[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H2882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRANSPORTATION FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as the clock ticks down, May 31--18 
calendar days and 6 legislative days away--is the expiration of the 
latest of now 24 short-term extensions that are testimony to Congress' 
inability to face up to America's transportation challenges.
  As I predicted last summer, States around the country are now cutting 
back on their summer construction projects because Congress has not met 
its responsibility for the transportation partnership.
  Why is it that five States have been able to raise the gas tax this 
year, 19 States have raised transportation revenues in the previous 2 
years, and we in Congress are confused and in disarray? We have to 
think of elaborate mechanisms to enact short-term patches and not give 
America the certainty of a big, bold 6-year transportation 
reauthorization the country needs.
  Maybe it is because we never listened to the strong voices with real 
experience about those needs. It is past time to have that broad 
perspective.
  Maybe if we had 2 days of honest-to-goodness hearings like 
legislative bodies do in the States, like we used to do in Congress, it 
wouldn't be so hard.
  What if we invited Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, and 
Tom Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber, who don't usually agree 
on much of anything, but do on this? Or, former Kansas Governor Bill 
Graves, who is not just president of the American Trucking Associations 
but was a Republican Governor who raised the gas tax not once, but 
twice.
  What if we invited former Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Schwarzenegger, 
and former Governor Ed Rendell? What if we brought in the head of 
American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Dr. Pete Ruane? 
The electrical contractors are in town this week. They could tell us. I 
have got a great constituent, Ted Aadland, who used to be chair of AGC.
  There are countless people, government leaders, and legislative 
leaders who have stepped up and met their responsibility, all expecting 
that Congress would do its part.
  These experts, leaders, and politicians know what the problem is. 
They fashion solutions. And they are willing to give the politicians in 
Congress cover to do something that appears hard only in the abstract.
  There is broad consensus for the same solution that was advocated by 
Ronald Reagan, who in 1982 raised the gas tax. Or, Dwight Eisenhower, 
who helped establish the gas tax for the modern transportation system. 
It is hard only because we don't do our job.
  The leaders who say the gas tax is off the table never explained why 
it is off the table and, more important, have not allowed the experts 
and advocates from around the country to come and make the case.
  Republicans took control 55 months ago, and we have not had a single 
hearing on transportation finance before the Ways and Means Committee. 
Not one hearing. Maybe if the Ways and Means Committee would do its 
job, not with a carefully scripted, selected couple of witnesses that 
reaffirm somebody's biases, but the people who actually head the 
organizations that do this work, that understand the need, that have 
helped States around the country meet their responsibilities, maybe we 
could act. I suspect after 2 full days of hearings, the American public 
and the rest of Congress would get the message.
  It doesn't have to be this hard. Show some courage, show some vision, 
show some action. Maybe then we won't have a 25th short-term extension. 
What country became great building its infrastructure 9 months at a 
time? Maybe we could finally enact a 6-year robust reauthorization that 
would solve this problem for the current administration and the next 
and put hundreds of thousands of people to work at family wage jobs.
  Let's end this hopeless charade that somehow it is too hard for 
Congress to do what happens in New Hampshire, South Dakota, Georgia, 
Wyoming, Utah, and Iowa. Let's get a grip, people, and do our job and 
listen to the experts.
  No more evasion, gimmicks, and short-term extensions. Raise the gas 
tax, put those hundreds of thousands of people to work rebuilding and 
renewing America. Make our families safer, healthier, and more 
economically secure.

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