[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 5562-5563]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             REAUTHORIZATION OF SURFACE TRANSPORTATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this week, the House will be considering 
the most important economic and environmental bill of this session. It 
is the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act.
  It has been fascinating to watch the broadest coalition in memory be 
assembled in support of this important legislation to rightsize our 
investment in America's transportation system. This coalition ranges 
from the Sierra Club to the chamber of commerce, from the bicyclists to 
the truckers, people who lay down asphalt to those who care about 
historic preservation, all are on record as supporting an investment 
that is rightsized for America's future.
  The number that has been identified by the administration from the 
Department of Transportation is on the order of magnitude of $375 
billion over the next 6 years. It does not appear, sadly, as though 
this House is going to be able to consider an appropriately sized piece 
of legislation to meet those needs. The bill that is coming forward is 
at $275 billion. Our colleagues in the Senate passed overwhelmingly a 
proposal for $318 billion.
  It is important not to fixate just on the amount of money, although 
that is not insignificant. What we want to do is make it so that it is 
appropriate for the needs that America has now.
  These are jobs that are not going to be outsourced to India or China. 
There are between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs that are created for each 
billion dollars of investment. And this is an investment that has a 
huge return beyond simply family-wage jobs. Each dollar that is 
invested back in our communities under this legislation will be 
investing in rebuilding America's crumbling bridges. It will be 
revitalizing streets. It will be enhancing the environment.
  The framework of these choices for American communities will inspire 
other private investment that will significantly enhance the Federal 
money.
  This legislation has a number of innovations that give more choices 
to States and localities.

                              {time}  0915

  One is a ``Small Starts'' project for transit that can be commuter 
rail, streetcar, or bus rapid transit to be able to allow communities 
to have more cost-effective, simple, direct investments that can 
revitalize neighborhoods. After all, most American cities were built up 
around streetcar and urban electric systems in the past.
  This will be the best bill in history for cycling, in no small 
measure due to the efforts of the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). There is a program for safe

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routes to schools so our children can bike and walk to school safely at 
a time when we are concerned about morbidly obese junior high students. 
The fact that most communities are finding fewer and fewer children can 
get to school safely on their own, these will be welcome additions 
indeed.
  This is the time for the House of Representatives to do its job. We 
need to send a clear signal that we support investing in America's 
transportation future. We need to make sure that we protect the basic 
framework of the ISTEA legislation so that it enhances the choices that 
communities have and provides incentives to properly plan it.
  It is important that we think of this as the beginning of the 
reauthorization for TEA-4 because this framework is going to provide a 
floor. It is going to provide direction not just for this next 6-year 
reauthorization but it will be the framework to launch what happens in 
the subsequent reauthorizations as well. We do not want to be 6 years 
from now in the place where we have an administration that is 
threatening to veto even a modestly sized piece of legislation for 
America's future.
  I urge my colleagues to support a motion to recommit this bill to 
establish the $318 billion threshold the same as the Senate. I look 
forward to a debate this week that will help move America's economic 
and environmental program forward.

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