[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H3403]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PASS A LONG-TERM PLAN TO FIX OUR NATION'S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York asked and was given permission 
to address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, the House voted 
yesterday to approve a 2-month extension of the highway trust fund. I 
am pleased we were able to pass a short-term fix, but it is time to 
stop kicking the can down the road.
  I urge my colleagues to use the next 60 days to come up with a long-
term plan to invest in our Nation's transportation infrastructure, a 
plan that will create jobs, strengthen American competitiveness, and 
lay the groundwork for future economic growth.
  I asked the Joint Economic Committee staff to analyze the costs of 
U.S. underinvestment in infrastructure, and this map tells an important 
part of the story.
  Across the country, one in four bridges are structurally deficient or 
functionally obsolete. That is scary, and it is a matter of public 
safety. Americans are taking tens of millions of trips every day over 
bridges that are in need of repair.
  As you can see on the map, in some States, over one-third of the 
bridges are failing. Here in the Nation's Capital, 70 percent of our 
bridges are failing. We should fix our crumbling infrastructure as a 
matter of public safety and as a matter of national pride.
  To see how your State is doing, you can download the map and the raw 
data behind it from the JEC, jec.senate.gov.
  I urge my colleagues to support infrastructure. It is time to move 
beyond a 2-month extension and, instead, work on a long-term solution 
to this critical and important and economic development challenge.

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