[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 171 (Wednesday, December 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7449-H7450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE GAS TAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from

[[Page H7450]]

Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, for as long as I have been in Congress, 
both parties and two successive administrations have danced around the 
issue of our infrastructure deficit. For all the attention to the 
various fiscal cliffs, the looming infrastructure deficit is every bit 
as critical.
  For two centuries, infrastructure was a bipartisan issue, from 
Lincoln, with the transcontinental railroad, to Democrats and 
Republicans coming together to launch the interstate freeway system 
signed into law by President Eisenhower. Subsequent road, transit and 
water investments helped fuel our economy and tie the Nation together.
  More recently, the failure to address long-term funding has also been 
bipartisan. The Bush administration ignored strong recommendations from 
their own private sector experts that they empanelled to give advice.
  Although the Obama administration did request and employ some modest 
funding in the Recovery Act and has proposed an infrastructure bank and 
talked extensively and, I think, sincerely about the need for 
investment, what has been lacking has been a specific, concrete 
proposal from either party to address infrastructure financing in 
America.
  While the political maneuvering has occurred here in Washington, the 
gap in the highway trust fund has been growing, and conditions of our 
roads, bridges, and transit systems have been deteriorating. This puts 
America at a competitive disadvantage, complicates the movement of 
goods and people, and contributes to congestion and pollution.
  At the same time the needs grow, the resources are in significant 
decline. The gas tax has not been increased since the Clinton 
administration 20 years ago. The future prospects are even worse. 
Demands are increasing and deferred maintenance takes its toll while we 
watch the bottom fall out of the highway trust fund.
  We have seen a slowdown in revenue due to the near collapse of the 
economy, a shift in driving patterns while people, especially young 
people, drive less, and, of course there is improved fuel efficiency. 
It is scheduled to further reduce gas consumption dramatically with 
improved mileage for conventional vehicles, to say nothing of hybrids, 
plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles.
  It is time for Congress to act. We have seen our partners at the 
State level increase transportation funding in 13 States, but they need 
Congress to act to maintain that partnership.
  There is a large coalition that stands ready to support Congress. 
U.S. chamber, the national AFL-CIO, building trades, trucking industry, 
numerous associations of small and medium businesses, local chambers of 
commerce, local government, professional organizations, bicyclists, the 
coalition is broad and persuasive requesting Congress to tax them.
  Any resources would have a powerful effect on the economy. The 
relatively small amount in the Recovery Act for infrastructure created 
many jobs because there is a strong multiplier effect, about 36,000 
jobs for each billion dollars invested. And these are family-wage jobs 
all across America that aren't going to be outsourced overseas.
  In less than a year, the transportation bill expires, and absent 
congressional action, we face a precipitous drop in transportation 
funding next year and a reduction of 30 percent overall for the next 
decade.
  It doesn't need to be this way. I am proposing we implement the 
three-step, 15-cent-per-gallon tax increase that was part of the 
Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction proposal. Communities and industry 
need certainty, especially for larger projects that are multistate and 
multiyear.
  And this should be the last Federal gas tax increase. Over the next 
10 years, we need to replace funding for transportation that is based 
on gallons of fuel consumed, which is going to be declining, with 
something more sustainable, a reasonable adjustment now and a permanent 
fix in the future, so we can stop this dance of avoidance.
  We will find broad support for this form of user fee, which, 
historically, has been acceptable to Republicans as well, including 
Ronald Reagan, who increased the gas tax a nickel a gallon back when 
that was real money in 1982, and he established the mass transit trust 
fund account.
  Let's address the infrastructure deficit, stabilizing transportation 
funding, and help revitalize and enhance America's all-too-slow 
economic recovery. The time is now.

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