[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H6979-H6980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SENATE TRANSPORTATION BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as early as this afternoon, the Senate 
debates transportation funding. It is not just about the money to stop 
the summer slowdown that is impacting projects and jobs all across 
America because we have not adequately funded our transportation needs. 
It is an opportunity to focus our response to the larger infrastructure 
crisis which is no longer just looming but is upon us.
  America is literally falling apart. The American Society for Civil 
Engineers has famously rated our transportation with a D-plus, with an 
overall dismal scorecard for other infrastructure categories.
  We can no longer afford to maintain our existing system in a state of 
good

[[Page H6980]]

repair. Eleven percent of our bridges are obsolete or functionally 
deficient. Ongoing operations, to say nothing of strategic new 
investments, are increasingly difficult.
  This is sad because the Federal Government used to play an essential 
role for infrastructure throughout our history, from Benjamin 
Franklin's postal roads to Abraham Lincoln's transcontinental railroad 
to Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway system. The ability to even 
imagine such accomplishments is increasingly a thing of the past. This 
means we are losing our competitive edge to be able to move goods 
efficiently. Our families are losing mobility.
  Our low level of investment is being dwarfed by competitors overseas: 
Europe, India, Japan, and especially China.
  Shanghai has 14 subway lines, a high-speed Maglev railway, two 
massive modern airports, 20 expressways, and a high-speed train leaving 
Shanghai every 3 minutes. China has spent 8\1/2\ percent of its gross 
domestic product for 20 years, while American investment has shrunk to 
1.7 percent recently for a system that is variously rated 12th or 27th, 
depending on what you are looking at.
  Is it any wonder that China's economy has expanded 700 percent in 20 
years while America struggles to grow at 2 percent a year?
  With such an overwhelming, well-established need, it is criminal that 
Congress is in the process of making a decision that will probably 
delay any meaningful opportunity to correct this situation in 
transportation funding for 3 years or longer.
  Yes, it is essential that a financial transfer take place to the 
highway trust fund to stop the summer slowdown and give Congress a 
chance to work, but hopefully, only with enough money to work through 
this year. The Senate may well appropriate enough money, as the House 
did a couple of weeks ago, to slide into the next Congress with new 
committees, new leadership, perhaps, in the Senate. The situation will 
get no easier, no less complex, and no less expensive if this Congress 
abandons its responsibility.
  This is a continuation of an unfortunate pattern since 2003, where a 
series of ever-shorter solutions and 21 temporary extensions have 
created near permanent uncertainty for communities who rely on the 
Federal partnership for the big picture, major repair, and new 
construction of roads, transit, and bridges.
  The people who build, maintain, and depend on our transportation 
infrastructure are in the dark where they stand now, where they will be 
in 6 months, where they will be 2 years from now. It is absolutely 
unacceptable.
  I will fight for this Congress to get on with its job now. If it 
means we have to work in October instead of campaigning, so be it. If 
it means we have to come back after the election and work into the 
holidays, we should do so. Congress should not recess for vacation, for 
campaigning, or adjourn for the year unless it has met its 
responsibilities for a long overdue, 6-year, robust transportation bill 
provided with enough sustainable, dedicated funding to stop this 
chronic uncertainty.
  The Senate will be debating limiting funding for this year or sliding 
into next. They will even debate Senator Lee's proposal to slash the 
Federal partnership and turn it back to the States as an unfunded 
mandate, eliminating the gas tax and, with it, any thoughtful, overall 
Federal transportation system.
  These are the choices that really need to be drug out into the light. 
They need to be talked about in the open to find out what the public 
thinks, and then we make a decision, let them know, and move on. 
America deserves no less.

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