[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 170 (Tuesday, December 3, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE UPDATE, PROMOTE AND DEVELOP AMERICA'S 
  TRANSPORTATION ESSENTIALS ACT OF 2013, AND THE ROAD USER FEE PILOT 
                          PROJECT ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 3, 2013

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing two pieces of 
legislation to address America's infrastructure deficit and put 
Americans back to work renewing and rebuilding the country. For the 
past decade, it has been clear that our transportation funding 
mechanism is broken, and Republicans and Democrats alike danced around 
the critical issue of how to fund our nation's infrastructure. During 
this time, Congress transferred more than $50 billion of general fund 
money to the Highway Trust Fund in an effort to keep the Highway Trust 
Fund alive, but did nothing to solve the long-term problem.
  In the past infrastructure funding was a bipartisan issue. Whether it 
was Democrats and Republicans coming together to launch the interstate 
freeway system signed into law by President Eisenhower or the 
subsequent road, transit, and water investments that fueled economic 
development and tied the nation together, a spirit of forward-thinking 
cooperation dominated. The recent failure to address our long-term 
funding problem has also been bipartisan. Despite strong 
recommendations from private-sector commissions created during the Bush 
Administration, the forward momentum of the past has been stopped dead 
in its tracks.
  The gap between Highway Trust Fund assets and our nation's future 
needs is growing as the condition of our roads, bridges, and transit 
systems continues to deteriorate. There is no question about the 
importance of our nation's infrastructure to the general economy. 
America's roads, bridges, and rail lines move goods valued at more than 
$11 trillion a year. The failure to make adequate transportation 
investments puts America at a competitive disadvantage internationally, 
it complicates movement of goods and people, and it contributes to 
congestion and pollution. In fact, the American Society for Civil 
Engineers estimates that if we fail to increase funding in our nation's 
infrastructure, our transportation failures will restrict our national 
GDP growth by $897 billion by 2020. To avoid these outcomes, blue 
ribbon policy commissions have suggested increasing investment in 
infrastructure from between $20 billion to $40 billion per year.
  Unfortunately, Congress has not increased the gas tax since the 
Clinton deficit-reduction program in 1993. Today, with inflation and 
increased fuel efficiency for vehicles, the average motorist is paying 
about half as much per mile as they did then. In this situation, the 
Highway Trust Fund will require $15 billion a year to maintain current 
spending levels. In less than a year, absent Congressional action, we 
face a precipitous drop in transportation funding--eventually totaling 
a 30 percent reduction in 10 years. Increased fuel efficiency 
exacerbates that deficit even more over time.
  There is a broad and persuasive coalition that recognizes the 
importance of an increased investment in our infrastructure. From the 
Chamber of Commerce, to the AFL-CIO, the American Trucking Association, 
the Sierra Club, and the League of American Bicyclists, individuals, 
businesses, and associations across the spectrum are ready to invest in 
America's infrastructure. Today, I am putting forward a vision for how 
Congress should go about renewing and rebuilding the country.
  My first piece of legislation, the Update, Promote, and Develop 
America's Transportation Essentials (UPDATE) Act, will phase in a 
fifteen cent per gallon gas tax increase, similar to what was called 
for in the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction proposal of three years 
ago. It is adjusted for inflation so that we're not back into the same 
situation in a few years, and acknowledges the long-term inadequacy of 
the gas tax by clarifying that this should be the last gas tax 
increase. The UPDATE Act would raise around $170 billion over ten 
years.
  This would have a powerful effect on the economy. The relatively 
small amount infrastructure investment in the Recovery Act had a 
significant impact on employment, creating almost 36,000 jobs for each 
billion invested. These are family wage jobs in every community across 
America.
  Instituting a reasonable gas tax increase now stops the dance of 
avoidance. It will provide the revenues Democrats say they want in the 
form of a user fee which historically has been acceptable to 
Republicans including Ronald Reagan, who increased the gas tax by a 
nickel a gallon in 1982 (the equivalent of raising it by $0.12 a gallon 
in today's dollars). As we extend the gas tax, we must also think about 
how to replace it with something more sustainable. The best candidate 
would be the vehicle mile traveled fee being explored by pilot projects 
in Oregon and implemented there on a voluntary basis next year. My 
second piece of legislation provides research funding for larger-scale 
pilot projects to answer remaining questions about how best to 
implement a vehicle miles traveled system, appropriate revenue 
collection mechanisms, and other potential applications for such a 
system. This bill looks to the future and helps provide a more stable 
funding base for the next one hundred years.
  Addressing the infrastructure deficit, stabilizing transportation 
funding, and helping America's all-too-slow economic recovery, is 
critical if we want a livable and economically prosperous country in 
the years to come. All we need to make it happen is a commitment to 
build the future together.

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