[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 10, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3512-S3515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Highway Trust Fund

  Having said that, I come to the floor to talk about a different 
topic; that is, about the highway trust fund. As we know, right now 
States across the country are working on transportation projects to 
repair bridges and relieve traffic on our Nation's roads and highways.
  Kentucky, for example, has started to widen Interstate 65 between 
Bowling Green and Elizabethtown. Local officials tell us it is an 
important project to ease their traffic and help ambulances and 
firetrucks get to the scene of emergencies quickly, but earlier this 
year Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said that project might be at risk 
because of a shortfall in our highway trust fund.
  A crisis in the highway trust fund could jeopardize thousands of 
important transportation projects--such as the example I gave in 
Kentucky--around the country if Congress doesn't act. So I am on the 
floor again to call on our colleagues to work together to avert a 
crisis in the highway trust fund.
  I wish to call attention to specific wasteful tax loopholes that 
Congress could eliminate to actually shore up the trust fund--loopholes 
that actually both Democrats and Republicans have in the past said we 
should close.
  There can be no question that the highway trust fund is facing a 
revenue problem. The Department of Transportation has been warning us 
for months that it expects the trust fund to reach critically low 
levels as early as this summer. If that happens, the Department might 
have to delay reimbursements to our States.
  This crisis is no longer a hypothetical. It has already caused States 
to plan for a construction shutdown if Congress does not act. In 
Georgia, more than 70 transportation projects could be delayed 
indefinitely, according to their State officials. In North Carolina, an 
engineer from the State's department of transportation says, if the 
trust fund runs dry, ``that essentially stops our construction 
program.''
  This crisis is having a serious impact on construction jobs. If 
States are not

[[Page S3515]]

able to enter into new construction contracts, as many as 700,000 jobs 
could be at risk, according to the Department of Transportation.
  The construction industry was particularly hard hit during the 
economic downturn. Allowing the highway trust fund to reach critically 
low levels would be another blow to an industry that has already seen 
more than its fair share of job loss and uncertainty.
  For all of these reasons, Congress must act to avoid a potential 
construction shutdown this summer.
  In the past few weeks I have been very encouraged that Members on 
both sides of the aisle agree we do need to replenish the highway trust 
fund with revenue. Allowing the trust fund to run dry is not an option. 
Putting construction jobs at risk is not an option. Failing to make 
much needed investments in our roads and bridges is not an option.
  House Republicans have offered a proposal to cut mail delivery down 
to a modified 5-day delivery system to temporarily fund the highway 
trust fund, but I believe that is the wrong way to go. There are better 
ways to address both Postal Service reform and the highway trust fund 
shortfall.
  But I do think there is now an opportunity to solve this looming 
crisis in a way that actually should have bipartisan support. We all 
know our Tax Code is riddled with wasteful tax loopholes that benefit 
the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, and many of those 
loopholes that both Democrats and Republicans have proposed closing are 
available for this fund.
  For example, Republican Congressman Dave Camp, who chairs the House 
Ways and Means Committee, Senator Reed of Rhode Island, and Senator 
Levin of Michigan have all proposed eliminating the so-called stock 
option loophole. Right now corporations claim the largest tax breaks by 
compensating their executives with stock options instead of a regular 
paycheck. That is so the corporation can skirt a tax rule that limits 
deductible cash compensation to $1 million per year for each of a 
handful of corporate officers. Closing that loophole alone would save 
us as much as $50 billion over the next 10 years.
  Another loophole allows some wealthy business owners to 
mischaracterize their income as business profits instead of salary to 
avoid paying their fair share of payroll taxes. Putting a stop to that 
unfair practice, as both Republican Chairman Camp and Democrats have 
proposed, could save us more than $15 billion over the next 10 years.
  Those are just two wasteful and unfair tax loopholes that both 
Democrats and Republicans have proposed closing. The list of loopholes 
goes on and on. We can use that kind of revenue generated by closing 
just a few of them to avoid an unnecessary crisis, shore up our highway 
trust fund, and make the critical investments we need in our roads and 
bridges across the country.
  I know that for many people around the country this looming highway 
trust fund crisis is all too familiar. For them it is just another 
example of Congress lurching from crisis to crisis. Just last week the 
director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said he 
reminds people that just last year Congress shut down the entire 
Federal Government. That is how he knows there is a real threat that 
Congress will shut down investments in our roads and bridges. So States 
such as Arkansas aren't taking any chances. State officials there 
recently delayed 10 highway projects, and they said they might have to 
delay even more if we--Congress--don't act.
  So I believe our States need certainty in the highway trust fund. 
Commuters are counting on transportation projects to ease congestion. 
Construction workers are counting on jobs to repair roads and bridges. 
I believe we should build some common ground that Democrats and 
Republicans share to replenish the highway trust fund. Let's work 
together to show commuters and businesses and workers and States that 
Congress can come together to solve this crisis. I hope we will work 
together to prevent a construction shutdown this summer.
  Mr. President, before I yield, I ask unanimous consent that the time 
during any quorum calls prior to noon be charged equally to both sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schatz). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.