[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 110 (Tuesday, July 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H6284-H6290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS OF AMERICA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back here on the floor
once again. Tonight, we want to carry on our long-running discussion
about how to improve the American economy, how to create jobs here in
this Nation and move us all forward, how to rebuild the middle class,
how to make sure that every family has the opportunity
[[Page H6285]]
to earn a good living, buy a home if they want to, educate their kids,
get health care, and enjoy the fruits of this great Nation.
We often talk about this in the context of Make It In America. This
is our jobs agenda. This is the agenda about how to rebuild this
Nation, and there are seven different parts to it: trade policy, which
we are not talking about tonight; we will talk a little bit about
taxes; energy, that is another day; labor; education; and research.
We are going to spend tonight talking about this issue, the
infrastructure issue of this Nation.
Let's see, in California, it is right smack in the middle of commute
time, 5:15. I am from California, and I know that my constituents in
the Sacramento area on that great Interstate 80 are sitting there in a
traffic jam.
{time} 2015
What a surprise. Or maybe they are on the Caltrain returning from the
San Francisco area and held up behind a freight train that is probably
carrying bulk and crude oil to the refineries in the Bay Area. They are
waiting and waiting and waiting, whether they are on the road or on the
train or on the bus, waiting and waiting and waiting.
Folks, in case you didn't know it--and I know you did--we have got a
transportation problem in America. We have got a very serious problem.
So as we talk about jobs, as we talk about our Make it in America
agenda, we need to talk about infrastructure, we need to talk about
transportation, because this is a big, big issue for America. It is an
issue that affects every single one of us.
My district also has about, I don't know, 150 miles of Interstate 5.
So as you travel from California and you head north, last winter or
last year, you would get on Interstate 5, you would get past Seattle,
and then you would come to a screeching halt. Why? Because the
Interstate 5 bridge in Washington State, just as you got to the
Canadian border, collapsed. Wow.
How could that happen in America? How could it be that our bridges on
a major interstate connecting Canada, United States, and Mexico would
collapse? Well, it is because we did not maintain that. It is because
our transportation policies are the previous century's policies and
they don't fit in this century.
So, all across America, you are going to see more of this. In a
moment, I am going to turn to my colleague from New York (Mr. Tonko),
and he will undoubtedly talk about the problem on that side.
It was a big day here in the Congress, because today we did what we
do so very well: we kicked the can down the road. We have a major
transportation crisis. This isn't the ``bridge to nowhere,'' but this
is where we are headed right now. We are headed for a transportation
crisis, because in about 3 weeks, maybe 4 weeks, the transportation
funds are going to run out of money.
So, in an effort to deal with this problem. The United States
Congress, led by our Republican leadership, did what it has done for
the last 3\1/2\ years, and that is taken their can and kicked it down
the road. We passed a stopgap temporary transportation funding bill
that will provide us with another 10 months of funding so that the rest
of the Nation's transportation systems--the State governments, the
local governments, the cities, and even the Federal Government--will be
perfectly unsure what the game plan is for the future years.
How they will plan, nobody knows, because they don't know what to
expect from the Federal Government in terms of funding beyond the next
10 months, which is precisely where we are today. So, doing our very
best, the repeated process of kicking the can down the road, we did it
once again. Now, I will admit, I voted for it. We had no options,
unless we wanted to lose several tens of thousands of jobs.
This is what my State government gave to me. If we fall off the
bridge and don't fund transportation, here is what will happen to
California: 73,572 jobs will be jeopardized; 5,692 active highway and
transit projects will come to a screeching stop, which is pretty much
what the commuters are doing right now on Interstate 80 between
Sacramento and Davis, where it is my district; and California has
172,201 miles of public roads that will continue to be in very, very
poor condition.
So, given the options that our Republican leadership has presented to
us--and, by the way, we don't do anything that they don't allow us to
do--they gave us the opportunity to kick the can down the road. Okay,
better than nothing, but not the solution.
I would like to now turn to my colleague from the State of New York
to talk about this system from your area, and then I would like to go
back to what we should be doing, what we must be doing, which is to put
in place a 4-year transportation program that actually solves our
transportation and infrastructure problems, the Grow America Act.
What is the view from the east coast? Any better than the west coast?
Paul Tonko, my colleague, I yield to you.
Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2013, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is recognized for half the
remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee of the minority leader.
The gentleman from New York is recognized.
Mr. TONKO. I believe that is 53 minutes, Mr. Speaker?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct.
Mr. TONKO. Thank you.
Representative Garamendi, let me, once again, thank you for leading
us in this hour of discussion, 53 minutes worth of discussion, that
focuses on the value added, the importance of investment in
transportation projects.
Back to our humble beginnings as a Nation, we were able to cite the
relevance of having investments made in transportation. Whether it was
to address public safety, whether it was to address the needs of
commerce, or to grow our Nation, transportation investments have always
provided that lucrative dividend that enables us to be just that much
stronger as a Nation, and certainly to build our competitiveness to the
ultimate.
That is the wisdom here that comes with an associated investment in
transportation. Now, we have throughout our history tremendously sound
ideas of how we work together as a Nation with a vision, with a sense
of purpose, that enabled us to move forward, whether that was investing
in an Erie Canal that gave birth to a necklace of communities called
``mill towns'' that enabled people to tether their American Dream in
those given locations, as they were to find life anew here in their new
country, or whether it was the Transcontinental Railroad.
There was an investment, there was a plan, there was a vision shared
by this Nation where we chose to go forward and invest those dollars so
as to enable us to connect as a Nation, enable us to, again, sharpen
the edge, the competitive edge of this country. Or perhaps it was an
interstate highway system that found President Eisenhower working with
Democrats and Republicans in Congress to put together this strategy, to
have a better way to allow us as States, individual States, to, again,
connect as a Nation.
So, we have been, or should be at least, inspired by these chapters
of our history that showed that when we had this vision, when we
executed this plan, when we dug deep to make the investment, and when
we were bold in our initiative, great things happened. There were
tremendous responses that came to build commerce, to provide for public
safety, and to, again, connect the Nation.
Today, the saga is no different. We should respond again in robust
fashion, and understand that in this new century it is important for us
as we compete in a global economy to offer our business community the
best sets of infrastructure investment so that we can move forward with
that sound down payment that enables them to function and function
well.
What we have seen here in the House, as my colleague from California
just indicated, was a delay tactic, a kicking the can down the road, if
you will. And as it was the only game in town, that was a ``take it or
leave it'' situation, where we did not want a trust fund to be emptied,
and we moved forward with this effort.
[[Page H6286]]
However, the leadership bringing their bill to this floor didn't even
have enough Members of their majority to support this measure. So, they
needed to reach to Democrats to say: okay, we will move forward with
this short-term solution, it is not the optimum, it is not near what is
needed, and so now the work should continue to put together a
legitimate opportunity for us to avoid insolvency in the near future.
What do we need to do? We need to have a long-term strategy, we need
to go forward to avoid what could have been without action today
700,000 jobs lost nationally and some 100,000-plus projects either
delayed or coming to a grinding halt. We need to provide the
predictability, the stability, for those groups that want to invest in
our infrastructure.
No corporation, no group out there, no business which involves itself
in improving our highways and bridges will take this method seriously
unless they feel that, they sense that stability. So, let's go forward
and be sound about the investments we will make in our infrastructure,
and let's put together that long-term strategy, because as we have
witnessed in the past, and understand it to be today, that investment
in infrastructure is the rock-solid cornerstone of a stronger tomorrow.
Representative Garamendi, there is much work to be done. There is
work to be done that will require investments into infrastructure,
transportation and infrastructure, in every region of this country. We
know that. Let's get serious about the business, and let's avoid these
short-term strategies that, again, get into areas where we smooth
pensions, which can create another crisis of another kind.
We need to do better than what was done today, and we need to go
forward. There were attempts to improve this, but this was the measure
that was put before us, and, again, people saw it as the only
opportunity to avoid insolvency of that highway trust fund. So, here we
are again challenged in this moment to go forward with much better
vision, with bolder initiatives, and with deep-rooted commitment to the
transportation needs of this Nation.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Tonko, thank you so very much. It is always good
to be on the floor with you. Thank you so very much for bringing to our
attention once again the history of this Nation, how it was built, the
great infrastructure.
There is a report card out on how our infrastructure is today. This
was put together by the engineers and others who do this kind of work.
I am just going to read through this: aviation--these are our
airports--D; bridges, C-plus; dams, D; drinking water, D; energy, D;
hazardous waste, D; inland waterways, D; levees, D; ports, C--whoa,
that is good; public parks and recreation, C-minus; rails, C-plus;
roads, D; schools, D; solid waste, B--I guess we can get rid of our
trash, that is good--transit, D; and wastewater, D. So, the entire
infrastructure is D.
Do you want to know why? Well, here is the reason why. Short-term we
run out of money.
Let's take a look here.
In 2002, we spent $325 billion on nondefense structures, all of these
things I just talked about, and that was 2002, at the beginning of the
Bush Presidency. And then every year after that--we are now down to
about $225 billion.
So $100 billion of investment, annual investment, disappeared, and so
now we are running all of these D scores. It is fortunate that we are
not asking for--well, I guess we are asking for reelection. We are in
trouble.
Just by the way, I got a phone call from my wife, and she said: You
know, about the pickup truck, John. I said: What about it? She said:
I've got to take it in, the mechanic says the wheels are out of
alignment. I said: How much is that going to cost? She said: Somewhere
over $100. On average, in San Francisco, $782 is spent on every car
every year to repair for the damages of the poor highways in
California. I don't think I have New York, Mr. Tonko, but I suspect it
is no better there.
Let's talk about the future. Excuse me, I am just stuck. I don't want
to get stuck on the past, but it is pretty bad. Let's talk about the
future.
Mr. TONKO. Before you go there, let me just share this, because even
though it is 27 years old as a memory, it is still vividly captured by
so many of us that lived in upstate New York. When I served in the New
York State Assembly, Montgomery County, New York, is my home area. We
are a donor county to the New York State Thruway system. Twenty-seven
years ago, ten lives were lost when a Thruway bridge collapsed. It,
obviously, was a terrible price for those ten individuals to pay. Their
family members and friends would remind us that there is no pricetag
that we can put on that loss.
{time} 2030
I can tell you the economic impact on many counties in that region
was severe. Interestingly, no one from that home county, my home
county, was lost in that tragedy. Some in New York State paid dearly
for that tragedy, but people whose home States were far away from New
York were lost in that tragedy.
So that reminds all of us that we are all at risk, no matter where
that deficiency may be, no matter where that lack of investment may
fall. We are all at risk because we are interconnected, incredibly so,
which is an undisputed fact. Any failure out there, any deficiency,
challenges each and every one of us.
And so when we talk about the future, that past history of lack of
investment needs to remind all of us that there is a worthiness here
that this should be a high priority.
You talk about the delays that trip has measured. The impact on
people within the capital region that I represent in New York is some
$1,600 annually in terms of idle time, in terms of repairs required to
their vehicles, in terms of accidents that might be caused by less than
acceptable conditions on those roadways. So this is costing us, as you
just indicated, annually.
We need to understand that it is about public safety and it is about
avoiding accidents and tragedies. It is about connecting the Nation. It
is about investing in commerce. That is what this is telling us. It is
the requirement of this Chamber and the United States Senate and the
White House to come together and get things done.
This President has urged us to accept his plans to close loopholes
that will provide revenues in a long-term strategy, that will provide
for work for millions of people in the trades industry, to put their
skilled labor abilities to work for us as a nation and to make certain
that future consequences like those that were faced in Montgomery
County with the bridge collapse aren't repeated time and time again.
Before we go to the future, I just wanted to set that tone for some
very tragic situations that we as a nation have endured. I am speaking
of one assembly district in one State, but I know across the country
there have been these terrible situations where the infrastructure
weakness gripped us with pain and consequence.
Mr. GARAMENDI. No doubt about that. I am thinking about the Twin
Cities. That was another bridge that collapsed more recently. These are
real reminders of the necessity of dealing with the reality of
transportation.
Fortunately, there is a way to solve the transportation and the
infrastructure challenges of this Nation. It has been proposed by
President Obama. It is called the GROW AMERICA Act. It specifically is
designed to rebuild our crumbling transportation system.
It is a comprehensive plan. It deals with all of the various parts of
the transportation and infrastructure system. There is a major piece
for our rail. There is a major piece for inner city transit buses and
transit within the cities. There is a piece for the ports, bridges, and
highways. All of this is encompassed in the GROW AMERICA Act, which the
President and Secretary Foxx of the Department of Transportation
proposed a few months ago.
The legislation was presented to the House of Representatives,
introduced here in the House by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton about a
month and a half ago, and it has simply sat there. The Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee of this House has not taken it up,
although it should.
We should be holding hearings on this issue, because this is what we
need to address: the rail system, the buses, the ports, the bridges,
the highways, the freight systems; the movement of men, women,
materials, and freight all across this country.
[[Page H6287]]
The program is a very robust program, and over 4 years it will bring
us almost back to what we were doing in 2002. Because in 4 years, we
would be spending at the level of $325 billion a year over that 4-year
period of time.
But here is what it means for next year. If we were to pass the GROW
AMERICA Act now rather than kicking the can down the road, beginning
October 1, 2014, we would have $7.6 billion to fix our highway system.
We would have $6.8 billion to improve public transportation: buses,
light rail, and intracity rail. We would have $3.4 billion for our rail
systems, like what you have here in the Northeast Corridor. Out in
California, we have the Capital Corridor, the train system between San
Diego and Los Angeles, and so forth. And we would have $1 billion for
our freight transportation system, or a total of $18.6 billion more in
2015 to fix our crumbling infrastructure.
This is a very robust investment and it covers all of these programs.
Each of these programs are necessary in and of themselves, like the
highway system, to fill the potholes so that men and women across the
country don't have to, as I must do, take my pickup in for a front
wheel realignment. And all of these other systems, like transit, rail,
port and freight systems, we would be able to grow those. We would be
able to begin to fix our infrastructure system, and we would put people
back to work.
Mr. TONKO. Right.
What I like about the plan, Representative Garamendi, is that it is
all-inclusive in terms of an umbrella approach that encompasses several
policy areas. It is not just transportation, which is very valid and
certainly urgent, but we also address environmental policy, energy
policy, economic development policy, and urban policy.
There are a number of strategies that come together into this one
initiative that allow us to be smart about our investments and to be
efficient. And isn't that what people seem to call for when they go to
vote each and every time for Congress?
People interpreted the 2010 election that the voters were saying
government is the enemy, government is the problem, government is too
big. I think the people said, no, we want efficient government,
effective government.
That is what a strategy like this provides. It incorporates planning.
It incorporates investing on a routine scale so that we are not doing
these catch-up games that require down payments of interest before we
even get some investments made in infrastructure. So I like this.
With the rail portion, we are talking about the most energy-efficient
form of travel. In order for us to provide a benefit to the public or
to commerce, a transportation quotient is an important factor in the
household budget and planning that all of us do as households and in
budgeting for business so that they can cut that factor and be
competitive in landing the contracts for the work that they do. So rail
is an important component for that vision of providing a sounder
outcome. It is better for the environment, and there is less pollution
as we become more energy-efficient in our travel.
The next order of business is the connection with urban cores.
Multimodal concepts enable us to again provide for the recovery of our
inner urban cores. We have been lacking for sound urban policy in this
Nation. It is time for us to have a heart for these urban cores and to
put together smart growth strategies, which this sort of planning, this
sort of vision enables us to do.
And the list goes on and on.
To your point, Representative Garamendi, we are going to put people
to work, too. That is not a bad thing.
Instead of coming up with dollars to sue a President, why don't we
invest in our infrastructure? We are going to rush around this week and
come up with ways to make certain that we can go forward with a lawsuit
against the President. We are going to invest hard-earned taxpayer
dollars to prove a point, to stage some sort of political theater and
not do the sort of priorities that the American public is calling on us
to do.
They don't want this acrimony to be driven by additional digging into
the pocket of the taxpayers. They want soundness and effectiveness of
programs. They want to know that what we do will grow jobs, create a
climate that fosters private sector job growth, enable us to be more
competitive, enable our public to be more safe as we travel, and enable
us to put people to work.
That is what people deserve. They are calling for that sort of vision
and initiative. We owe it to the American public to put into play this
long-term strategy that we know deep in our hearts is the best thing to
do.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko, what is happening tomorrow? The
Speaker and the leadership of this House are going to do a press
conference to talk about suing the President?
Mr. TONKO. And there is talk of how we will provide the dollars to
make that happen.
Mr. GARAMENDI. And we haven't taken up a transportation bill, have
we?
Mr. TONKO. Right. I think the approvals we are looking for here ought
to come for sound investments that will bear benefits for generations
to come--and in a multiple order of effectiveness for various purposes,
from jobs to safety to connecting for commerce and the like.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Let's put aside that lawsuit tomorrow and all the
foolishness that it is and at least let you and me and whoever cares to
join in this talk about substantive issues the American people really
want, which is to do our work to put together programs that actually
meet the needs of the people.
This is the President's proposal. I know the President has said if it
has his name on it, it isn't going anywhere. So take his name off of it
and let's just call it an American act.
What is it?
It is a 4-year program. It is 4 years of transportation
infrastructure funding. As you said, it is holistic. It includes many
different elements, including planning and research, as you just
described. It is $302 billion over the 4 years, which is a substantial
increase over what we are presently doing. It is fully paid for and
does not increase the deficit.
I love my charts. I hope the rest of you like them as much as I do.
If you don't, I am going to show them anyway.
What happens when we invest a dollar in infrastructure is we actually
grow the economy by $1.57. So for every dollar we invest, we get
economic growth. We increase the economy in this case by another 57
cents beyond the dollar that we have already spent. And as you just
said, you are laying in place the foundation. You have made the capital
investment that will endure for years to come.
Anyway, in 4 years, this GROW AMERICA Act is $302 billion over the 4-
year period. For transportation, the highway system has $199 billion.
That is a 22 percent increase over what we are currently spending. In
the area of transit systems, it is $72 billion over the 4-year period.
That also is an increase. There is research, which we have talked
about.
The multimodal, this I really like. You talked about the transit
hubs, and that is an important piece, but the multimodal freight system
is the ports, the trains, and the highways all coming together.
I know you have major projects in New York. You may want to talk
about those.
These are the hubs for which our economy grows because it is the
export as well as the import from overseas. It is the rail system that
then takes those containers of that cargo and puts it on the rails to
go across the country--whether it is BNSF, or UP on the west coast, or
the CSX rail system on the east coast--and the trucks, and they all
come together in a hub. So there is actually $10 billion for those rail
hubs. For the rail system itself to improve the Nation's rails, it is
$19 billion over the 4 years.
Then there are the special innovative programs that local governments
want to do like the TIGER grants. These are local programs. That is $5
billion.
{time} 2045
It is a substantial growth in what we have been spending over the
previous years, and you will remember the chart that shows the decline
in spending. It is an opportunity for us to pick it up and push it
forward at a much higher level, employing people, growing the economy
in the process, and laying
[[Page H6288]]
down the foundation--the concrete, the steel, the bridges, the rails--
upon which the economy will grow.
I know you have examples of this. Please, Mr. Tonko.
Mr. TONKO. What I would add to your support of statements would be
that, as we delay, as we do these gimmicks, as we do these kicking the
can down the road scenarios, there are projects lining up. They are
building up.
We are not resolving the overall core of concern out there. In a way,
projects are piling up. In New York, the American Society of Civil
Engineers has given this country, as you stated earlier, a poor report
card on our infrastructure.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Excuse me. Are you like California, with D ratings?
Mr. TONKO. Yes. I mean, we have some tough, tough issues to deal
with, and this report card from professionals is telling the story as
it is.
Today, nearly 13 percent of New York's bridges are deemed
structurally deficient. Some 27 percent of the State's bridges are
considered functionally obsolete. Now, that is piling up. It is not
going to get better until we invest. As it piles up, these concerns or
these benefits from this investment are not being shared with the
country.
Now, people don't want to hear about climate change and global
warming, but at least see it as a way to be more resourceful with the
energy supplies that we do have. If you can't buy into the notion of
cleaning up the air to avoid carbon emission and methane emission, at
least see it as a way to pull cars off the highway and allow for mass
transit, public transit, to enable us to better address the capacity
situation of our roads and bridges throughout all of our States, then
see it as a way to bring under control the transportation cost factor
for commerce.
When you build this port system, when you connect with rail and
highways and bridges and when you have the ultimate investment made in
today's state-of-the-art infrastructure, you are providing this golden
benefit to commerce, so that they can compete and can compete
effectively in a global marketplace. It is driven by commerce, as is
our public safety, as is our connectedness as a Nation.
So there are many benefits here. The multiple facets of all of this
vision that the President has shared with this Congress should not be
kicked aside. You don't kick this away, like you did the strategies and
the solutions for our infrastructure needs. You sit down at a table
together and perform, as this Nation expects us to on behalf of issues
as critical as infrastructure.
We know what has to be done. Let's do it. Let's be the professionals
as we come together in a bipartisan fashion and bicameral fashion--the
legislative branch working with the executive branch--and get it done.
We have been inspired throughout our history with those concepts of the
Erie Canal, the Transcontinental Railroad, the interstate highway
system.
Here is our moment. Do we let it pass us by, or do we move forward
and get it done in grand fashion, where we are pulling cars off the
road, enabling people to enjoy the public and mass transit
opportunities as a Nation and where we have state-of-the-art port
facilities so that we can ship our goods and so that we can enable
commerce to be given that muscle it needs, which is the American way?
Our grandparents knew about this. They handed us a better Nation.
Where are we in this moment? As stewards of today's given strategy and
policy, are we going to fail for the next generations? Or will they
look at us someday and say: they got it, they did it, they did it well,
and they did it with a sense of vision and planning and passion and
commitment, and they scored for us as a generation, and now, we will
build upon that success?
Mr. GARAMENDI. Si se pueda. Yes, we can.
Mr. TONKO. Yes, we can.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We can do it.
It is interesting that we spend a lot of time talking on the floor
here in the Chamber about government regulation and red tape and all of
that. In the GROW AMERICA Act, there are major reforms to speed up
projects, to move projects faster--to get the concrete poured, to get
the bridge built, to get the airport up and running.
Those reforms are very, very important. They, along with the overall
bill, are languishing for lack of a hearing, for lack of action. We
really have the opportunity to not only put the projects in place, but
to put them in place faster with the reforms that are called for in the
GROW AMERICA Act.
I was starting to talk about the TIGER programs. This is an
opportunity for our local county, city, State to put forward innovative
projects. For example, the systems that you were talking about, the
transit hubs, those can be proposed. They can be graded based upon
their utility, on their usefulness.
Those are then grant programs--public, local, State, together with
the Federal Government. This is a substantial increase. I know these
are very popular in California. We keep lining them up, but there
hasn't been sufficient money. In the GROW AMERICA Act, there is a
significant increase. Some $5 billion would be available for these
innovative transportation projects.
What is there not to like in this? It is fully paid for--interesting.
It is fully paid for in two ways--one, on the existing excise tax on
gasoline and diesel. It is not increased, but is still the same. Then
the balance--that is, the increase--is to be paid for by closing tax
loopholes on corporations.
It is interesting that today, as the President was talking about this
and also talking about closing tax loopholes on corporations that are
offshoring American jobs, The Wall Street Journal--that rather famous
and quite good newspaper--carried on its front page, ``The Race to Cut
Taxes Fuels Urge to Merge,'' a cute headline.
Then, in The New York Times, another headline on the very same
subject reads, ``Drug Firms Make Haste to Elude Taxes.''
So right here in these two national newspapers are examples of the
kinds of tax avoidance games that are being played by American
corporations to avoid paying their fair share of the American taxes.
The President, in the GROW AMERICA Act said stop it, stop these kinds
of tax loopholes, tax breaks, that American companies are taking to
avoid paying their share of the burden of transportation. He wants to
close these loopholes, and here are two that clearly ought to be closed
immediately.
Mr. TONKO. When you look at that strategy, Representative Garamendi,
you sense the fundamental fairness.
I look at projects like the efforts in New York where Governor Cuomo
is leading this effort to make certain that we invest in the rebuild of
the Tappan Zee Bridge. That takes traffic from the greater Metro New
York area, the New York City area, and moves it along into upstate New
York and into the Northeast area of our country--a major thoroughfare
with a huge price tag.
Now, if we partner with our States, that is helping those individual
States to endure, to provide for the resources needed to build these
major projects and to do them well. Otherwise, it falls upon the local
taxpayer and on State income taxes and what have you--or whatever the
State revenue supplies are--so that there is this partnership that is
strengthened when the Federal Government leads with a strong commitment
to infrastructure improvements.
Now, in looking at the safety, the stretch is miles long as we travel
from that metro area on the Tappan Zee Bridge into upstate New York. It
was in need of improvement for quite some time, and I applaud the
Governor for leading the effort now in putting it together, but, again,
the Federal partnership here is important.
For us to continue to ask middle-income America to pay the bill--they
are already saturated with these efforts. They know that they have been
stressed out.
What this measure does is provide fundamental fairness again. It is
not just about the projects done, the vision shared, the implementation
of a plan. It is about a revenue side that comes together in a
progressive fashion, in socially and economically just fashions, to
make certain that there is an equal sense of responsibility to bear in
terms of providing for the infrastructure improvements that we as a
Nation, as an American society, require.
Let's go forward and be the bold pioneers, if you will, of this
generation
[[Page H6289]]
and show people that we didn't miss the opportunity to invest in
America. This Nation, as great as she is, with this economy as strong
as it can be, requires assistance through our wonderful history, and
this is not a surprise. It should not be a surprise. We need to
constantly upgrade and improve and maintain our infrastructure.
Tonight, we have spent a lot of time, Representative Garamendi,
talking about projects and initiatives that can move us forward, but
there is also a commitment that needs to be made to the maintenance and
operational costs of these systems.
If we don't commit to that, it sooner or later catches up with us,
and then there are requirements for huge bond acts, or there are
various ways to come up with strategies, and when you come into moments
like this, you will have resistance from certain thinking,
philosophical approaches in government, and it makes the job all the
more difficult.
We know what needs to be done. We have been bolstered by our rich
history. We were at our best when we invested in America. Let's learn
from that. Let's seize the moment.
Let's go forward and commit to commerce, to safety, to the general
public--to the needs of the general public. Let's provide for that
strength of America, for that pioneer spirit that has always driven us.
I know I have talked about this so many times when I have been with
you on the floor, but the pioneer spirit was on display when we built
that Erie Canal. It was on display when those manufacturing towns built
their factories.
It was on display when so many of our ancestors as immigrants came
here and tethered their American Dream. They climbed that economic
ladder. They ascended with those opportunities to provide for their
families, for their children and grandchildren to go forward.
That is us. That is the synergy of this Nation. That is the passion
of the American public. We deny that when we deny the vision, the plan,
the investment, the policy, the initiative driven right on this floor
that ought to be bipartisan in nature. Make no mistake about it--
bipartisan in nature.
Let's move forward. Let's have that plan. Let's have that vision, and
let's commit to this future.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We certainly can do it. We certainly ought to do it.
Our predecessors have done it. There are 435 of us here in the House of
Representatives, and the question is: Are we willing to do it?
It can be done. This plan, GROW AMERICA, is fully paid for. Yes, some
corporations that are skipping out on their taxes would have to
participate, and they should. They ought not be tax dodgers.
This is a very interesting plan put forward by our colleague John
Delaney, a Representative from Maryland, that would take those profits
that these corporations have stored overseas--profits that they have
not paid taxes on in America--to repatriate, to bring that money back
to America.
His program would generate, over a period of 10 years, $720 billion
to be used in public-private partnerships to build our infrastructure.
There are many, many ideas about how this could be paid for. The
President has laid out a plan not to raise the gasoline and the diesel
tax, but rather to bring about some tax fairness, and corporations
would be required to pay their fair share--all of it good.
I suspect we have maybe another 5 minutes or so, but I want to bring
up one of our favorite subjects. I am going to put this up.
Here we are with the GROW AMERICA Act and all of the things that
could be done. This is back to Make It In America. I love this photo.
It is one of my favorites.
I know, often, you travel on the train from New York down to
Washington, D.C.--or back--right about now. This locomotive, which is
the most advanced electric locomotive in America, made in America, was
paid for by a Make It In America strategy.
Part of the transportation program--the American Recovery Act--back
in 2008 said that they put aside about $700-plus billion for Amtrak all
across the Nation to be used for improving the Amtrak system.
They said that that money would be used to build locomotives, and
they said 100 percent American-made. Siemens, a German company, said,
oh, $700 billion for locomotives made in America, we are a German
company, we can build those in America.
So in Sacramento, California, in the infrastructure program, Siemens
has built a 100 percent American-made locomotive, and it is going to be
operating very soon on the Northeast corridor.
This is a good thing. This is how we can rebuild the American middle
class. This is how we can create jobs, using our infrastructure
investments to build jobs in America.
It is a fundamental piece of our Make It In America strategy of
rebuilding our manufacturing sector where you do have good, solid
middle class jobs, where a family can earn a living without both
husband and wife having to work all the time or maybe two or three
jobs.
We are talking about the American Dream being restored, and the
infrastructure is a fundamental piece of that--not just because it
moves the economy, not just because it is foundational to economic
growth, but because it is American middle class jobs.
{time} 2000
It is the hardhats. It is the welder putting together the new
locomotive. It is the engineer designing the system. It is the
accountant. It is the secretary handling the paperwork. It is America
building each future.
The President has laid out a good plan. Is there some way better to
do it? Put your ideas on the table, my colleagues, put your ideas on
the table.
How can you do better than this GROW AMERICA Act? Let's get about
doing it. This is our future. This is America's opportunity, and it is
fully paid for, doesn't increase the deficit. In fact, it will grow the
economy and provide us with those middle class jobs.
I know, Mr. Tonko, you have been at this for your entire career, as
have I, and to be here in Congress, at this moment, when we had an
opportunity, we missed it today. We missed the opportunity today to
grow the American economy, and instead, we kicked the can down the
road. Better than nothing, but not good enough--nothing to be proud of.
Mr. Tonko, a few seconds--I don't know how much time we have.
Mr. TONKO. I believe we probably have about 5 minutes now. I think we
go to about 7 minutes after.
Look, I think what you point to--the gentleman from California is
absolutely right on. It is a ripple effect. It is not just the rail
tracks that are developed, the railways that are developed. It is not
just the highways and bridges. It is incorporating rail cars.
Now, here is a ripple effect. As we have grown the efficiency of the
system, now we are building, manufacturing rail cars, putting people to
work, alternatively-fueled vehicles that can enable us to continue in
that effort to reduce carbon emission and methane emission, making
certain that, again, we go through this whole process, coming out more
environmentally sound.
So, yes, today's vote was a big disappointment, in terms of what we
could have accomplished. It was that short term, get out of this
immediate challenge, and let's go forward.
There is not that vision. There is not that full indepth plan that is
required of us, and certainly, we fell short--far short of the mark
that should have brought us across the finish line and enabled us to
say, hey, we scored really well here, we put together a sound package.
This is about putting a strategy together that enables us to advance
all of these cutting-edge technologies that enable us to strengthen the
manufacturing base of America where these ripple effects reach us into
our communities.
You talk about the locomotives of today and the future that are
driven by the intellectual capacity of workers and researchers in this
country. I think back on the industrial heritage of Schenectady, New
York, that I represent here in the House.
The American Locomotive Company, ALCO, was producing tremendous cars
that enabled us to again have that richness of rail history.
[[Page H6290]]
Well, you know, all through our history, there have been those
decades and chapters that have inspired us because we met the task, we
came ready to deliver, and we were not going to let any force stop us.
That is the greatness of America. That is how we achieved. That is
how we climbed to our mountains, where people noticed America, where we
were that beacon of hope, where the best things came from this Nation.
Are we ready to settle for second best? Fifth best? I don't think so.
So let us move forward.
Other nations are investing in their infrastructure. You hear it all
the time, about rail systems in Europe and Asia. You hear about the
improvements that people have made with subway systems and the like.
We know that we have got the smarts to do it. We have got the
intellectual capacity to lead not only this Nation, but the world, and
as we go forward, let us be proud of the fact that we can come
together, make things happen, and have that long-term strategy, which
was just not here today for that vote. It was not here today for that
vote.
I will repeat myself. The Republican majority didn't have their votes
enough to pass the measure, so they obviously didn't believe in what
they were doing, and it is unfortunate. It was the only game in town.
It was the only plan placed on the table.
We need to do better than this, and we can. So our bright days of
tomorrow lie ahead of us, only if we are ready to muster up the
boldness to make it happen.
Representative Garamendi, to you to close.
Mr. GARAMENDI. It is time to close. We can build America. We can
build our infrastructure. The President has laid out a worthy plan,
comprehensive, and all of the elements of the infrastructure that we
must do. It is fully paid for. It is a good starting point.
Maybe there is a better way of doing it, but we cannot get it done
with short-term, kick the can down the road bills, such as was passed
today, but that is better than not doing anything.
This is the American future, and the question for all of us, 435: Why
did we come here? Did we come here just to pass the time, or did we
come here to really build America?
We are going to Make It In America. We are Americans, and we will
make it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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