[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 165 (Thursday, November 5, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1608-E1609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HIRE MORE HEROES ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 4, 2015

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 22) to amend 
     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt employees with 
     health coverage under TRICARE or the Veterans Administration 
     from being taken into account for purposes of determining the 
     employers to which the employer mandate applies under the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the Lipinski-Nadler-Dold 
Amendment to restore the ability of state and local agencies to use 
various transportation programs for transit projects.
  Under current law, highway and transit projects can receive up to 80% 
in federal funding. When it comes to transit Capital Investment Grants 
(also known as New Starts and Small Starts), it has become common 
practice for transit agencies to receive less than 80% from that 
account. Agencies often receive closer to 50%, in part because New 
Starts is funded through general revenue in the appropriations bill, 
funding is stretched thin, and agencies ``overmatch'' to submit more 
competitive applications.
  Transit agencies are currently able to use CMAQ, STP, and TIFIA, to 
help fill the gap between whatever they receive in transit New

[[Page E1609]]

Start funding and the 80% federal funding allowed under the law.
  H.R. 3763 does two things that harm New Starts projects. It codifies 
a reduction in the transit New Start federal share to 50%, and it 
prohibits the use of other federal transportation dollars to fill the 
gap.
  Nothing in the bill reduces the amount these states and localities 
will receive, so this provision does not reduce the cost of the bill, 
or shift funding from one state to another. It simply ties the hands of 
local agencies and makes it harder, and potentially more expensive, to 
complete transit projects.
  The amendment we are offering today will restore the ability of local 
agencies to use CMAQ and TIFIA funding for New Starts. The amendment 
will also restore an 80% federal share for Small Starts and Core 
Capacity projects, which can continue to use CMAQ, STP and TIFIA 
funding toward project costs.
  This amendment is a compromise that is the result of Chairman 
Shuster's commitment to work with us after we raised it during markup 
in committee. Under this compromise, New Starts remain at 50%, and will 
not be able to use STP funds. We still object to these restrictions, 
but the use of CMAQ and TIFIA to fill the gap is restored. We will 
continue to fight in conference to restore STP funding for New Starts, 
and to ensure that highway and transit projects are treated equally.
  I thank the Chairman for working with us on this compromise, and for 
agreeing to correct at least part of the problem. I urge all of my 
colleagues to support the amendment, and to join with us in continuing 
to address this issue in the final product enacted into law.

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