[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 179 (Thursday, December 10, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1758-E1759]
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. GARRET GRAVES

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 3, 2015

  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, while I support the policy 
merits of this bill, I have strong concern about some of the funding 
mechanisms used to help pay for it. The concerns include provisions for 
drawdown and sale of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
(SPR), selling 66 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve in order to provide $6.2 billion in offsets over 10 
years.
  As is often the case, what we have accomplished here is nothing more 
than an unsustainable budget gimmick. As adjusted for inflation, the 
average price per barrel of oil currently stored in the SPR is $74. At 
a time when the global price of oil hovers at less than $40 a barrel, 
and as OPEC continues to produce and flood the global market at 
historic rates, with no end in sight, I simply do not see how we can 
budget the sale of SPR oil at $94 per barrel on average over the next 
10 years to total $6.2 billion in revenue. Our SPR was never intended 
as a budget gimmick, it is

[[Page E1759]]

about our energy and national security. Despite our record domestic 
production of crude oil, I believe it is irresponsible to use a vital 
national energy security asset as a budget gimmick.
  Besides the fact that the math simply doesn't add up, I 
philosophically oppose the increasing tendency of the federal 
government to reallocate money intended for one purpose to then fund 
unrelated policy initiatives. It is disingenuous and irresponsible. And 
in the case of the surface transportation bill funding mechanisms, this 
approach is symptomatic of a larger problem.
  The Highway Trust Fund was designed to be funded primarily through a 
user pays, user benefits model in the form of the federal gas tax. The 
increased fuel efficiency of vehicles, in conjunction with several 
policy and regulatory factors, has gradually eroded the gas tax's 
ability to keep pace with investment demands over time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is critical that we begin work now to modernize the 
funding formula for the Highway Trust Fund and return to a user pays 
model. The longer we turn a blind eye towards addressing the user fee 
model, which has not been adjusted since 1993, and continue to ignore 
the need to build a 21st century funding mechanism reflective of the 
technological advancements at our disposal, the more fearful I am of 
passing a sustainable, long term investment to address our nation's 
ailing infrastructure in the future.
  I applaud the chamber on its work to pass this 5-year bill, and I 
look forward to continuing work to ensure the next bill is more 
fiscally responsible, adhering to a paid for measure more closely 
aligned to a user pay, user benefit system.

                          ____________________