[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 176 (Monday, December 7, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 22, SURFACE TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION 
                         AND REFORM ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. JOHN C. CARNEY, JR.

                              of delaware

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 3, 2015

  Mr. CARNEY. Mr. Speaker, I submit this statement regarding House 
passage of Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. With 
many reservations and a sense of frustration, I will vote for this 
bill. I believe in the bill's core goals--investing in our 
infrastructure and providing stability to our transportation system. 
The legislation raises funding levels to meet the needs of our 
crumbling roads and bridges and avoids the short-term patches that have 
plagued the bill for years. I'm also glad it's the result of a 
bipartisan effort, and supports infrastructure projects and programs 
like the High Density Transit Program and the Export-Import Bank.
  That said, once again, Congress missed an opportunity. We had the 
chance to responsibly and sustainably fund our transportation system 
with real revenue sources. Instead, we cobbled together one-time 
funding sources that will put us right back where we are today when the 
bill expires: in the midst of a funding shortfall and a crisis. I had 
long advocated for funding our transportation bill by collecting taxes 
on corporate profits trapped overseas. This would be a step towards 
fixing our broken tax system and would discourage American companies 
from moving overseas. Doing so also would have provided a significant 
source of funding for the bill, and created the momentum to reform our 
international tax code. Instead, our tax code is still broken, and we 
no longer have the leverage of a must-pass transportation bill to fix 
it.
  Passage of this bill means we're better off than we were before. 
States and local transportation agencies have the certainty they need 
to map out the infrastructure improvement projects our nation sorely 
needs. And our public transit system will be strengthened. I remain 
committed to finding a more responsible way to fund these programs and 
to fixing our tax system.

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