[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 8, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SHUTDOWN AND AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, we begin the second week of the 
Republican government shutdown. The proximate cause was the Republican 
effort to delay money that the government needs to fund the Affordable 
Care Act, to stop the Affordable Care Act. Well, it is also now the 
second week of the Affordable Care Act, which clearly now will not be 
repealed, defunded, or delayed.
  Just this last weekend, we all approved legislation that would pay 
all of the Federal workers on furlough the salaries they lost by being 
sent home making them whole. This is important because they had nothing 
to do with this travesty. But now, we're paying them not to work. One 
wonders why we're still in the middle of this exercise. Is there any 
way out of this cul-de-sac?
  I find it encouraging that some of my Republican friends are talking 
about negotiating. We've been waiting for 6 months for negotiations to 
begin on the budget. Hopefully, Republicans will appoint conferees, and 
we can get down to talking about what level of spending we want, need, 
and can afford.
  But maybe we can help things along in dealing with another area--to 
come together on the looming deficit of infrastructure. America's civil 
engineers tell us that more than $2 trillion is needed over the next 5 
years for roads, bridges, transit, sewer, and water. These deficiencies 
create uncertainty, congestion, safety, and health problems, and 
undercut America's long-term productivity. Why don't we come together 
to address this problem? Ronald Reagan supported a nickel-a-gallon gas 
tax increase in 1982, when that was real money. The Clinton plan that 
led to our only balanced budgets in 40 years included our last gas tax 
increase. And remember the Simpson-Bowles deficit plan that called for 
a phased-in gas tax increase of 15 cents?
  Since the last increase in the gas tax, the purchasing power of the 
highway trust fund has dropped by two-thirds due to inflation and 
greater vehicle efficiency. If we want to bring Americans together, 
let's work with the huge coalition that stands ready to work with 
Congress in taking this action. It includes people in the construction 
industry, obviously, but also local governments and professions like 
architects and engineers, truckers, and bicyclists. Everyone from the 
AFL-CIO to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce acknowledges that it is past 
time for Congress to act, and they will work with us if we take action.
  The failure to address this loss of purchasing power is also a source 
of the budget deficit. Since the last big transportation bill expired 
in 2005, we have had to make four major general fund transfers of 
approximately $50 billion just to prop it up at its current inadequate 
level, and it's going to get worse when the transportation bill expires 
in 51 weeks.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in averting another fiscal cliff, 
this one with the highway trust fund. Let's work with the vast array of 
interests that want to rebuild and renew America. Don't ignore this 
deficit. Instead, let's act responsibly in fixing the trust fund, 
putting hundreds of thousands of Americans to work at family wage jobs, 
in rebuilding and renewing America's infrastructure--making us safer, 
healthier, and more economically secure.

                          ____________________