.
       (b) Limitation.--The amount rescinded pursuant to 
     subsection (a) shall be decreased as necessary to ensure that 
     not less than $28,505,971 is available for fiscal year 2010 
     to carry out section 406 of title 23, United States Code.

     SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

       Of the amounts authorized for fiscal year 2010 by section 
     2001(a)(11) of SAFETEA-LU (119 Stat. 1520), $6,547,000 is 
     rescinded.

     SEC. 4. NATIONAL DRIVER REGISTER.

       Of the amounts authorized for fiscal year 2010 by section 
     2001(a)(7) of SAFETEA-LU (119 Stat. 1520) for the National 
     Driver Register authorized under chapter 303 of title 49, 
     United States Code, $78,000 is rescinded.

     SEC. 5. NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION 
                   OPERATIONS AND RESEARCH.

       Of the amounts authorized for fiscal year 2010 by section 
     2001(a)(2) of SAFETEA-LU (119 Stat. 1519) to carry out 
     section 403 of title 23, United States Code, $1,829,000 is 
     rescinded.

     SEC. 6. TRANSIT FORMULA AND BUS GRANTS.

       Of the amounts authorized for fiscal year 2010 by section 
     5338(b)(1) of title 49, United States Code, to carry out 
     sections 5305, 5307, 5308, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5316, 5317, 
     5320, 5335, 5339, and 5340 of title 49, United States Code, 
     and section 3038 of the Federal Transit Act of 1998 (112 
     Stat. 392), $17,394,000 is rescinded.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Perriello) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5604.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Surface Transportation 
Savings Act of 2010 and appreciate the work of Congressman Schauer and 
the chairman and many others in working for this.
  In the long journey towards reducing this Nation's deficit, we also 
need to look at small steps as well as large ones. As we look at pay-
as-you-go legislation and bipartisan budget commissions, we also must 
find in every place that we can look opportunities to save some money.
  One of those places we should be able to start, if nothing else, is 
looking at areas where the agencies themselves have said we cannot use 
this money or we do not want this money. We have compiled within 
Transportation and Infrastructure's jurisdiction over $107 million that 
is left sitting on the table. But we know too often in this town, money 
left on the table disappears very quickly.
  This bill will lead to real savings. It reduces the contract 
authority that is currently available for certain highway safety and 
transit programs by $107 million. In fiscal year 2010, it takes this 
$107 million off the table so that it cannot be used to increase 
spending in the future.
  There are two ways that this money could be used to increase spending 
in the future if not rescinded now. First, the future appropriations 
act could increase the obligations limitations that control spending 
for these highway safety and transit programs, thereby allowing this 
$107 million to be spent instead of reducing the deficit.
  Second, the future appropriations act could rescind this authority 
and use it as a rescission to offset increased spending on other 
programs. In fact, and unfortunately, we have already seen attempts to 
do this. They become somewhat routine for appropriations bills to 
rescind contract authority to offset other spending. In fact, H.R. 
4899, the FY 2010 emergency supplemental, used about $2.2 billion in 
rescissions of highway contract authority.
  What we see here is a commonsense attempt with ideas from both sides 
of the aisle to look at opportunities where the agencies have said 
these are resources we will not spend or cannot spend. To me, this is 
one step where we should be able to agree at least in such areas that 
that money and that contracting authority should be taken off the table 
so that it is not spent and put towards deficit reduction.
  I rise today to support this savings act, to appreciate all those and 
thank all of those who have worked on it. While these savings may seem 
small relative to the size of a budget deficit, it is a start. As they 
say, even the longest journey can begin with a single step. I urge my 
colleagues to consider H.R. 5604 in this light and support this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1510

  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of this bill, and I commend the gentleman from 
Virginia, who just finished making his remarks.
  H.R. 5604 rescinds $106.8 million in contract authority from the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Transit 
Administration. This rescission of contract authority will come from 
the following programs: $81 million from NHTSA's safety belt 
performance grant program; $8.5 million from NHTSA's administrative 
expenses, the National Driver Registry, and research and development 
programs; and $17.4 million from FTA's formula and bus grant programs.
  In total, H.R. 5604 rescinds approximately $107 million in contract 
authority, which is a type of budget authority. However, the 
Congressional Budget Office has determined that H.R. 5604, while 
certainly well intentioned and worthy of support, will not have any 
impact on outlays or direct spending.
  According to the CBO, the budget deficit is defined as the amount by 
which the Federal Government's total outlays exceed its total revenues. 
Because CBO's official cost estimate for H.R. 5604 finds that this 
legislation will not reduce the Federal Government's outlays, this 
bill, unfortunately, will not reduce the budget deficit. This bill 
could ultimately lead to savings if the Congress does not simply spend 
this money someplace else.
  For the first 9 months of fiscal year 2010, we are running a budget 
deficit of $1 trillion, and the deficit will reach at least $1.4 
trillion by the end of the fiscal year on September 30. These are 
staggering, incomprehensible sums, and these deficits will only add to 
our growing Federal debt, which is already at over $13 trillion.
  By the end of this year, the Federal debt will represent 62 percent 
of the Nation's economy, the highest percentage since World War II, 
according to CBO. This mounting debt will be passed on to our children 
and grandchildren. I believe, and most people believe, that Congress 
isn't doing enough to reduce the current budget deficit or our swelling 
national debt.
  While this bill is certainly a step in the right direction, it will 
not reduce the current budget deficit or the national debt. And so 
while this is good legislation that I do support, we are going to have 
to go further if we're going to do what the American people expect and 
need us to do.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H5752]]

  Mr. PERRIELLO. I appreciate the support of the gentleman from 
Tennessee and his concern about the deficit. We certainly need to 
continue to look at the big picture with pay-as-you-go legislation and 
budget commissions and other ways to get it to balance. In the 
meantime, there is nothing wrong with taking smaller steps in the right 
direction, whether that's looking at blocking congressional pay raises 
or anyplace that we can save. $107 million is nothing to sneeze at, 
even if it's not large by Washington standards.
  Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Schauer).
  Mr. SCHAUER. Thank you, Mr. Perriello and Mr. Duncan.
  We need common sense in Washington, and unfortunately there is too 
little of it at this time. That's why I decided to sign on and be a 
primary cosponsor of this bill, the Surface Transportation Savings Act 
of 2010. The bill will lead to real savings and real deficit reduction, 
and we need to fight for that at this very difficult time in our 
country.
  As has been said, the Surface Transportation Savings Act of 2010 
reduces the contract authority that is currently available for certain 
highway safety and transit programs by $107 million. Let me say that 
again, $107 million. That's real money. While this may not, in and of 
itself, directly reduce outlays this current fiscal year, it takes $107 
million off the table so that it cannot be used to increase spending in 
the future.
  Now, as my colleague, Mr. Perriello, said, there are a couple of ways 
that this $107 million could be used to increase spending and increase 
the Federal budget deficit. We know that a future appropriations act 
could use these dollars and appropriate them and spend them on these 
current programs within the Department of Transportation. But let's be 
clear, there is a very real threat. The Congressional Budget Office may 
not see it, and I can understand why they may not trust the Congress to 
act responsibly, but twice already this Congress has tried to use these 
available dollars within other programs.
  H.R. 4899, the FY 2010 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill 
that was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month 
included $2.2 billion of rescinded highway contract authorities. So 
these are dollars that were budgeted but were not spent. And again, if 
we don't act, those kinds of available dollars will be spent.
  Now, to make it even more directly relevant to this bill and to the 
Congressional Budget Office's analysis, H.R. 4899, this Emergency 
Supplemental Appropriations bill, tried to spend $25 million that would 
be taken off the table by this Surface Transportation Savings Act. So I 
don't think we could be any more clear than the threat that is before 
us.
  I couldn't agree more that we must address real deficit reduction one 
step at a time. This is a critical, critical step to do that. And I'll 
tell you, the people in Michigan's Seventh Congressional District 
believe $107 million is real money.
  By not acting, the threat is real that these available dollars will 
be spent. By passing this bill today, the United States House of 
Representatives will remove $107 million that would likely be spent for 
some other program.
  We must act to make sure that we restrain and constrain spending in a 
way that results in deficit reduction. That's why I'm proud to stand in 
support of this bill and hope that both my Democratic and Republican 
colleagues take decisive action to make sure that neither this Congress 
nor future Congresses spend money that we can't afford.
  Mr. DUNCAN. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PERRIELLO. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the chairman.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his 
leadership on this issue.
  The gentleman from Virginia has been very diligent and vigilant on 
deficit reduction and on careful investment of the public resources, as 
has the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Schauer), and there is no one who 
can exceed those qualities other than the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Duncan), a gentleman whose entire career has been one of public probity 
and clarity.
  As the gentleman from Michigan said, where he comes from and where I 
come from in northern Minnesota, where the gentleman from Virginia 
comes from, $107 million is real money. We could build 100 lane miles 
of new road at $1 million a mile in my part of the country. But being 
very clear, this is contract authority that is not going to be used. 
It's very clear it's not going to be used. The agencies have said 
they're not going to use it.
  But in the curious construct of our budget processes in both the 
executive branch and the legislative branch, on this side of the Hill 
and the other side of the Hill, that money can be used in an obscure 
fashion that it takes a very long time to explain to ordinary citizens. 
Say, in a passing comment in a Fourth of July parade, you can't plumb 
the depths of this curious budget process. Sure, there are no outlay 
savings, but that's why the Appropriations Committee year in and year 
out, under both Republican and Democratic leadership, have used the 
rescission process to claim savings on the one hand and spend money on 
the other hand, real general revenue dollars on the other hand for 
projects that they consider to be important.
  The supplemental appropriation bill earlier this month rescinded $25 
million of highway safety contract authority that will be rescinded by 
the bill before us.

                              {time}  1520

  The supplemental appropriation bill rescinds $2.2 billion of Federal-
aid highway contract authority so they can use it as something else.
  This is real. What we are doing here is saying this is done. These 
authorities that exist in law that will not be used, for which 
obligations will not be made, and for which projects will not be 
advanced is terminated, and the Appropriations Committee then can't use 
that gimmick for something else they want to do.
  So what we do is real in this legislation. It takes $107 million off 
the table. It makes it unavailable for rescission and unavailable for 
gimmickry through the appropriation process in either this body or the 
other body. We take a real positive step, one that is within the 
authority of this committee. We are not the Budget Committee. We are 
not Ways and Means. We have jurisdictional issues, and we are 
identifying other savings of this nature that will be considered on the 
House floor in the coming week before the August recess.
  So I applaud the deficit hawks of our committee on both sides of the 
aisle for their vigilance and for pursuing this matter.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5604, the ``Surface 
Transportation Savings Act of 2010''. I commend the work of the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Perriello) and the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Schauer) for introducing this legislation.
  This bill rescinds $107 million in excess contract authority that the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal 
Transit Administration (FTA) cannot use in fiscal year (FY) 2010. In 
doing so, H.R. 5604 will take these funds off the table so that they 
cannot be used to increase spending in the future.
  The largest rescission contained in this legislation will occur in 
NHTSA's safety belt performance grants program. This program received 
$124.5 million in FY 2010 to carry out an incentive grant program to 
encourage States to enact and enforce laws requiring the use of safety 
belts. This funding level is equal to the amount authorized for this 
program in FY 2009 under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (P.L. 109-
59).
  According to NHTSA, only three States are expected to qualify to 
receive an incentive grant under this program this year, requiring no 
more than $28.5 million in FY 2010 to carry out the authorized 
activities of the program.
  NHTSA does not have the authority to redistribute the unused program 
funds this fiscal year, and they will remain unallocated in 2010. H.R. 
5604 rescinds $81.0 million in unusable contract authority from this 
program.
  The Surface Transportation Savings Act also rescinds $8.5 million in 
contract authority from NHTSA's administrative expenses, the National 
Driver Register, and research and development programs.
  This excess contract authority was made available under the extension 
of current surface transportation programs passed as part

[[Page H5753]]

of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act).
  Because the amounts of contract authority provided for these programs 
under the HIRE Act is greater than the funding levels provided by the 
FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, NHTSA cannot use these funds 
this year.
  H.R. 5604 also rescinds $17.4 million of contract authority from 
FTA's formula and bus grant programs. The HIRE Act provides $8.361 
billion in FY 2010 to carry out FTA's formula and bus grant programs, 
$17.4 million more than the funding level provided in the FY 2010 
Consolidated Appropriations Act. FTA does not have the ability to 
utilize these funds this year.
  Although the $107 million that would be rescinded by H.R. 5604 cannot 
be used at the present time, there are two ways this $107 million could 
be used to increase spending in the future if it is not rescinded now. 
First, a future appropriations act could increase the obligation 
limitations that control spending for these highway safety and transit 
programs, thereby allowing this $107 million to be spent. Second, a 
future appropriations act could rescind this $107 million and use that 
rescission to offset increased spending on other programs.
  There are skeptics who claim that this bill will not reduce spending. 
They are closing their eyes to the budgetary shell game played out in 
this body over the past decade. It has become somewhat routine for 
appropriations bills to rescind surface transportation contract 
authority in order to offset other spending that no appropriations 
committee proposes. In fact, H.R. 4899, the ``Supplemental 
Appropriations Act, 2010'', that passed the House earlier this month, 
rescinds $25 million of the highway safety contract authority that 
would be rescinded by the bill before us today. The Supplemental 
Appropriations bill also rescinds $2.2 billion of Federal-aid highway 
contract authority.
  The Committee on Appropriations includes such rescissions in 
appropriations bills because they offset other spending that the 
committee supports. Even if a contract authority rescission is 
``scored'' as only reducing budget authority, not outlays, a budget 
authority offset is often all that is needed to facilitate additional 
spending in an appropriations bill.
  To the extent that this bill takes $107 million off the table and 
makes that amount unavailable for rescission, or use, by some future 
appropriations bill, it will indeed result in ``real'' savings.
  H.R. 5604 is one step in a continuing effort to find savings within 
programs under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure. While these savings may seem small relative to the size 
of our budget deficit, it is a start. Even the longest journey begins 
with a single step.
  I want to again thank Mr. Perriello and Mr. Schauer for their hard 
work on behalf of the American taxpayers in introducing this 
legislation. This proposal is a common sense step toward improving the 
Nation's fiscal foundation and ensuring that the nation's Federal 
surface transportation funds are invested as efficiently as possible.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5604.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 
Oberstar), our outstanding chairman of the full committee, for his very 
accurate explanation of the confusing, convoluted way we go about the 
budget and contract authority differences in this Congress.
  I want to commend the gentlemen from Virginia and from Michigan for 
bringing this legislation to the floor. It is a good bill.
  As I said, even though the CBO may not count it as reducing the 
deficit by $107 million, it is a step in the right direction, and we 
should be looking for savings in every Department and agency in this 
Federal Government, and we are going to have to if we are ever to get 
the Federal deficit and our national debt under any type of control.
  What we first need to be doing, though, is to stop spending hundreds 
of billions of dollars on very unnecessary foreign wars and turning the 
Department of Defense into the Department of Foreign Aid with all the 
nation-building that they are doing. Then we need to go to every 
Department and agency, and instead of building other countries with 
money that we don't have, we need to start building our own country. I 
think no one has been more of a leader in that regard than our 
chairman, Chairman Oberstar, but we need to start taking care of our 
own country and start putting the American people first once again.
  I do think that this bill is a step in the right direction; so I urge 
my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Will the gentleman yield to me for just a moment?
  Mr. DUNCAN. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. I would like to make the observation, Madam Speaker, 
that the gentleman took the lead in our Public Buildings Subcommittee 
many years ago, during his first term in Congress, on courthouses. The 
gentleman has saved the taxpayers of this country tens of millions of 
dollars, perhaps now in the hundreds of millions, by requiring, through 
his persistent campaign, courtroom sharing.
  Madam Speaker, I'll say to the gentleman from Tennessee that I don't 
know how CBO scores that, but I know that, in our committee, I score it 
as a net savings to the public. We have built better courthouses, more 
courthouses and more efficient service to the public in requiring this 
very simple step of sharing courtrooms. To his great credit, the 
gentleman from Tennessee led the effort on it; and it has resulted in 
real savings, just as this legislation is resulting in real savings.
  I tip my hat to the gentleman from Tennessee for his persistence in 
looking at those very specific ways in which we can achieve our goals.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Well, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota, Chairman 
Oberstar, for those kind words. No one in this Congress admires the 
chairman more than I do. Certainly no one knows the work of the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee better than Chairman 
Oberstar.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, again, I want to thank the gentleman 
from Tennessee and the others who have been a part of this.
  If we can't at least agree to take the money that agencies say they 
don't even want or can't even use and put that to deficit reduction, 
how on Earth will we ever move forward in the simplest possible terms?
  If this $107 million is left on the table, it will be spent on 
something. If we remove this contracting authority, it will not; and 
that will save the taxpayers money. That is the important thing. If we 
can't at least agree on these small steps, how are we going to take the 
big steps together?
  So I appreciate the cooperation on this bill to find $107 million, to 
take that off the table and to make sure that it does not get spent 
wastefully.
  Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5604, 
``The Surface Transportation Savings Act of 2010.'' By rescinding 
amounts authorized for certain surface transportation programs, our 
nation will save about $107 million and thus reduce our budget deficit.
  This legislation would rescind millions of dollars in excess contract 
authority from programs including the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration's safety belt performance grants program, which 
according to the NHTSA, only three states are expected to qualify to 
receive an incentive grant this year. The amount rescinded is reduced 
as necessary to ensure that 28.5 million is still available to carry 
out safety belt grants programs in Fiscal Year 2010.
  In addition, H.R. 5604 rescinds funds that The Hiring Incentives to 
Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act) Act already provides funding for, 
including NHTSA's administrative expenses, transit formula and bus 
grant programs.
  It is clear that the public is concerned about the current fiscal 
state of the federal government. An NBC/Wall Street Journal Survey 
conducted in May showed that the share of individuals rating ``the 
deficit and government spending'' as a top priority for the federal 
government to address has jumped since January from 13 to 20 percent--
second only to job creation and economic growth. According to Gallup, 
``federal government debt'' now ties with terrorism for the top spot in 
perceived threats to our future well-being.
  The public's attitudes reflect our need to tackle our nation's 
serious budget challenge and exercise fiscal belt-tightening where it 
makes sense. H.R. 5604 is one step towards that goal. It contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments. This legislation is a small but 
necessary effort to help us gradually get our fiscal house in order.
  With the Nation's budget deficit forecasted to swell 14 percent this 
year, largely due to the longest war in our history and unfunded tax 
cuts for the wealthy, we must explore common ground to achieve fiscal 
responsibility. If we don't, then by the time our grandchildren or 
great grandchildren are in college, our debt will exceed our GDP.
  I will continue to support smart measures designed to return our 
Nation to fiscal health

[[Page H5754]]

and strength as steadily and as sustainably as possible. To this end, I 
urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5604 to help reduce our budget 
deficit.
  Mr. PERRIELLO. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Perriello) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5604.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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