[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 15, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN OPPOSITION TO H.R. 5021

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 15, 2015

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit the following 
statement I made last year on H.R. 5021:

       I am pleased that Congress is finally acting today, not 
     with a looming crisis, but one that is already upon us. This 
     is entirely predictable.
       I have been arguing for months that Congress needs to act 
     because the stopgap measure we did last Congress was designed 
     to create precisely this Congress at precisely this time.
       Sixty-two groups may have signed on a letter of support, 
     but they prefer us to act meaningfully for long-term funding. 
     They accept this because it is the only alternative to 
     shutting down activities this summer.
       My Republican friends are unwilling--not unable--but 
     unwilling to resolve the funding contradictions. Revenues 
     have failed to keep pace with the demands of an aging growing 
     Nation, making no change for 21 years, as our infrastructure 
     ages and falls apart, our Nation continues to grow and 
     transportation patterns change. It is guaranteed that we 
     should change as well.
       This Congress has refused to address its responsibilities. 
     The House Ways and Means Committee has not had a single 
     hearing on transportation finance. One of our most important 
     responsibilities, uniquely ours, one that is unlike so many 
     other items we deal with, it is possible to resolve. We 
     haven't had a hearing in the 43 months that the Republicans 
     have been in charge of Congress.
       Now, I understand there are conflicts within the Republican 
     Caucus. There are some that appear satisfied with locking us 
     into a slow, steady decline called for in the Republican 
     budget-- no new projects until October of 2015 and a 30 
     percent reduction over the next decade, at exactly the time 
     the Federal partnership should be enhanced, not reduced.
       There are others in the Republicans whose answer is to just 
     abandon ship, to give up on the Federal partnership, slash 
     the Federal gas tax, and abandon any hope of a national 
     transportation policy and partnership to help States with 
     projects that are multistate in nature or that need to be 
     done whether economic times are bad.
       That would be tragic and wrong to abandon the partnership 
     that has meant so much, but it is part of what is driving 
     some of our Republican Tea Party friends. Just because there 
     may not be a majority in the Republican ranks for either 
     approach does not mean that we should continue to dither.
       Because Republicans friends are unwilling or unable to 
     resolve this, we have frozen the Transportation Committee in 
     place. They don't have a bill. They are not going to have a 
     bill unless we resolve what the budget number is: increase, 
     continue the downward slide, or abandon it altogether.
       We will be no better off next May to resolve this question. 
     In fact, we will be worse off because we will be in the 
     middle of a Presidential campaign, with a new Congress, maybe 
     new committee lineups.
       We should reject this approach to hand off our 
     responsibilities. We should resolve the resource question, 
     and we should commit that this Congress is not going to 
     recess for August vacation, not going to recess to campaign 
     in October, until we have worked to give the American people 
     a transportation bill they need--deserve--to jump-start the 
     economy, create hundreds of thousands of family-wage jobs, 
     and strengthen communities and families across the Nation.
       American infrastructure used to be the best in the world 
     and a point of pride bringing Americans together. It is now a 
     source of embarrassment and deep concern as we fall further 
     and further behind global leaders.

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