[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11412-11415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 3550, TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A 
                            LEGACY FOR USERS

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take 
from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 3550) to authorize funds for 
Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, 
and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to 
the Senate amendment and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Is there objection to the request 
of the gentleman from Alaska?
  There was no objection.


               Motion To Instruct Offered By Mr. Oberstar

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Oberstar moves that the managers on the part of the 
     House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two 
     Houses on the bill (H.R. 3550) to authorize funds for 
     Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit 
     programs, and for other purposes, be instructed to insist on 
     the language contained in section 1101(a)(21)(A) and section 
     1120(a) of the House bill that establishes and provides 
     funding for a safe routes to school program for the benefit 
     of children in primary and middle schools.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule XXII, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) each 
will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted we have reached this point. I know that 
the point of going to conference and appointing conferees, I know that 
the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. 
Young) would, as I, have liked to have had this bill on the House floor 
last fall; and I think we could have. We could well have had this bill 
enacted by now, and we could well have been on our way to creating 
475,000 new jobs and $80 billion in total economic activity if the 
committee had been allowed to work its will, as we did in committee. 
However, other forces intervened; and this is legislative process.
  We are where we are now, thank heavens; and we will be able to move 
ahead and I hope to reach the outcome that we all desire of getting a 
robust investment in transportation through conference, through the 
House and the other body and to the President for signature.
  I pledge, as I have done from the outset of this process and 
demonstrated, that we will bend every constructive effort toward that 
purpose on our side, working in concert with the chair and the 
majority.
  I look forward to a good conference. We have a very good contingent 
on our side as on the Republican side, and I know that we are all 
committed together, constructively working to achieve the purpose of a 
major investment in transportation over the next 6 years.
  The motion that I offer instructs the conferees to insist on the 
innovative Safe Routes to School Program included in the House-passed 
bill. Innovation but one that has been widely tested, is enormously 
popular and powerfully supported in more than 26 States across the 
country since the two pilot projects were undertaken in Marin County, 
California, and in Arlington, Massachusetts. In Marin County, basically 
a bicycling to school project and in Arlington, Massachusetts, 
principally pedestrian activity.
  In Safe Routes to School, California, the nine participating 
elementary schools in the Marin County region that joined in this pilot 
program went from 2 percent of children walking and bicycling to school 
to 54 percent today.
  This is an enormous vote of support for a healthy life-style, and it 
is this quality-of-life issue that is a driving force as we move ahead 
with this transportation bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize this motion to recommit is one I support. It 
is a motion that will I think make the bill's purposes be specifically 
spelled out. And I would suggest that what the gentleman, the ranking 
member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) said, this is a 
working instrument, bipartisan, by all Members of both sides of the 
aisle who have worked very long and hard to arrive at a decision and 
passed a bill which we believe is a very good piece of legislation.
  But we requested going to conference. It is because of the 
differences, as usual, between the Senate and the House, as it should 
be. It is my hope, with the cooperation we have had in the past, we 
will be able to talk to the Senate and convince them that we are in the 
right position at the right time.
  I will say, everybody knows where we came from, to begin with, it is 
a considerable amount of more money than passed the House. The Senate 
does have more money in the bill, and it is now our job to try to reach 
a decision to do what is best for this great Nation of ours in our 
infrastructure.
  I have to stress that, and infrastructure is the key to our economy. 
Infrastructure is what makes all other things work in this legislative 
body. Without good transportation, we are unable to provide the monies 
for Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, border patrol, Social 
Security, all those good things we talked about. The only thing that 
drives that is infrastructure that makes people and product move. So we 
believe that we have a good piece of legislation.
  On the House side, it passed overwhelmingly, the largest single vote 
that any Congress has ever voted on a transportation bill. It was done 
in this House. We had less negative votes than any other time.
  And, again, we passed it over to the Senate. They rejected it. We 
rejected what they sent us, and now it is up to us to ask for this 
conference. I am hoping that the Senate and House Members will work 
together, collectively, and we will arrive at a very rapid solution to 
this very, very important issue to this great Nation.
  Again, I want to stress to Members that may be watching in their 
offices is this is a friendly motion to instruct, one which I support; 
and if there is a vote, and I expect to ask for a vote, I will ask for 
a yes vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 45 seconds to extol the 
labors of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).
  He has been a constant, solid, secure, wise, counselor as we worked 
our way through the various provisions of this legislation in the 
internal negotiations in committee and through the mark-up; and I look 
forward to his continued participation as a seasoned hand in the House-
Senate Conference on Transportation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on 
Highways, Transit and Pipelines.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 
Oberstar) for the time.
  I want to say that I strongly support this motion to instruct. This 
is an enormously important program. It is one that the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member, has worked on for a long, 
long

[[Page 11413]]

period of time. It is something that I personally am very much 
interested in, being a cyclist myself; and it is one that I know the 
gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) and the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Chairman Petri) also have supported very strongly, and I appreciate 
their support.
  But in talking about the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) and 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Petri), I want to once again 
stress the fact that the product that we have produced out of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a product that the 
Republicans and the Democrats shared equally in. We worked in concert. 
We certainly did have some disagreements. There were certainly some 
things that we did not see eye to eye on, but we resolved those in a 
very honest, open manner.
  I want to compliment the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) once 
again for the patience and the persistence that he has demonstrated in 
moving this bill to the floor of the House of Representatives. I know 
it has been very difficult for him. There have been many extenuating 
circumstances that have delayed things, but it certainly was not any 
fault of his.
  I know that if the Senate will be as cooperative, as helpful, as 
understanding as we in the House have been in putting this legislation 
together that it should not take long for this conference committee to 
agree upon a bill to bring back to the House and Senate and to move on 
to the President so that we can really energize this economy in this 
country.
  There is no more important bill for the economy that this legislative 
body can deal with than this bill dealing with highways and mass 
transit in the United States of America. As my favorite President of 
the 20th century said, this type of bill is a jobs, jobs, jobs bill. We 
need that in this economy, but we need more ways to move people around, 
and this is the way to do it.
  I thank the gentleman very much for the time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield what time he may consume to 
the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency 
Management, a member of the conference.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the distinguished 
ranking member of our full committee for making this the subject of the 
motion to instruct conferees, and it is a tribute to not only him but 
the bipartisan nature in which this committee works to build America's 
infrastructure, and it continues his vision and the vision of those 
that worked back with him in 1991 when they created ISTEA and continued 
through TEA-21 and now moves forward into TEA-LU in that it recognizes 
that there needs to be intermodalism and there is more to 
transportation than just concrete, asphalt and moving people in their 
automobiles.
  The Safe Routes to School program is something that has worked very, 
very well; and by expanding it to a national level and asking our 
friends in the Senate in this motion to instruct to accede to the 
language that we have included in the bill is exactly the right thing 
to do, and I give the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) a lot of 
credit for again making this the point that we are talking about today.
  It is a great day for the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, and it is a great day for the Nation that we are moving 
this process forward. There have been some fits and starts on this 
bill. We had some differing levels when it came to funding. We had a 
little tip from the White House over what that funding should be, but 
only when we get in a conference and are able to talk with our friends 
and colleagues from the United States Senate about what divides us on 
the bill and engage the White House can we hopefully convince them 
that, as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) indicated, this is 
a jobs bill. This bill is critically important to not only relieving 
congestion; it is important to make sure that men and women in this 
country are working.
  The great thing about working is that these are jobs that cannot be 
outsourced. There has been a lot of talk about outsource. These are 
American construction jobs that are going to take place in American 
cities and American towns all across the country.
  So I am very pleased that we are at this stage today, and I want to 
go back to this motion to instruct to conclude.
  Sometimes around here we name things in a way that sounds nice, but 
they are really not good programs. That is not the case with Safe 
Routes to School. It is a good program, and it deserves our support; 
and I hope we are able to convince our friends in the Senate to do the 
same.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me begin my 
remarks by thanking both the chairman and our ranking member for such a 
cooperative spirit in this committee; and it is appreciated by, I am 
certain, Members on both sides of the aisle.
  I rise in strong support of the Oberstar motion to instruct conferees 
to accept the Safe Routes to School program as included in H.R. 3550. 
The House version outlines a stronger, more flexible program than the 
Senate version. The House version will provide much-needed funding for 
infrastructure improvement and safety initiatives, ensure that States 
receive no less than $2 million a year, and would improve the ability 
of kids to safely and conveniently get to school by walking or biking.
  In my home State of Texas, the requests for funding for this popular 
initiative have been overwhelming, with request amounts far exceeding 
our current budget amounts.
  So I urge my colleagues to address the congestion around our Nation's 
schools and provide increased physical fitness opportunities for kids 
by supporting this motion to instruct.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers at this 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The inspiration for this initiative in this legislation was a report 
by the Centers For Disease Control of the U.S. Public Health Service, 
the Department of Health and Human Services some 4 years ago. I 
participated in this conference and listened to the presentation that 
over 300,000 Americans a year die of obesity and its complications, the 
second-leading cause of death in America. Yet 25 percent of America's 
15-and-under school children are clinically obese; 36 percent of all 
Americans are obese or are seriously clinically overweight. We are 
facing a health epidemic that 75 percent of children 15 and under do 
not walk, do not bicycle to school or associated activities; they are 
driven. That is a class in our society that is mobility challenged.
  I heard these numbers and others that I will not repeat here that 
just show an emerging health crisis with huge implications for obesity, 
for cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and other related 
illnesses.
  The Centers For Disease Control raised the flag. I thought we ought 
to have a response. I gathered together a group of active-living 
organizations, those bicycling and pedestrian and other outdoor 
activities, cited those figures and said I have got an idea to deal 
with this: we will call it Safe Routes to School, to engage an entire 
generation of Americans in a healthier lifestyle that will follow them 
throughout their life. That is a wave throughout society that is 
starting with elementary school age children. They will carry this all 
through their young life into adulthood and pass it on to their 
children.
  With that, I persuaded the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration to commit $50,000 in grants to the Marin County schools 
and another similar grant to honor Arlington County schools in Boston, 
and the project was under way. It has been an enormous success, widely 
imitated throughout the country, widely supported. This is a lifestyle 
change.
  We get an opportunity to do something like this once in a career in 
the

[[Page 11414]]

Congress. I greatly appreciate the support of the chairman of the full 
committee; the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Petri); the kind words of the gentleman from Ohio; my 
colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski); and my 
colleague, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that the gentleman from 
Alaska (Chairman Young) has given us strong, vigorous, unflagging, 
unfailing leadership in moving this legislation from the time we 
conceived the bill to the time we introduced the bill to the time we 
moved it through committee. It was his persistence, his insistence and 
vision of investing in America, creating jobs, moving America forward, 
restoring our economic vitality, meeting congestion head-on, investing 
in the future of America at the base of our economy, to stimulate the 
whole economy. We will need that continued visionary, strong, forceful 
leadership as we go into conference with the differences that are 
considerable between the two versions of this legislation.
  It is my hope that TEA-LU will prevail in policy and that we may move 
closer to the other body's version in investment and that at another 
date, after we get this enacted, we will come back and do the real bill 
at the $375 billion level that we all know is needed to move America 
forward.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield to the gentleman from Alaska.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments the 
gentleman has made, and he knows this has been a joint effort. The 
gentleman has worked well with us, and I can assure him that we are on 
the same page; and as we go to conference, there will be some 
differences of opinion, but I think if we stand shoulder to shoulder, 
our policy will prevail.
  Now our problem is to try to get the money to take and implement that 
policy, and that is going to be our responsibility, and I think we can 
do it. I am very positive about it. I always have been, always will be 
because it is the right thing to do, and we will continue our efforts; 
and I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has had a positive, upbeat 
attitude from the outset; and that is what it is going to take to get 
us through the coming weeks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Without objection, the previous 
question is ordered on the motion to instruct.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground 
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum 
is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on the motion to instruct will be followed by a 5-minute 
vote on suspending the rules and adopting House Resolution 655.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 377, 
nays 30, not voting 27, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 227]

                               YEAS--377

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baker
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Becerra
     Bell
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown, Corrine
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burns
     Burr
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Capito
     Capps
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carson (IN)
     Carter
     Case
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chandler
     Chocola
     Clay
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Cole
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costello
     Cox
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     DeFazio
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley (CA)
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Duncan
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Emanuel
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Farr
     Fattah
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Filner
     Foley
     Forbes
     Ford
     Fossella
     Frank (MA)
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gephardt
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Gordon
     Goss
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (TX)
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall
     Harman
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Herseth
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley (OR)
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Inslee
     Israel
     Issa
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (NC)
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kirk
     Kleczka
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kucinich
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Majette
     Maloney
     Manzullo
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Mica
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (MI)
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy
     Murtha
     Musgrave
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Nethercutt
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Oberstar
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Owens
     Oxley
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pearce
     Pelosi
     Pence
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Rodriguez
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sabo
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Saxton
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Scott (GA)
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Skelton
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Souder
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tiahrt
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner (OH)
     Turner (TX)
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                                NAYS--30

     Barrett (SC)
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Culberson
     DeLay
     Flake
     Franks (AZ)
     Hayworth
     Hoekstra
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Kingston
     Linder
     Miller (FL)
     Myrick
     Northup
     Norwood
     Royce
     Schrock
     Shadegg
     Tancredo
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Wilson (SC)

                             NOT VOTING--27

     Ballance
     Brady (PA)
     Burton (IN)
     Capuano
     Carson (OK)
     Collins
     Deal (GA)
     DeGette
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Dreier
     Dunn
     Emerson
     Gerlach
     Istook
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson, Sam
     Lynch
     McInnis
     Obey
     Quinn
     Scott (VA)
     Slaughter
     Smith (MI)
     Tauzin


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose) (during the vote). Members are 
advised 2 minutes remain in this vote.

[[Page 11415]]



                              {time}  1406

  Messrs. TIBERI, CULBERSON, LINDER, DeLAY, ROYCE, CANTOR, TANCREDO, 
BONNER, FRANKS of Arizona, ISAKSON, BARRETT of South Carolina, BISHOP 
of Utah, HAY-
WORTH, SCHROCK, HOEKSTRA, TOOMEY, Mrs. NORTHUP and Mrs. BLACKBURN 
changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. WELLER changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the motion to instruct was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________