[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3657-3660]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the Senate to talk about my 
strong support of the House Joint Resolution 20 that is the joint 
funding resolution for the current fiscal year we are considering this 
week.
  I am very concerned because we are fast approaching the wire on 
getting this important resolution passed. If we don't pass this 
bipartisan bill, the safety of American citizens could be put in 
danger. If this bill is not passed this week, our air traffic 
controllers will be furloughed. Our air safety inspectors will be 
furloughed. It we don't pass this bipartisan bill in the next several 
days, we are going to see a decline in our ability to provide railroad 
inspections, pipeline safety inspections, and truck safety inspections.
  As chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing on 
Appropriations, I am very concerned. I am here to talk about some of 
the consequences if we don't get our work done on the CR this week. We 
are going to be feeling the consequences in the area of housing. If we 
don't pass this bill, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to 
face a housing crisis.
  Mr. President, 157,000 low-income people could lose their housing if 
we don't get this bill passed in the next several days; 70,000 could 
lose their housing vouchers; 11,500 units that are housing the homeless 
could be lost. Those are some of the consequences Americans will face 
under my jurisdiction if this Congress fails to pass the joint funding 
resolution in the next few days.
  But don't take my word for it. Last Thursday, I held a hearing with 
President Bush's very able Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters. 
Secretary Peters is not a newcomer to transportation. She has spent her 
entire career working to ensure safety and execute infrastructure 
projects, largely in her home State of Arizona, but she also served as 
the Federal Highway Administrator.
  Secretary Peters told us last week, in very clear terms, how safety 
would be affected if we failed to pass this joint funding resolution. I 
share her exact words from a few days ago. Secretary Peters told the 
Senate:

       [I]f we were funded at the '06 levels . . . it would have 
     drastic consequences, not only at the FAA, but as you 
     mentioned with our other safety programs, such as our rail 
     safety programs, our truck inspection programs and of course 
     the air traffic controllers and inspectors at maintenance 
     facilities for the aviation community.

  The Bush administration's Transportation Secretary is warning of 
drastic consequences if we fail to pass this continuing resolution. I 
am here tonight to talk about some of those consequences. I asked 
Secretary Peters what it would mean for safety and what it would mean 
for hiring if Congress doesn't pass this joint funding resolution. 
President Bush's Secretary of Transportation said:

       [W]e will see a serious decline in the number of safety 
     inspectors: Truck safety inspectors, rail safety inspectors, 
     aviation inspectors across the broad range in our program.

  That is directly from the President's Transportation Secretary.
  I don't think any Senator wants to be responsible for voting for a 
serious decline in the number of truck safety inspectors, rail safety 
inspectors or aviation space. I don't think Members want to explain to 
our constituents we voted to undermine their safety as they travel by 
car, train or plane. Let me be clear: No one can say Members didn't 
know how your vote would hurt a State

[[Page 3658]]

because we have very clear warnings from the Transportation Secretary 
herself.
  The first reason we need to pass this joint funding resolution is to 
keep our critical safety inspectors on the job, protecting the American 
people, as they are doing today. We also need to pass a joint funding 
resolution because, without it, States will not be able to address 
their most pressing highway, bridge, and road problems. In fact, 
Secretary Peters also warned us that some States could miss an entire 
construction season if Congress does not enact this bill.
  She said that State transportation commissioners need to know how 
money will be available to them this year. So she said to us last week 
at the hearing:

       It is especially important to those states who have a 
     construction season that will be upon us very, very shortly 
     and if they are not able to know that this funding is coming 
     and be able to let contracts, accordingly, we could easily 
     miss an entire construction season.

  That is what this joint funding resolution is about. Let me be very 
clear. Your constituents, my constituents, all of our constituents will 
feel the impact of our vote on roads that are not fixed or roads that 
remain clogged or congested or unsafe.
  Those are a few of the safety consequences if we fail to pass the 
bipartisan joint funding resolution in the next several days. The 
failure to pass H.J. Res. 20 will also have a painful impact on housing 
for hundreds of thousands of Americans. In this bipartisan bill, we 
worked very hard to make sure vulnerable families would not be thrown 
on the streets or face out-of-reach rent increases.
  We provided some critical support for section 8, homeless assistance 
grants, housing equity conversion loans, HOPE VI, and the Public 
Housing Operating Fund.
  For Section 8 project-based assistance, this spending resolution we 
will be considering this week provides an increase of $939 million over 
last year's fiscal year 2006 level. It provides $300 million over the 
President's 2007 budget request. This is essential, I want my 
colleagues to know, to preserve affordable housing for 157,000 low-
income households. Without this increase, without us acting in the next 
several days, many of these low-income residents are going to become 
homeless or be displaced or face unaffordable rent increases.
  For section 8 tenant-based assistance, this spending resolution 
provides an increase of $502 million, equal to the President's 2007 
budget request, to continue to renew expiring vouchers. Without this 
increase, without us acting in the next several days, more than 70,000 
housing vouchers are going to be lost. That means residents may become 
homeless or displaced or forced into overcrowded housing.
  For homeless assistance grants, this funding resolution we are 
considering provides an increase of $115 million to meet expiring 
contracts for homeless individuals and their families. Without this 
increase, without us acting in the next several days, as many as 11,500 
units will not be renewed--not be renewed--forcing these homeless 
individuals and families back onto the street.
  The joint resolution also helps thousands of seniors to stay in their 
homes because it supports the housing equity conversion loans. 
Currently, 90 percent of all reverse mortgages for the elderly fall 
under this guarantee program. Without this language, this popular 
program will shut down, and it will hurt the ability of thousands of 
elderly individuals and couples to remain in their homes and pay for 
critical living expenses.
  The joint resolution we are considering this week also extends the 
authorization for the HOPE VI Program, which is helping us across the 
country knock down the most deteriorated public housing units and 
replace them with new, safe housing units for families. If this funding 
resolution is not adopted this week, not a single dollar will go out 
for this popular program for the rest of this year.
  Finally, this resolution will help housing authorities meet their 
soaring expenses. This resolution supports the Public Housing Operating 
Fund. It provides an increase of $300 million over the 2006 level to 
meet the tremendous shortfalls being faced by our public housing 
authorities when it comes to meeting things such as increased energy 
costs and providing necessary security to help them prevent crime. 
Recently, more than 700 public housing authorities have announced 
layoffs. According to HUD, without this increase--without this 
resolution--public housing authorities will receive only 76 percent of 
their true operating needs in this fiscal year. So the consequences 
will be severe for very vulnerable families if this Congress fails to 
pass the joint funding resolution by this Thursday.
  Mr. President, I want to step back for a minute and share how we 
developed this bipartisan bill we are considering and how we worked to 
make sure those critical needs are met.
  Today, every agency in the Federal Government, with the exception of 
the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, are operating under 
what is called a continuing resolution. That freezes almost every 
Federal program at last year's level. If a program is not frozen at 
last year's level, it is operating at a level consistent with the cuts 
that were adopted by the House of Representatives last year. So at 
present, almost all of our Federal agencies are operating under a 
funding formula that makes no accommodations for the true needs of our 
agencies or the true needs of the American people. What that means is 
we are not addressing critical education needs, health care needs, the 
needs of our veterans, the needs of law enforcement, transportation, 
housing--you name it.
  The current continuing resolution expires this Thursday, February 15. 
The time has now come for us in this Congress to finally stand up to 
our responsibility and implement a spending bill that will meet the 
needs of the American people. And that bill will be in front of us this 
week. It is H.J. Res. 20. That bill passed the House of Representatives 
by more than a 2-to-1 margin. The time has now come for us in the 
Senate to finally fulfill our responsibility.
  H.J. Res. 20 was developed by both the House and the Senate 
Appropriations Committees on a bipartisan basis. The joint funding 
resolution, for the most part, freezes programs across the Government 
at their 2006 funding level. Importantly, however, the bill also makes 
necessary funding adjustments to deal with critical programs that 
cannot and should not endure a funding freeze.
  In the case of the Transportation Department, we were not about to 
ignore our responsibility to ensure safety in our skies or on our 
highways or on our railways. This bill provides funding increases 
totaling more than a quarter billion dollars to ensure there are 
adequate numbers of personnel to control air traffic--control air 
traffic, critical to all of the American flying public. It also 
provides funds to make sure we inspect and enforce safety rules 
governing our commercial airliners, trucks, railroads, and pipelines. 
Without this additional funding--if we do not pass the CR this week--
the FAA Administrator told us that she would be required to put every 
air traffic controller and every aviation inspector on the street for 2 
weeks without pay between now and the end of September.
  The joint funding resolution before us this week also boosts funding 
for Amtrak to $1.3 billion. Operating under the current continuing 
resolution, Amtrak's funding would remain $200 million lower than it 
was last year. If we do not pass this funding resolution which is 
before us, we will endanger our passenger rail service across the 
country, as well as the annual maintenance expenses that must be made 
to ensure safe operations in the Northeast corridor.
  Finally, the bill pending before the Senate provides an additional 
$3.75 billion in formula funding for our Nation's highway and transit 
systems. That funding will serve to create almost 160,000 new jobs 
while alleviating congestion. It is an important infusion of cash to 
our States to help them address their most pressing bridge 
replacements, highway widenings, and

[[Page 3659]]

safety enhancements. When you look at all the highway needs across just 
my home State of Washington, that additional $71 million our State will 
receive is urgently needed and will be put to work right away.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table provided to me by 
the Federal Highway Administration that displays the highway funding 
increases that will be enjoyed by each and every State be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                        U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
COMPARISON OF ACTUAL FY 2006 OBLIGATION LIMITATION AND ESTIMATED FY 2007 OBLIGATION LIMITATION INCLUDING REVENUE
                                            ALIGNED BUDGET AUTHORITY
                             (Including takedowns for NHTSA Operations and Research)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          ACTUAL  FY 2006
                         STATE                               OBLIGATION       ESTIMATED  FY          DELTA
                                                             LIMITATION            2007
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALABAMA................................................        535,056,170        600,869,788         65,813,618
ALASKA.................................................        228,288,252        270,731,918         42,443,666
ARIZONA................................................        499,506,758        593,277,405         93,770,647
ARKANSAS...............................................        330,837,555        381,949,909         51,112,354
CALIFORNIA.............................................      2,381,267,388      2,680,526,468        299,259,080
COLORADO...............................................        338,198,419        400,663,892         62,465,473
CONNECTICUT............................................        376,937,736        402,325,874         25,388,138
DELAWARE...............................................        104,178,113        121,131,724         16,953,611
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA...................................        112,407,878        123,804,359         11,396,481
FLORIDA................................................      1,289,559,918      1,544,927,499        255,367,581
GEORGIA................................................        940,654,903      1,067,010,791        126,355,888
HAWAII.................................................        120,644,520        127,596,268          6,951,748
IDAHO..................................................        197,536,278        222,829,360         25,293,082
ILLINOIS...............................................        898,006,320      1,010,811,302        112,804,982
INDIANA................................................        661,150,145        775,353,318        114,203,173
IOWA...................................................        288,499,793        330,589,700         42,089,907
KANSAS.................................................        292,376,091        309,772,956         17,396,865
KENTUCKY...............................................        460,544,276        520,949,132         60,404,856
LOUISIANA..............................................        404,683,450        474,862,364         70,178,914
MAINE..................................................        128,192,073        136,355,671          8,163,598
MARYLAND...............................................        418,246,584        490,032,577         71,785,993
MASSACHUSETTS..........................................        466,003,994        501,926,732         35,922,738
MICHIGAN...............................................        828,533,266        909,761,902         81,228,636
MINNESOTA..............................................        425,664,013        485,442,279         59,778,266
MISSISSIPPI............................................        310,973,491        367,059,847         56,086,356
MISSOURI...............................................        618,465,606        711,268,494         92,802,888
MONTANA................................................        255,215,718        287,386,573         32,170,855
NEBRASKA...............................................        197,252,237        223,867,736         26,615,499
NEVADA.................................................        172,076,917        210,350,302         38,273,385
NEW HAMPSHIRE..........................................        130,407,725        137,769,576          7,361,851
NEW JERSEY.............................................        695,744,922        822,265,394        126,520,472
NEW MEXICO.............................................        250,952,902        290,194,749         39,241,847
NEW YORK...............................................      1,292,715,319      1,366,155,757         73,440,438
NORTH CAROLINA.........................................        755,312,308        872,183,722        116,871,414
NORTH DAKOTA...........................................        166,994,190        189,098,718         22,104,528
OHIO...................................................        951,965,833      1,109,710,100        157,744,267
OKLAHOMA...............................................        413,931,430        459,904,524         45,973,094
OREGON.................................................        299,292,210        347,410,836         48,118,626
PENNSYLVANIA...........................................      1,287,067,418      1,357,719,130         70,651,712
RHODE ISLAND...........................................        134,484,666        154,154,462         19,669,796
SOUTH CAROLINA.........................................        424,589,865        511,384,433         86,794,568
SOUTH DAKOTA...........................................        174,696,675        202,845,805         28,149,130
TENNESSEE..............................................        572,103,666        672,761,834        100,658,168
TEXAS..................................................      2,183,334,526      2,574,558,747        391,224,221
UTAH...................................................        190,146,092        220,645,255         30,499,163
VERMONT................................................        115,678,528        129,379,891         13,701,363
VIRGINIA...............................................        697,407,933        830,852,486        133,444,553
WASHINGTON.............................................        448,545,807        519,595,013         71,049,206
WEST VIRGINIA..........................................        285,867,458        325,592,845         39,725,387
WISCONSIN..............................................        520,781,728        586,036,437         65,254,709
WYOMING................................................        174,357,693        207,256,184         32,898,491
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    SUBTOTAL...........................................     26,447,336,756     30,170,912,038      3,723,575,282
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
ALLOCATED PROGRAMS.....................................      9,103,451,278      8,794,320,215       -309,131,063
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    TOTAL..............................................     35,550,788,034     38,965,232,253     3,414,444,219
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMOUNTS INCLUDE FORMULA LIMITATION, SPECIAL LIMITATION FOR EQUITY BONUS AND APPALACHIA DEVELOPMENT HIGHWAY
  SYSTEM. AMOUNTS EXCLUDE EXEMPT EQUITY BONUS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF.
ALLOCATED PROGRAMS AMOUNT REFLECT NHTSA TRANSFER OF $121M.

  Mrs. MURRAY. I understand some of our colleagues have apparently 
suggested we should not adopt this new joint funding resolution. 
Instead, they have advocated we simply just extend the current existing 
CR for the remainder of this year. Well, they are saying we should 
forgo these desperately needed funds for our highways and transit. They 
are saying we should allow the FAA to furlough all its safety personnel 
for 2 weeks. They are saying we should allow our aviation, truck, 
railroad, and pipeline inspection workforce to dwindle.
  If we want to keep our air traffic controllers on the job, we have to 
pass this bill. If we want to keep our air safety inspectors on the 
job, we need to pass this bill. If we want to keep highway, pipeline, 
and truck inspections on track, we need to pass this bill. If we want 
to help our States address their most urgent bridge, road, and highway 
problems, we have to pass this bill. And if we want to keep our 
vulnerable families from losing their housing, we have to pass this 
bill.
  The consequences are very high. That is why I came to the floor this 
evening, to outline to my colleagues, under just my jurisdiction, on 
the transportation and housing bill, how important this joint funding 
resolution is and to urge my colleagues to help us move it through this 
week by the Thursday deadline.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, am I correct, I was scheduled to speak 
next?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct. Under the previous order, a 
Republican Senator, the Senator from New Mexico, is now recognized for 
10 minutes.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I want to ask, does the Senator want 
to speak for a short time?
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Go ahead.
  Mr. DOMENICI. The Senator does not mind listening. I thank her so 
much. I would have yielded, if she had a short speech.

[[Page 3660]]

  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that whatever time I had be 
extended, if necessary, to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________