[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 12, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2858-H2863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HIGHWAY TRUST FUND
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Hello, America. Do you know what is going to happen in
just a few days? In 7 legislative days, the United States highway trust
fund runs out of money--kaput, it is over--a fund established by
President Eisenhower in the 1950s, out of money.
What is the House of Representatives doing? What is your
Representative and your Senator doing? Well, I suspect debating the
Trans-Pacific Partnership--the TPA--when, in fact, this is the big jobs
issue.
The trade negotiations, you can debate it forever; but if you really
want to create jobs in America, pay attention to this, America. Pay
attention to the fact that the Federal highway trust fund expires in 7
legislative days. We have got work to do here; we have got a lot of
work to do, and it is not happening.
I am a Californian. I represent the State of California. We have a
pretty high opinion of ourselves in California, maybe deserved or not;
but what it means to us when the highway trust fund shuts down, what it
means is a lot of jobs. 73,572 jobs will be jeopardized at the end of
this month of May. We are looking at 5,692 active highway and transit
projects will stop, red light stop, don't go forward.
[[Page H2859]]
For California, in just 7 legislative days, a very, very important
thing happens--actually, far, far more important than the Trans-Pacific
Partnership or the trade promotion authority. This is where the big
jobs are in America. Building the infrastructure of America is how you
create jobs today and on into the future because you lay the foundation
for economic growth.
If you couple those transportation programs with another long,
longstanding American law, which is Buy America, Make It In America,
you not only create the foundation, but you also create immediate
manufacturing jobs of all kinds. From the bulldozers, to the tractors
and the backhoes, to the steel and the concrete, you buy it in America;
you build the infrastructure in America, and you create immediate jobs.
How many? Well, I think we all know Duke University. It is more than
a basketball school. It also happens to be one of the more thoughtful
research institutions in the United States. They produced a little book
that about 535 of the Representatives of the American people ought to
be reading.
This ought to be the bedtime reading for the Senators and the Members
of Congress: ``Infrastructure Investment Creates American Jobs,'' Duke
University Center on Globalization, Governance, and Competitiveness.
I am going to read just a few things here just to drive this point
home.
Old and broken transportation infrastructure makes the
United States less competitive than 15 of our major trading
partners and makes manufacturers less efficient in getting
goods to market.
You want to get goods to market, build the infrastructure.
Underinvestment costs the United States over 900,000 jobs,
including more than 97,000 American manufacturing jobs.
You want to Make It In America, build the infrastructure.
Maximizing American-made materials when rebuilding
infrastructure has the potential to create even more jobs.
Relying on American-made inputs can also mitigate safety
concerns related to large-scale outsourcing.
It is our Make It In America policy. It is the agenda that we have
been driving for the last 5 years here. Build the infrastructure, Buy
America, Make It In America.
Competitiveness, a lot of talk, everybody wants to talk about the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the TPA. You want to be competitive; you
build the American infrastructure--again, Duke University.
The United States boasts the world's largest stock of
transportation infrastructure as measured by combined
bridges, airports, seaports, and miles of road, rail,
pipeline, and inland waterways.
It is a very good start, foundation.
The United States is not well positioned compared to its
major trading partners in terms of quality of transportation
infrastructure. Global assessments of transportation
infrastructure place the United States in 16th place out of
144 nations.
You want to improve our competitiveness, you want to create jobs,
build the infrastructure.
{time} 2015
The quality of transportation infrastructure affects the United
States' competitiveness, point No. 6, and here is what we can do about
it.
Instead of the administration's spending all of its energy and all of
its time talking about how we are going to deal with international
trade that, in all likelihood, will create fewer jobs in America--so
much so that they have to put into that Trans-Pacific Partnership a
provision that would actually pay American workers who have lost their
jobs--why don't they talk about their own GROW AMERICA Act?
This is the Department of Transportation. This is the President's
program, the GROW AMERICA Act. It is, really, a good piece of
legislation. It is not yet introduced, unfortunately, but it calls for
$7.6 billion to fix our highway system--this is all annual--$6.8
billion to improve public transportation, $3.4 billion to strengthen
our rail systems--Amtrak and other kinds of rail systems--and $1
billion to accelerate our freight support system. If you really want to
do international trade, you really have to build the freight management
system in this Nation. It has got to go out, not just in, and you can't
do it with the antiquated freight systems that we have in the United
States. This is $476 billion over a 4-year period of time. It is a good
project--it is fully paid for--but we are not even talking about it
here.
We have got work to do. The purpose of this 1 hour, which will,
actually, be significantly less than an hour, is to say, ``Hello,
America. Wake up. Ask your Members of Congress: 'What are you doing
about transportation? What are you doing in 7 legislative days to fix
the transportation system? Are you paying attention? Are you paying
attention to your State? to your community that you represent? to the
jobs that you are going to see and the highway projects and the transit
projects? Are you paying attention?''' In 7 legislative days, at the
end of this month, the Federal highway trust fund terminates along with
the projects that are supported by it. It is a problem. It is our
problem. We need the courage to act, and we need to pay attention to
what is really important, which happens to be the transportation
infrastructure of this great Nation. We need to rebuild it.
Joining me this hour is the gentlewoman representing the Capital of
the United States, Washington, D.C., Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton,
the ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Delegate Norton, thank you for joining us tonight. I am looking
forward to your presentation.
Ms. NORTON. I want to thank my good friend from California because it
is you who have done a great service to the Nation's infrastructure and
transportation by taking out this hour virtually every week. Sometimes
it is a lonely hour, but I want you to know that some of us notice.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I am not lonely tonight with you. I am glad you have
joined us.
Ms. NORTON. I will say that the way in which you have persisted is
really a model for how Members get things done in this House, so I have
come down, first, to thank and honor you for what you have done.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you.
Ms. NORTON. I have to say, in listening to you, I simply can't figure
it out, as your one-man show alone should have been enough to get this
bill reauthorized. It is a very unusual way for one Member to take one
issue and just not let it rest. Our committee and this Congress owe you
a great debt of thanks particularly when you consider, Mr. Garamendi,
that you are talking about a bill that has strong bipartisan support in
a Congress that is not known for bipartisanship. So I thank you from
the bottom of my heart for what you have done.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you. Thank you for your leadership on the
Highways and Transit Subcommittee, because you are carrying the weight
of this particular piece of legislation.
Ms. NORTON. And it is weighing us down. I am afraid we are not
getting anywhere, but if we keep trying and if we keep following your
leadership and the leadership of Mr. Shuster on that side of the aisle
and of Mr. DeFazio on this side of the aisle, you couldn't have a
better partnership in this Congress. I can't believe we won't be able
to get something done, but May 31, my friend, looms, as you said in 7
days--or is it 6? The fact is that we are counting down, and there are
some of us coming on the floor with you each day to count down. I was
here on a 1-minute earlier today, and I think Members are beginning to
understand the obligation that they have to take on, the obligation
that you have taken on as a lonely Member for months now.
Mr. GARAMENDI. It has to be done. We absolutely have to do this with
your leadership on the subcommittee in trying to find a path to build
the infrastructure and in looking for ways to pay for it.
Actually, the administration in the GROW AMERICA Act found a way to
pay for it--with the earnings of American corporations that are
overseas. Bring those back; tax them; and we would have enough money,
together with the existing excise tax, to build our infrastructure over
the next 4 to 5 years, so we have got to do it.
Ms. NORTON. And that would give us a long-term bill. The
administration admits that it, too, is not the answer because, after
that, we still have to come up with a new way to pay for transportation
and infrastructure. You, yourself, talked about when this
[[Page H2860]]
all started, which was in the Eisenhower administration. We have gotten
so efficient now. I drive a hybrid car, which doesn't use much gas. So
we have got to be prepared to really think through an entirely new way
of funding transportation and infrastructure.
You mentioned the GROW AMERICA Act. I will be introducing that act
soon.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Good.
Ms. NORTON. The administration does want it introduced. Mr.
Garamendi, we need it, if for nothing else but as a marker. What are we
talking about? If nothing has been introduced, I am not sure the
American people will recognize just how far we have to go.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You have to lay down the marker. You laid down the
first proposal, and it is really good. I said 4 years. Actually, it is
a 6-year bill--$478 billion--and it covers all of the elements. All of
the elements are there. If somebody has got a better idea, we haven't
heard it.
I am delighted. When you introduce that bill, count me as one of the
coauthors of it, and I look forward to working with your leadership to
push it along.
Ms. NORTON. Oh, you would be the very first one given what you have
done on this floor, and I am glad you mentioned some parts of the bill
and its cost. Yes. Guess what? It costs money; it costs something to do
transportation and infrastructure; but the administration has had many
Members' support of bringing back untaxed funds abroad that want to
come back and of using it for something that everybody is for.
I understand that our ranking member, Mr. DeFazio, has written Mr.
Ryan of Ways and Means to ask for a joint hearing of our committee with
the Ways and Means Committee so that we can work together, and there
are rumors, because that is all we hear about of this bill these days,
that there may be one in June. You will notice that that is after May
31.
Mr. GARAMENDI. This is a major concern in that it seems as though the
most common thing that happens here in Congress is a game that we used
to play as children. It is called ``kick the can.'' You would get an
old No. 16 can, and you would kick it around the yard. We kick the can
down the road here so often instead of really gripping the issue and
saying, ``Okay. Let us do something that lays out a long-term, 6-year
plan where the States and the counties and the cities can actually
project projects and know that the funding is going to be there so they
can be efficient and effective and prioritize.'' Instead of doing that,
we just kind of kick the can down the road.
They are talking about a 6-month, until the end of September, with
the same level of funding. We are going to lose a lot of jobs, and the
opportunity to build the systems that we absolutely have to have in
order to grow our economy is not going to happen. I just go, ``Why
would we do that? We have a good model.''
I am looking forward to the introduction of the GROW AMERICA Act that
you are going to introduce. Tell us what is wrong with this. Tell us
where it doesn't meet the needs.
My Republican colleagues and Democratic colleagues, what is missing?
What improvements should there be? Tell us what it is. We will deal
with it.
The funding source, as you said, makes sense. American corporations--
Apple and others--have billions of dollars--almost $1 trillion--of
profits overseas that are not taxed. Bring it home. Use that to invest
in America. Bring the capital home so that you can put labor and
capital together, starting with infrastructure, and build this Nation.
Mr. Delaney, our colleague from Maryland, has a good proposal, a
bipartisan proposal, that does that.
Run with it, Congress. Run with it, Senate. Let's do something.
Ms. NORTON. Oh, you have made such an important point because you
say, if not this, what?
The Democrats--we on this side of the aisle--are willing to sit down
with you to come up with whatever bill we can compromise on. We just
have to be shown a bill. The reason I am going to introduce the GROW
AMERICA Act is so that we can begin there. Maybe they don't want that.
Okay. Let's bargain down from there, but we can't do nothing. We can't
go home and say, ``Well, we did nothing,'' and we certainly can't
simply wait for our friends on the other side of the aisle.
Now, I want my friend from California to know that representatives of
the states were in the House today and I went to say a few words to
them. They were in one of our committee rooms--a group that calls
itself the ``Big Seven.'' They were the leaders in the States. They
were the Governors, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the
National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors. They
were begging for this bill, so they had their own meeting here.
I think that it behooves us to ramp up the pressure, we who are on
the inside. When you see that those who represent the infrastructure we
are talking about are on the Hill, pleading, without an answer from
either side, well, our side is trying to answer; and because there is
so much bipartisanship, there is just no reason that we shouldn't be
sitting down and trying to figure this out.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We really must do that.
Yesterday, I was in the Central Valley--Modesto, California--for a
meeting, and I had to drive to San Francisco for a speech over
Interstate 580, the Altamont Pass, and it is so broken up. There is the
fast lane on the Altamont Pass, as you go up over the mountain, that
actually has about a 6-inch crack in the fast lane. As you drive down,
you are driving down on one side of the crack. You have one wheel on
one side and the other wheel on the other side of this crack, and you
say, ``Whoa, I hope I can make it through here.'' That is a major
transportation route with tens of thousands of cars traveling on it
every day. So the state of good repair? Not in California.
What does it mean? If we were to take the GROW AMERICA Act that you
are going to introduce, it would mean that, compared to this year,
2015, we would have $7.6 billion more across the Nation to repair the
highways in our Nation. The Altamont Pass, it is downright dangerous--I
was shocked--but they don't have any money to fix it. There would be
$7.6 billion for all of this Nation to do it.
Then the buses, the transit agency in San Francisco. I was parked in
San Francisco, waiting for a stoplight. A bus pulls up, and it had to
be a 1950 bus. It was rusted out, and I am sure the seats were torn
apart. All good credit to San Francisco for trying, but across the
Nation, it is the same way--here in Washington, D.C., with the transit
agencies, Amtrak.
By the way, Amtrak came to Congress. They wanted money--this is some
good news--and we actually passed an Amtrak bill out of the House of
Representatives a couple of months ago. Yet do you know what they
wanted to do? They wanted to get a waiver on the Buy America
provisions. They have to build, I think, 28 locomotives and train
sets--high-speed--and they didn't want to buy it in America. I am
going, no, no way. If we are going to spend American taxpayer money,
spend it on American-made equipment, on American jobs. Make It In
America. No way are you going to get out of that.
{time} 2030
I also want to talk about this, but you have got a bridge behind you.
Ms. NORTON. I do. You talked about the project in your district, and
that project with the crack in the road is emblematic of what is
happening in the United States.
Mr. Garamendi, they can't even start on that repair because that is a
major project. So another patch, as we call it, or short-term funding,
means that the backlog of major projects remains. You can't start what
America needs, which are major projects. If we could put them all here
in this Chamber, they would pile up to the ceiling. They simply have to
sit there with 6-month patches or even a 1-year patch. Yours is a major
Federal highway, and California can't do anything about it.
I went to such a highway in my own city, and that is why I brought
this poster. The Washington Post picked it up and says, ``Norton Uses
Bridge to Make a Point.'' It is interesting. Although this bridge also
has real defects, I was using it to make another point, that every form
of transportation depends upon this bridge in the
[[Page H2861]]
Nation's Capital: the intercity buses; the intracity buses; the street
car, if you are going to a major highway; the Metro--all of it comes to
a head there.
A point that you touched upon, which is seldom made here, is a point
I tried to make when I went to the H Street--or Hopscotch--Bridge, and
that is that the failure to rebuild that bridge is keeping a complete
overhaul of Union Station from occurring, not to mention a whole new
community that would be built over it, because they can't move on those
major economic development projects until the bridge is done, and it
will take 5 years to rebuild that bridge.
So you see, Mr. Garamendi, we are not just holding up obvious
infrastructure projects; we are holding up major economic development
projects that simply can't get started until the roads and bridges are
fixed.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, you couldn't be more accurate, and you certainly
did make the point. I was looking at the picture there. You have got
the Northeast corridor, the entire Amtrak system underneath that bridge
into Union Station, which I think is probably just to what I would say
stage left, and the rail system goes through there, and then the
highway system. I didn't realize that this is holding up the
reconstruction of Union Station.
Ms. NORTON. So that we can get high-speed rail. So you can't get
high-speed rail unless you dig down. You can't do that unless people
can get over this bridge. You talked about billions of dollars of
highway bridge and transit that is being held up. I don't even want to
begin to try to calculate how much economic development that depends
upon our fixing those major road projects is not getting done.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, also, the lives of our citizens. I don't have
the placards with me, but in previous presentations I have shown
pictures of the Interstate 5 bridge that collapsed in Washington State
near the Canadian border. It shut down commerce going north. You were
not going north on that bridge because it collapsed. And then there was
the bridge over the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities, in
Minneapolis. That bridge collapsed. I think five people lost their
lives there. This is an ongoing issue, one that we need to deal with.
The solution is at hand. The solution is at hand. Every community in
this Nation has a transportation issue of one sort. It might be a
transit, a bus, a train, or a bridge, or a highway, but we all have it.
I am going to make one more point, and this will be my last, and then
I will let you wrap it up. I am going to go back to what is the
discussion of the day here in Washington, the Trans-Pacific Partnership
and the TPA, the authorization of the fast track legislation. Ninety-
nine percent of our trade goes through the ports, and this is part of
the GROW AMERICA Act. It is part of the freight system. I don't think
this trade bill should pass, but should it become law, you have to have
the infrastructure that goes with it, and you cannot have a robust
trade program unless you have a well-built port system.
By the way, one of the things that is going to happen is, because of
our energy boom, the United States is creating an enormous amount of
natural gas. That natural gas is in the process of being transported,
shipped overseas in what is known as liquefied natural gas. You
supercool, you supercompress the natural gas; you put it into a tanker,
a big ship, and you transport it.
A new facility will go online in Louisiana, and it is called the
Cheniere facility at Sabine Pass. It will take 100 tankers, ships, to
handle the volume of that one export facility, and there are five
others that are in the permitting process. I am saying, Wait a minute,
that is a strategic national asset; that is part of our infrastructure.
Why don't we ship that strategic asset on American-built ships with
American sailors? If we passed a simple law here, which actually
replicates the North Slope oil law back in the 1960s, we could
replicate that and simply say: If we are going to export liquefied
natural gas, do it on American-built ships with American sailors. We
would build over the next two decades more than a hundred ships in
American shipyards with American-built equipment and Americans doing
the welding and building those ships, probably well over 100,000 jobs;
and the seamen, the merchant marine, they would be American.
It all fits together. It is part of our transportation
infrastructure. It is using our great national assets, improving them,
the transportation system, and then using those assets to create
American jobs. Buy America, make it in America, transport that natural
gas on American-built ships with American mariners, and take what will
be your legislation, the GROW AMERICA Act, and build the
infrastructure.
I am looking forward to the introduction of your legislation. I am
looking forward to your leadership in making this happen. We have got
to talk about this every single day until we wake up, until America
wakes up, and says: Wait a minute, guys, do something for our Nation;
build the foundation of economic growth.
Thank you so very much for joining us, Delegate. I will let you
close.
Ms. NORTON. Well, again, Mr. Garamendi, you have my thanks, and you
should have the thanks of this entire House. I am glad you closed with
the program you did--you talked about the ports--because in the GROW
AMERICA Act is a multimodal freight program. This is the first time it
has ever been in the transportation bill.
Now, you gave an example: multimodal, because we are trying to make
sure that rail and highway and port projects are coordinated together.
That is the efficient use of all modes of transportation together. Here
on the East Coast, The Panama Canal is coming and now you have every
single port trying to get that business, and you have the private
sector investing like mad in railroads because they want that business,
and the buses want that business.
The private sector, Mr. Garamendi, is doing its job, but you can't,
in fact, in the States do the ports and the freight all by yourself or
with the private sector alone. And so this bill, the GROW AMERICA Act,
brings it all together, gives us for the first time something that we
have had in ground transportation, multimodal, but we have not had it
in freight transportation so that those ports you are focusing on would
grow, and we grow them here, just as you said, buying American.
I thank you once again for all you have done.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank you so very much. I thank you for your
leadership. I am looking forward to the introduction of the bill and to
push that through. Whether we can do it in 7 days or not--we could. It
is possible. All the language is written. You will introduce it. The
way of paying for it is known. We have just got work to do.
I am just thinking about the greatness of this Nation and the
enormous potential that we have, and how we just let that slip away,
for lack of solid programs that really build this Nation. I think about
Eisenhower and what he did with the great highway system that we have,
the Interstate Highway System. There is much to be done. I look forward
to your leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I notice that our Republican colleagues have been
listening to our debate and have decided to come and take the next hour
and carry forth to Make It in America, build the infrastructure and the
foundation for economic growth. I look forward to hearing the
gentlemen.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Russell). The gentleman yields back the
balance of his time.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Do you have more you wish to say?
Ms. NORTON. Yes, I certainly do.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I thought we had completed, but I guess I am not
yielding back quite yet.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is recognized.
Ms. NORTON. Again, I thank the gentleman for the leadership he has
taken on not only this bill but on infrastructure in our country. I did
want to say a few more words because in these last 6 days we can't
leave words unsaid.
I want to say that what my chief frustration is--there is really no
serious thinking going on in this House about ways to replace the
highway trust fund except what is in the GROW AMERICA Act, and that, of
course, would be for one 6-year period. The reason I bring this up is
because I want
[[Page H2862]]
the American people to help us think about what has happened to the
highway trust fund. We have got to bring it together this time and grow
America with repatriated taxes that would otherwise not be there.
But let's think of why we have to do that. The efficiency that we now
have and we ought to be proud of that, but it means that that 1950s
approach, which worked so magically, is now entirely out of date, and
there have got to be other ways to fund transportation and
infrastructure. I was very frustrated that in the last bill, we call it
MAP-21, there were not even pilots to guide us, like the so-called VMT
miles driven that all of us, even those of us who are in hybrid cars,
those who therefore don't contribute as much on the present highway
fund, would play our part.
We need to sit around a table right here in the House and figure out
what to do in the long run because we didn't do that last July when
this bill was extended. There are even some people talking about, well,
it can go to July because it runs out in July. Yeah, it runs out in
July, and then look what happens. Treasury funds will have to be
transferred just to make sure that we keep level funding going, and
that level funding, meaning just base funding, will mean that no new
major projects will be started in the States because of what has come
to be called lack of certainty. I know of no major project that can be
finished in 6 months. If it takes you 2 or 3 years, leave alone the 5
years like my H St Bridge project I spoke about, then you don't start
it at all. So the money just lies fallow. It goes to no good major
need.
So who is to blame? They are going to look to us and say, What are
you doing? That is why we are coming on this floor. They are going to
look to us to stop doing the same thing over and over again and think
of something that we didn't do the last time. These short term patches
are what we did the last time.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, we have done it over and over again, and the
general talk around this building is that we are going to kick the can
down the road yet again, probably for another 6 months, just like we
extended the last one for 9 months. It is not the way to do it, and the
result is bad public policy and an inability to really build the
foundation for our economic future.
You mentioned the funding, the notion of a joint committee hearing
between the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the
Committee on Ways and Means to discuss the funding options that you
just described, and so we should talk about what the options are, and
then select the one that makes the most sense for this Nation's well-
being.
{time} 2045
We can do that. That is what we were hired to do and what the voters
put us here for.
Ms. NORTON. Meanwhile, as you indicated, GROW AMERICA would be a way
to do it for at least 6 years.
I went to speak with the various organizations representing the
States that were here today. I had my staff look at what the States are
doing. Frankly, I found the States in a desperate position. There are
States that have already done gas tax increases or reforms of their
own. You have got to be pretty desperate to raise your own tax and
leave ours where it was 20 years ago.
Iowa, Wyoming, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, the District of Columbia, South
Dakota, these State have nothing in common, except that they couldn't
continue to go on without funding.
Six States are making progress on trying to raise their own gas tax
in the absence of our doing something. Those States, in the same way,
don't have anything in common. When I say ``making progress,'' it
generally means one House has at least done it, and they are trying to
get the other House to raise the gas tax. They are Georgia, Michigan,
North Carolina, Utah, and Washington State.
Then there are another seven States which are considering changes
because they just can't wait any longer to get long-term projects
going: Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina,
and Vermont.
When I came into the meeting today, there was someone from the South
Dakota Department of Transportation speaking, and it was interesting
because they raised the gas tax in South Dakota, a very red State, and
it included an amendment also to raise the speed limit by 5 miles an
hour. I think that would make it something like 80 miles an hour out
there.
He said--and he just laughed at this--that, although they had raised
the gas tax on the residents in the legislature, nobody talked about
anything except the increase the speed limit. That is how little the
notion that you shouldn't raise your gas tax had become in a State like
South Dakota.
The States are way ahead of us and looking to us for leadership.
These 6-month increments are the exact opposite of leadership--
delaying, as I indicated before, Mr. Garamendi, billions of dollars of
other infrastructure that the Federal Government wouldn't have to pay
for often, that can't get done, like a road or a bridge. That is why I
went to such an example in my own district.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to submit for the Record a list
of the top five critical infrastructure projects in my own district,
the Nation's Capital. The National Capital Region Transportation
Planning Board has also written to this region's bipartisan delegation,
and I would like to have its resolution also included in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia?
There was no objection.
Top Five Critical Infrastructure Projects in the District of Columbia
Stalled Until There Is a Long-Term Surface Transportation
Reauthorization
1. Rehab of 14th St NW, Thomas Circle to FL Ave.
2. Safety & Geometric Improvements to I-295/DC295
3. 11th St. SE Bridge (various components)
4. Improved Signal System and Communication Network
5. Intersection of PA Ave. and Potomac Ave. SE
National Capital Region,
Transportation Planning Board,
April 27, 2015.
Hon. James Inhofe,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington DC.
Hon. Barbara Boxer,
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Environment and Public
Works, Washington DC
Hon. Bill Shuster,
Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, Washington DC.
Hon. Peter DeFazio,
Ranking Member, House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, Washington DC.
Dear Chairmen Inhofe and Shuster, and Ranking Members Boxer
and DeFazio: On behalf of the National Capital Region
Transportation Planning Board (TPB) at the Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), I transmit the
attached board resolution and policy principles for the
reauthorization of the federal transportation programs.
Our policy principles represent a common-sense approach to
reauthorization. We urge Congress to enact legislation that
will fund priority needs and promote effective planning and
project development.
As we face the expiration of MAP-21, this moment offers an
opportunity to demonstrate that our nation is still capable
of taking care of its most basic needs as we plan for future
generations. We urge Congress to act decisively and
comprehensively.
Sincerely yours,
Phil Mendelson,
Chairman.
____
National Capital Region Congressional Delegation
The Honorable Ben Cardin, United States Senate, Maryland.
The Honorable Barbara Mikulski, United States Senate,
Maryland.
The Honorable Don Beyer, United States House of
Representatives, 8th District, Virginia.
The Honorable Barbara Comstock, United States House of
Representatives, 10th District, Virginia.
The Honorable Gerald Connolly, United States House of
Representatives, 11th District, Virginia.
The Honorable Robert Wittman, United States House of
Representatives, 1st District, Virginia.
The Honorable Tim Kaine, United States Senate, Virginia.
The Honorable Mark Warner, United States Senate, Virginia.
The Honorable John Delaney, United States House of
Representatives, 6th District, Maryland.
The Honorable Donna Edwards, United States House of
Representatives, 4th District, Maryland.
[[Page H2863]]
The Honorable Steny Hoyer, United States House of
Representatives, 5th District, Maryland.
The Honorable Christopher Van Hollen, United States House
of Representatives, 8th District, Maryland.
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, United States House of
Representatives, District of Columbia.
National Capital Region,
Transportation Planning Board,
Washington, DC, April 15, 2015.
Resolution To Approve Policy Principles for the 2015 Reauthorization of
Federal Surface Transportation Programs
Whereas, the National Capital Region Transportation
Planning Board (TPB), which is the metropolitan planning
organization (MPO) for the Washington Region, has the
responsibility under provisions of the Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) for developing and
carrying out a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive
transportation planning process for the Metropolitan Area;
and
Whereas, since 2000 the TPB has been calling attention to
the region's long-term transportation funding shortfall, and
has documented its unmet preservation, rehabilitation and
capacity expansion needs for the region's highway and transit
systems; and
Whereas, federal funding for transportation infrastructure
plays a significant role in the National Capital Region;
projects such as the interstate system and the Metro system
could never have been built without the leadership, long-
standing commitment, and financial support of the federal
government; and
Whereas, the Washington region continues to face the
challenges of accommodating growth in people and employment,
more pervasive congestion on highways and transit systems,
and delays in completing critical rehabilitation needs and
key expansion projects; and
Whereas, MAP-21 was enacted on July 6, 2012 as a two-year
bill, and was extended on August 8, 2014 through May 31,
2015, which was the ninth time in the last decade that
Congress has enacted a short-term extension of the federal
highway and transit programs.
Whereas, it is anticipated that Congress will likely again
enact a short-term extension prior to the May 31st expiration
of MAP-21, but the need for sustained and long-term federal
funding could remain unaddressed; and
Whereas, the lack of predictability in federal funding
programs has undermined the ability of state and local
implementing agencies to effectively plan and build
transportation facilities that are vital to meet the
challenges of the future; and
Whereas, the lack of sustained and adequate federal funding
for transportation undermines economic growth in our region
and across the nation and hinders our global competitiveness;
and
Whereas, both Maryland and Virginia took historic steps in
2013 to address their transportation funding shortfalls by
raising new revenues, and the District of Columbia took
similar steps five years ago, but nonetheless, the inadequacy
of sustainable federal funding remains a critical concern;
and
Whereas, the TPB has regularly communicated its positions
regarding federal transportation legislation to Congress,
including policy principles in 2002 and 2008, and a letter on
May 21, 2014 calling upon Congress to protect the Highway
Trust Fund from insolvency; and
Whereas, at the November 19, 2014 meeting, the TPB directed
staff to develop a set of policy principles for the
reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program
that the Board might communicate to the U.S. Congress; and
Whereas, on April 3, 2015, the TPB Technical Committee
received a briefing and commented on draft proposed policy
principles: Now,therefore, be it
Resolved that the National Capital Region Transportation
Planning Board approves the attached 2015 Policy Principles
for the Reauthorization of Federal Surface Transportation
Programs'' and further, be it
Resolved that the National Capital Region Transportation
Planning Board calls on the United States Congress to
reauthorize an enhanced federal surface transportation
program for a full six-year period, consistent with the
attached Policy Principles.
____
National Capital Region
Transportation Planning Board,
April 15, 2015.
2015 Policy Principles for the Reauthorization of Federal Surface
Transportation Programs
The federal government has an historic interest in
transportation. The benefits of federal investment in a
balanced, multimodal transportation system have long been
recognized as critical to our national interest, promoting
economic growth and providing access to opportunities for all
individuals. In addition, the federal government has a unique
obligation to support interstate commerce and to meet
critical emergency and security requirements, and thus should
provide an equitable contribution towards the cost of
maintaining, operating and building our transportation
infrastructure.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board
supports the following policy principles as a common-sense
approach for reauthorization of the federal surface
transportation programs.
1. Increase Federal Transportation Funding
A substantial increase in federal surface transportation
funding levels is needed to address the current under-
investment in the maintenance, operations and expansion of
the nation's transportation system.
All reasonable and predictable strategies for sustained
long-term funding should be pursued, including:
Increases in federal fuel taxes or other user-based taxes
and fees;
Indexing fuel taxes and user fees to inflation so as to
maintain the buying power of transportation funds;
Implementing pricing strategies enabled by emerging
technology for all modes of travel, including rates that vary
by time of day, type of vehicle, level of emissions, and
specific infrastructure segments used;
Incentivizing federal support and coordination of
innovative financing techniques, including public/private
partnerships;
Utilizing savings from tax reform legislation; and
Creation of national infrastructure banks or bonding
programs.
2. Fund Priority Needs
An explicit program focus, with enhanced funding, is needed
to put and keep the nation's transportation infrastructure in
a state of good repair.
Federal transportation policy should provide for increased
federal funding focused on metropolitan congestion and other
metropolitan transportation challenges, with stronger
partnerships between federal, state, regional and local
transportation officials.
The federal commitment to balanced multi-modal
transportation systems must be reaffirmed including by
restoring parity between the transit commuter benefit and the
parking commuter benefit. As communities seek to reduce
dependency on driving and serve non-drivers, alternatives
must be developed and supported. In particular, federal
funding for public transit and safe pedestrian and bicycle
infrastructure should be enhanced.
3. Promote Effective Planning and Project Development
More timely, detailed, and flexible requirements to comply
with MAP-21's mandate for performance based planning and
programming should be promulgated. Adequate and timely
federal support, including funding, should be provided to the
states and metropolitan areas to adopt and implement the
program requirements.
The current set of performance measures outlined in MAP-21
should be allowed time to take effect and be evaluated before
enhancements are considered.
Streamlining federal planning and environmental review
processes, outlined in MAP-21, that are aimed at ensuring
timely delivery of transportation projects, should be
supported.
Given the critical role of goods movement in our economy
and the demands of freight on our infrastructure, a national
freight program should be a key component of a long-term
reauthorization act.
Ms. NORTON. I want to emphasize, as we approach the end, how little
of a partisan problem we are talking about this evening. Republican
Governors have signed the laws that I have referred to.
The committee--Mr. Garamendi will remember this--had Republican
Governors, State department of transportation executives, cities,
counties, regional councils, and the rest before us, and the notion of
devolution came up.
This hearing was interesting because when devolution has come up, and
devolution simply means that if States are raising their gas tax. Well,
let's stop doing a Federal highway or surface transportation bill.
These States are raising their gas tax, and they are waiting for us
to raise ours so that the partnership that is represented by State gas
taxes and Federal gas taxes will remain whole until we find some other
way to do this.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________