[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 24, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4558-S4559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
Mr. REID. Mr. President, our great country faces yet another
manufactured crisis. In just a few weeks from now, the end of July--and
that is coming quickly--on July 31, the authority for the recent
extension of the highway trust fund will expire. The U.S. Department of
Transportation will not be able to make payments to our States for
highways, bridges, railways. All transportation agencies will likely
postpone or cancel roadwork during the busy summer construction season.
Why? Because they have no money. They know the highway Surface
Transportation Program has been stymied as a result of 33 short-term
extensions forced upon us by the Republicans in the Senate--33. How can
these agencies plan ahead? They can't.
Before this crisis becomes full-blown, Democrats want to work with
Republicans on a long-term reauthorization of the highway program. I
know there are Members of the majority who want to do something about
this.
The Presiding Officer has a plan to take care of highways. Is it a
perfect plan? Of course it is not perfect, but it sure is a good step
forward to do something about this program, something that is long
term.
This crisis is about jobs, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of
high-paying construction jobs throughout the country. That is why we
challenged the Republican leader to move forward with a robust, long-
term surface transportation bill ahead of that deadline.
I am pleased Republicans have joined with Democrats to schedule a
markup--in fact, it is going on right now in the Environment and Public
Works Committee--on a 6-year surface transportation bill. This, of
course, is an authorization only, but what terrific work done by
Senators Boxer and Inhofe. They are an unmatched pair usually in all
issues that come before this body, but on this legislation they are a
matched pair. I admire and appreciate what they are going to mark up in
just a few minutes. It is an authorization but a big step forward.
But next comes the need for funding what they authorize and maybe a
little more. Their legislation will modernize our Nation's crumbling
infrastructure. The bill the EPW Committee will consider is $275
billion. That includes modest increases of funding over the next 6
years. But modest increases, while important, will not allow us to make
the investments our transportation system really needs. Every day we
learn of new examples about the state of disrepair of our roads,
bridges, our highways, and of course our transit systems.
The highway trust fund is no longer sufficient to fund the
investments we so desperately need to rebuild them. Why? Because
people's habits have changed. Vehicles have changed. People don't
drive--every car they have is not a gas guzzler. We have a lot of
electric cars. We have cars that run sometimes on gasoline, sometimes
on electricity. We have cars that run on gasoline all the time, but
they don't burn much gasoline.
So the trust fund, which was set to take care of all the road needs
we have, surface transportation needs--we simply don't have the
resources anymore, so we have to look for other resources because, I
repeat, the highway trust fund is no longer sufficient to fund these
investments we so desperately need to rebuild them. We know this
because over the past few years Congress has transferred billions of
dollars to make up the shortfall in the trust fund revenues.
Today, it is important to thank again Senators Inhofe and Boxer for
[[Page S4559]]
their leadership in marking up this bill.
I hope the new chairmen of the Banking, Commerce, and Finance
Committees will demonstrate the same sense of urgency and schedule
markups for their portion of the surface transportation legislation.
Despite the common knowledge about the expiration of surface
transportation funding, Republicans have delayed the important work of
writing a bipartisan bill for far too long.
Our good citizens don't deserve another exercise in crisis management
like we are seeing this week in the Export-Import Bank. Democrats have
laid out a clear timetable and process for bipartisan negotiations. A
long-term, robust bill can pass before the August recess.
To recap, we requested a number of things, but let me mention a few
of them: hearings in each of the authorizing committees by June 23--we
know how that has already passed--bipartisan markups in all authorizing
committees by July 10 that include robust increases for highways,
transit, passenger rail, and of course all kinds of new safety programs
and maintain those we have; and basically a long-term bill on the
Senate floor by July 20.
If the Republican leader continues to avoid conducting business on
Fridays, we have only 15 session days in the month of July; that is, 15
days to address our country's major surface transportation needs and
help our struggling economy by providing lots and lots of jobs. The
clock is ticking.
At a hearing on the funding gap last week, Senator Hatch said: ``As
chairman of the [Finance] committee, I intend to solve this problem.''
Well, I appreciate that very much. I am taking him at his word.
Senate Democrats are ready to work with Republicans to grow, not cut,
our transportation funding. But I say to my friend the senior Senator
from Utah, please, please do something that is more than another short-
term extension. We need a 6-year bill. Every State in the Union needs
that. We have had them in the past, but now the Republicans, learning
how to filibuster--they have stopped, basically, everything we have
tried to do in this regard.
We cannot--I say to my friend from Utah--we cannot have another
extension. I repeat, this would be the 34th short-term extension.
Enough is enough. We need to move forward with a plan that funds our
Nation's infrastructure, supports jobs, and grows our economy, creating
hundreds of thousands of jobs. Americans rely on a strong
transportation system to travel. They do this to commute and also, of
course, to move goods across the country.
This program was the brainchild of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the
President of the United States, when he called upon his experience as a
young military officer in trying to bring military equipment and men
across the country. It was very difficult. As a young military officer
he said: Someday, if I have any ability to change this, I will--and he
did. The National Highway System is Eisenhower's highway system. This
is not a program that was developed by anyone other than Dwight
Eisenhower.
So temporary funding for the highway trust fund leads only to
uncertainty, slowing construction, and of course hurting economic
development in every State of our Nation. The Republican leadership
should act now to avoid this looming deadline and support long-term
investment into our Nation's crumbling infrastructure.
Mr. President, I see no one on the floor so I would ask what the
business of the day is.
____________________