[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 35 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S1376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SURFACE TRANSPORTATION ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, 56 years ago it took President Eisenhower a 
year to convince Congress and the country to make an unprecedented 
investment in America's highway system. After all, building 47,000 
miles of interstate highways across the Nation would require an 
unparalleled effort and unprecedented investment. The project required 
enough concrete to build six sidewalks to the Moon at a cost of $50 
billion or the equivalent of almost $\1/2\ trillion today.
  The project was hugely successful. It created jobs, it connected 
farms and factories, tiny towns and towering cities, and allowed 
manufacturers and merchants to ship goods across our country for the 
first time in our Nation's history. Looking back on this effort to pass 
the first highway bill, President Eisenhower considered it the crowning 
accomplishment of his Presidency.
  ``More than any single action by the government since the end of the 
war, this one would change the face of America,'' President Eisenhower 
wrote in his memoir. ``Its impact on the American economy--the jobs it 
would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it 
would open up--was beyond calculation.''
  Fifty-six years after his initial work, Congress once again is 
considering transportation legislation, an investment in this country's 
crumbling roads, bridges, and train tracks. But we have the benefit of 
history on our side. We know from 56 years of experience that investing 
in America's highways and railways will create and sustain jobs, and we 
have no doubt that building a world-class transportation system will 
help us rebuild our world-class economy.
  That is why the senior Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Inhofe, and one of 
the most liberal Members of the Senate, the junior Senator from 
California, Mrs. Boxer, have joined hands to advance this bipartisan 
Transportation bill before this body. The bill is comprised of four 
measures reported out of the Environment and Public Works Committee and 
the Banking, Commerce and Finance Committees--all with bipartisan 
support. Both sides agreed to a package of 37 amendments in addition to 
this that is now part of the measure that is before the Senate.
  This is the legislation, as I have indicated, that is in the Senate 
now. If the filibuster ended and we passed the bill before us, it would 
be a huge step forward. Pass what we have now, vote on it, and we could 
call it a good day for America, a real good day. But in today's 
political climate, bipartisan support is not enough to keep good 
legislation alive. In today's political climate, 85 votes to begin 
debate on a measure is not enough to guarantee the measure will become 
law.
  The Transportation legislation under consideration is truly 
bipartisan. It will create or sustain 3 million badly needed 
construction jobs. Yet Republican leaders have wasted almost a month of 
the Senate's time obstructing this valuable measure--for political 
reasons, obviously.
  Unfortunately, Democrats cannot keep construction crews working to 
repair 70,000 collapsing bridges across the country without Republican 
cooperation. Without Republican cooperation we cannot expand the 
Nation's mass transit system to accommodate tens of thousands of new 
riders every year. Without Republican cooperation we cannot create and 
save 3 million jobs repairing crumbling pavement and building safer 
sidewalks. It will take bipartisan effort to advance this bipartisan 
legislation.
  Frank Turner, a former Federal Highway Administrator, said work on 
this country's transportation system ``will never be finished because 
America will never be finished.'' Although the work is never finished, 
it is up to Congress to sustain the effort to move it forward. Unless 
Congress acts this month work on highways, bridges, and train tracks 
will come to a grinding halt. Unless Congress acts, the American 
economy will pay the price for partisan bickering.
  What we have before the body now is the measure reported out of the 
four committees I talked about plus 37 bipartisan amendments. We should 
pass that. We should invoke cloture on it and just pass that and wait 
for the House to pass whatever they do and go to conference. That would 
be a tremendous step forward for us.
  I am hopeful my Republican colleagues will join Democrats to put 
American jobs ahead of these procedural games we are having so much 
trouble with and help us advance this vital transportation legislation.

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