[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 28, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE HOUSE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today the clock is ticking here in 
Congress and especially on the floor of the House where people around 
the country would like to be preparing for the next construction 
season. Indeed, the most important action for the economy, for job 
creation, and for strengthening the livability of our communities might 
well be enacting the Surface Transportation Act. Sadly, so far, the 
news has not been good.
  Later today, we debate the House Republican budget, which would slash 
infrastructure funding to a level less than is required simply to meet 
obligations for contracts that we've already entered into with people 
that are building roads, bridges, and transit systems. And we have an 
obligation to them. They're down that path and the budget sadly would 
not even allow the Federal Government to meet its partnership 
obligation.
  There's more bad news as we see the Republican leadership can't come 
to grips with what would be required to move the transportation 
authorization bill forward. Last month, they offered up what has been 
characterized as the worst transportation bill in history. It was 
partisan, and it was unbalanced. It would have overturned two decades 
of transportation reform, undercut transit and the vital enhancement 
programs that communities have used to improve the quality of life and 
stretch their transportation resources. It even attacked bike and 
pedestrian programs, eliminating Safe Routes to School for our 
children.
  Well, luckily, it collapsed under its own weight. They were afraid to 
even have a hearing on it before it came to the floor, and then they 
found out that there wasn't an opportunity to pass it. The support 
wasn't there in the face of united opposition around the country from 
people who care about transportation. At the same time, the Senate has 
given us a balanced and bipartisan bill. Seventy-four Members of the 
other body voted for it and passed it over to us.
  I would hope that there is time for us to stop playing partisan 
ideological games with this vital transportation bill. The headlines 
that the Republican maneuvering has done is an embarrassment to Speaker 
Boehner and to Chairman Mica. But not just to the Republican 
leadership; it's an embarrassment to the House.

                              {time}  1020

  I'm sorry that my Republican friends and colleagues can't seem to 
agree amongst themselves about a path forward. They cannot get 218 
Republican votes for any bill, even the Speaker's proposal. The good 
news is they don't have to. There are 435 Members of the House. If they 
would work in a bipartisan basis, as we have done in the past, we can 
stop this short-term roulette; we can give the construction industry, 
local government, and people in the private and public sector the 
certainty they need for not just this construction cycle, but the next 
construction cycle. We can put tens of thousands of people to work, 
bolster the economy, and do what Congress needs to do, what Congress 
has done always until this point.
  I hope the Republican leadership, before we leave this week, will at 
least allow the bipartisan Senate bill to come to the floor to be voted 
on. I'm confident that a majority will support it, and we'll meet our 
obligations to keep America moving and the economy growing.

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