[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 128 (Thursday, September 20, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6162-H6163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PORT INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)

[[Page H6163]]

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, this week, The Washington Post reported 
that unless America doubles its spending on port infrastructure, we are 
on track for export losses of $270 billion by 2020 because our ports do 
not have sufficient capacity. That translates into a $697 billion drop 
in the American economy and a loss of 738,000 jobs.
  But ports are not the only area where our anemic infrastructure 
investment has become a drag on the American economy. We will lose 
hundreds of billions of dollars of growth over the next 5 years because 
of our inability to move goods and people efficiently.
  Congress just passed a bill to spend $52 billion on roads and bridges 
in this country, all we can afford according to some Members of 
Congress. But somehow we found money to spend $150 billion rebuilding 
the roads and bridges of Iraq and Afghanistan.
  I have introduced a bill, a 5-year, $1.2 trillion investment in roads 
and bridges, ports, and transit airports because it's time to do 
nation-building right here at home.

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