[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 106 (Wednesday, July 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5880-H5881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I intend to talk about transportation, but 
I must say to my friend who just spoke, there is a more humane and 
enlightened approach to comprehensive immigration reform that would 
address the issues he says he is concerned about. Railing against 
people because of their status when there are 11 million people who are 
here without documentation, a problem that hardly initiated with this 
administration, I don't think is helpful. It may rile up one's base, 
but it doesn't solve problems; and it is not the best of America, 
especially as we celebrate our Independence Day.
  The urgency for Congress, Mr. Speaker, to address the shortfall in 
the highway trust fund grows with every passing day. Road and, 
eventually, mass transit improvements in every State are at risk of 
grinding to a halt in a matter of weeks in the heart of the summer 
construction time. Secretary Foxx notified all States last week that 
their Federal funding will drop by an average of 28 percent starting 
next month.
  In my home State of Virginia, nearly every mode of transportation 
will be negatively affected. More than half of next year's road and 
transit projects were supposed to be funded with Federal dollars. If we 
don't replenish the trust fund, just in Virginia alone, 149 bridge 
replacements will be put on hold, 175 aging buses and train cars will 
not be replaced, 44 smaller transit systems will not be able to 
maintain service, and 350 transportation projects will grind to a halt.
  When I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle say, ``No, no, 
we are concerned about jobs,'' well, 43,000 jobs in Virginia alone will 
be lost if we do not replenish the trust fund.
  In addition, many States have advanced projects based solely on the 
Federal Government's participation, including private activity bonds 
used to finance such projects. If that money dries up, States would 
have to put projects on hold or redirect other precious State resources 
to cover the debt service or risk default.
  I was relieved when my House Republican friends backed away from 
their reckless proposal to hold the highway trust fund hostage unless 
their demands were met to eliminate Saturday mail delivery service by 
the Postal Service. Set aside for a moment that paying for an on-budget 
transfer into the trust fund with off-budget cuts to the Postal Service 
violates both PAYGO and CutGo budget rules here in the House, that 
fundamentally flawed, nongermane proposal would have undermined a 
trillion-dollar American mailing industry that supports more than 8 
million jobs and represents 7 percent of our GDP. There is simply no 
nexus between funding transportation and the Postal Service, despite 
the efforts of Republican leadership to suggest otherwise.

                              {time}  1015

  While the focus now has shifted to finding a short-term funding fix, 
I would argue that simply patching it over will not help our State 
DOTs, which need much more certainty as they do long-range planning. 
Transportation is not a short-term proposition. It is long-term 
planning and long-term investment streams that are needed.
  The Federal Government historically has been a key partner in funding 
our Nation's infrastructure, but that level of investment has eroded 
over time. Just look at the recent Transportation Appropriations bill. 
It provides less funding for highway and transit construction than last 
year, and far less than the administration proposed for a 21st century 
transportation system in America. Public spending on infrastructure as 
a share of GDP now is half what it was in the sixties and seventies. No 
great country can walk away from infrastructure investment and stay 
great.
  I commend Senators Murphy and Corker for tabling a bipartisan 
proposal to increase the gas tax by 12 cents over 2 years and then 
index it to inflation. It has been more than 20 years since the Federal 
gas tax was

[[Page H5881]]

last adjusted, and those dollars have lost 40 percent of their value in 
that time period. I know some of my colleagues will cringe at such a 
proposal, but funding for transportation is not going to miraculously 
fall from the sky.
  Many of us have supported efforts to advance innovative financing 
solutions but, at the end of the day, what we really need is more 
funding. The 495 Express Lanes here in the Nation's capital, built 
under a public-private partnership in my district, are considered a 
model for innovation. But 4 out of 5 dollars used to fund that project 
were Federal dollars in some fashion, whether it was Federal trust fund 
dollars, a federally subsidized loan, or the sale of bonds that receive 
a federally preferred tax deduction.
  Again, looking at Virginia, last year, the Virginia General Assembly, 
with a Republican house of delegates, a Democratic senate, and a 
Republican Governor, came together for the first time in over 27 years 
and actually funded transportation long term, which was a multibillion-
dollar effort. If the Virginia General Assembly can do it on a 
bipartisan basis, so can we.

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