[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 96 (Thursday, June 30, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S4281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LINCOLN LEGACY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT ACT
Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, beyond the debt limit extension, which has
rightly consumed the attention of this body, we face another
challenge--the funding for our roads, airports, and railroads.
Our best estimate is that current needs would total $225 billion
annually, but revenue from the main source of funding for these
programs, the gasoline tax, only totaled $90 billion.
The law requires balance in the transportation trust fund. So how
would we respond? There are basically three major options.
Option 1: Let funding fall. This would be a catastrophe, especially
for the construction industry, where already in Illinois upwards of 30
percent of construction workers are without work.
Option 2: Increase the gas tax. But that is one of the most
regressive taxes that hits the working poor harder than almost any
other citizen in our country. The slowdown in our economy as a result
of a gas tax increase would probably cause unemployment to go up and
could jeopardize our extremely fragile recovery.
There is a third option, but before I describe that, let me ask a
question. Arguably, what is the third biggest thing that the Lincoln
administration was known for? First would be the emancipation
proclamation. Second would be the victory in the Civil War. What is No.
3? I argue that it was the 1862 Transcontinental Railway Act--an act
that, in 1862, when the Lincoln administration was borrowing as much
money as it could from as many creditors as possible to fund the
expansion of the Union Army, with credit already stretching to the
limit--and does this sound familiar--the Lincoln administration
launched the largest infrastructure development program in the history
of the United States. We built a 2,000-mile railroad in only 6 years,
and created 7,000 American towns. We did it with only $50 million in
appropriations.
How did we fund the rest? The answer is that this was the ultimate
public-private partnership. I am particularly worried that in this
Congress--especially as it considers a transportation bill next year--
we have forgotten our own economic legacy, especially from the time
that we built one of the largest infrastructure development projects in
history.
To recall, the Federal Government granted 20 square miles in
alternating sections on either side of the railroad for every mile of
track they laid for those railroads. The railroads were also granted
timber, stone, and mineral rights on this land. In addition, for every
mile of track they laid, the railroads were authorized to issue a set
amount of bonds--loans they received--which interest payments were
backed by the Federal Government. This guarantee allowed 30-year bonds
to be issued at a low rate of 6 percent. This was one of the largest
development projects in the history of the United States. That is why
it is an example for how we respond to our transportation needs today.
When we look at our own economic legacy and look at the funding
shortfall for new roads, airports, and rail, I think we should recover
that legacy to respond to the challenge for next year. That is why I
have introduced the Lincoln Legacy Infrastructure Development Act.
This legislation removes a number of Federal restrictions on public-
private partnerships, providing States greater flexibility to generate
transportation revenues and enhanced access to private capital for
road, rail, aviation, transit, and port infrastructure. Under the
Lincoln Legacy Infrastructure Development Act, we could mobilize over
$100 billion for new infrastructure investment.
Specifically, this legislation lifts caps on cost recovery programs
for highways; it incentivizes partnerships in transit; it removes
barriers to airport privatization; it increases resources for the
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, sometimes
called TIFIA; and it makes improvements to the Railroad Rehabilitation
and Improvement Financing Program, which are backed by the U.S. High
Speed Rail Association and the American High Speed Rail Association.
The legislation also stands on the premise that the taxpayer should
be protected in these types of arrangements. Indiana showed us what a
properly structured deal should look like. Governor Mitch Daniels
reaped a windfall from the 2006 lease of the Indiana toll road that
netted his State $3.8 billion for new transportation upgrades. Most of
the money has now been reinvested in highway projects throughout his
State, but leaders shrewdly placed $500 million in an interest-bearing
account to fund future road projects. This is one of the many reasons
why the Indiana economy has grown at twice the rate of the Illinois
economy.
We have seen public-private partnerships take off not only in our own
country, where they were invented, but in other countries, especially
British Columbia and Australia, where they have authorized $30 billion
for transportation infrastructure--almost 20 percent of their total,
using this innovative financing means.
In these times of deficit and debt, we could let America grind to a
halt, we could raise taxes and sock it to the working poor, we could
slow down our economy with a new government burden, or we could recall
our own economic legacy, written by Abraham Lincoln's administration
itself, to use public-private partnerships as a way of growing jobs and
incomes in the United States, without increasing taxes.
I urge this body to review this legislation as we come up with a new
transportation bill, and to see it as a way to improve jobs, income,
and our infrastructure--which is so critical to the crossroads of the
Nation, Illinois--and do it in a way that doesn't hurt our economy or
the working poor.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
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