[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 30, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E910-E911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REGARDING TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROBERT T. SCHILLING

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 30, 2012

  Mr. SCHILLING. Mr. Speaker, as the House and Senate continue to work 
in a bipartisan fashion to produce a transportation reauthorization, I 
wanted to submit for the Congressional Record a copy of a letter I sent 
to Senate Chairman Barbara Boxer of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee and House Chairman John Mica of the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee.
  But first I wanted to clarify my vote on the Rahall Motion to 
Instruct Conferees on the Transportation Bill that occurred on May 18, 
2012. According to the House Clerk, the instructions contained in the 
motion ``seek to require the managers on the part of the House at the 
conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate 
amendment to the bill H.R. 4348 to be instructed to agree to sections 
1528, 20017 (to the extent that such section amends section 5323 of 
title 49, United States Code, to provide subsection (k) relating to Buy 
America), 33007, 33008, and 35210 of the Senate amendment.''
  This motion urges House conferees to agree to the Senate provisions 
in their transportation bill that pertain to Buy American requirements 
for highway projects, Buy American Waiver Requirements, and the Make It 
In America Initiative. I agree with the sentiments of this motion and 
intended to vote ``aye'' but voted ``nay'' in error. I support American 
jobs and American workers and believe that we should be using American 
made goods when growing our infrastructure. If the Buy America 
provisions are offered as a Motion to Instruct on the Transportation 
Conference in the future, I intend to vote ``aye''.
  I urge the Conferees to push for a multi-year transportation bill. 
Congress has a tremendous opportunity to provide five or six years of 
certainty when it comes to transportation policy and projects. The 
construction industry in particular suffers from 14.5 percent 
unemployment and we can put these men and women back to work by 
agreeing to a long term bill that includes transportation priorities 
like the Keystone XL Pipeline project.

[[Page E911]]

  I refer to these subjects in my letter to Chairmen Boxer and Mica 
below, but this Congress has proven it can provide certainty and 
bipartisanship when it passed a four-year Federal Aviation 
Administration law. It took five years and 23 short-term extensions, 
but this Congress was able to get the job done. It should be the goal 
of this Congress to achieve similar success this year with a multi-year 
transportation bill.

                                                      May 8, 2012.
     Hon. John L. Mica,
     Chairman, Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, 
         Washington, DC.
     Hon. Barbara Boxer,
     Chairman, Environment & Public Works, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Mica, Chairman Boxer, and Conferees, our 
     country as a whole is in need of a long, multi-year surface 
     transportation authorization bill. This long-term certainty 
     will allow our state departments of transportation to truly 
     address our infrastructure needs and not push them off down 
     the road until it is too late and too expensive. Our country 
     is closing in on $16 trillion in debt--totaling more than 
     $50,000 per American. We must invest wisely, while also 
     coming to grips with our fiscal situation. I would like to 
     share with you some priorities from the people I have the 
     privilege of representing.
       When the near-trillion dollar stimulus was signed into law 
     in 2009, many citizens wondered why Congress was not focused 
     on a true job-creating measure like a long-term highway plan. 
     The fact that such a small percentage of the stimulus plan 
     was devoted to transportation and infrastructure represents 
     an unfortunate missed opportunity, especially at a time when 
     our infrastructure is rated as ``D'' by the American Society 
     of Civil Engineers and construction unemployment in the 
     industry is 14.5 percent. The time to focus on a long-term 
     transportation bill is now.
       The certainty that a long-term bill will would provide 
     would allow programs like the Projects of National and 
     Regional Significance to help build much-needed 
     infrastructure in our country. Projects that fall in this 
     category are high in cost and large in scope and for that 
     reason federal support is necessary for them to go forward. 
     These projects affect localities directly through economic 
     development and more jobs. I encourage you to continue to 
     support the Projects of National and Regional Significance 
     program within the surface transportation authorization bill 
     you are currently conferencing. Projects that do not reach 
     the threshold of National and Regional Significance, such as 
     highway expansions and overpasses, can bring in a great 
     amount of economic development as well. We must continue to 
     support programs and grants that would allow these projects 
     to go forward so they are not politicized.
       Another important issue for Illinois is our rail system. We 
     are at a crossroads for this mode of transportation, and it 
     is vital that we take care of that infrastructure so that 
     existing lines which contribute to both commuter mobility and 
     freight shipments are not shortchanged. Rail allows people 
     and products to travel to and from all over the country, and 
     from there to ports across the world. While we must be 
     careful to separate needs from wants, growth in our economy 
     and long-term sustainability must always weigh heavily when 
     making decisions on infrastructure priorities.
       I also encourage you to include provisions that would 
     address the job-creating Keystone Pipeline. This pipeline and 
     other projects like it can help ease global energy strains 
     due to our reliance on oil from foreign countries. Pipelines 
     are the energy lifelines of our country and will not only 
     address access to oil, but will also encourage job growth and 
     therefore growth in our economy. This is a project that has 
     the support of Republicans, Democrats, labor and business.
       Another important issue that we must not overlook is our 
     locks and dams. These vital pieces of our infrastructure need 
     to have dedicated work and funding. After all, this 
     infrastructure is vital to both commerce and jobs. More than 
     30,000 workers are employed on vessels and an additional 
     800,000 jobs are dependent on our waterways. That is why I 
     support the continued inclusion of the RAMP Act, H.R. 104, in 
     the final Surface Transportation bill. This would guarantee 
     that the total amount available for spending from the Harbor 
     Maintenance Trust Fund be equal to the Trust Fund receipts as 
     estimated by the President's budget for that year. This is 
     important to addressing our nation's dredging requirements 
     and keeps our ports and waterways at a competitive advantage 
     with the rest of the world's waterways.
       I also support the inclusion of the bipartisan, House-
     passed H.R. 2273, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management 
     Act, into a final transportation package. There are many 
     types of projects across this great country that require the 
     use of concrete, and proposed regulations on coal ash can be 
     detrimental to getting our economy back on track and our 
     infrastructure back up to the appropriate safety standards. 
     This is symptomatic of large issues of overregulation that 
     place unnecessary hindrances on meeting our infrastructure 
     needs.
       Finally, I encourage you to carefully consider the need for 
     farmers to transport all farm supplies from any distribution 
     point to a local farm retailer or end consumer. The 
     restriction to a single farm supply excludes multiple other 
     critical farm supplies and severely hinders the flexibility 
     of farmers during planting and harvesting season. The Federal 
     Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted several 
     wavers over the last two years because it has recognized the 
     need to exempt these supplies. Please consider making this 
     exemption of agriculture hours of service permanent.
       Conventional wisdom is that Congress cannot get anything 
     done, but in the spirit of Mark Twain, I believe that reports 
     on the death of bipartisanship have been greatly exaggerated. 
     After all, it was this Congress that advanced three market-
     opening trade agreements, passed the VOW to Hire Heroes jobs 
     bill for veterans, passed the STOCK Act, passed a Defense 
     Authorization that will benefit manufacturing and our 
     industrial base, and passed the Jumpstart our Business 
     Startups legislation. These are all now the law of the land 
     and were accomplished through bipartisanship. Perhaps one of 
     the best examples is the four-year Federal Aviation 
     Administration reauthorization. It took five years and 23 
     short-term extensions, but this Congress finally got the job 
     done. It should be the goal of this Congress to achieve 
     similar success this year with a multi-year transportation 
     bill.
       I appreciate your time and consideration of my concerns and 
     the priorities of the 17th District of Illinois.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Bobby Schilling,
     House of Representatives.

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