[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3657-3660]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




HONORING 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF GALLATIN REPORT ON ROADS AND CANALS, AND 
   RECOGNIZING THE VAST CONTRIBUTIONS NATIONAL PLANNING EFFORTS HAVE 
                                PROVIDED

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 936) honoring the 200th anniversary of the 
Gallatin Report on Roads and Canals, celebrating the national unity the 
Gallatin Report engendered, and recognizing the vast contributions that 
national planning efforts have provided to the United States, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 936

       Whereas President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his 
     Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, to provide a new 
     vision for transportation that would unite the young 
     Republic;
       Whereas 2008 marks the bicentennial of the national plan, 
     known as the Gallatin Report on Roads and Canals (Gallatin 
     Report), presented by Secretary Gallatin to President 
     Jefferson;
       Whereas the Gallatin Report proposed transportation 
     improvements not as ends in themselves but as means to 
     further national unity;
       Whereas transportation improvements were part of the 
     promise of the American Revolution, as James Madison, writing 
     in The Federalist No. 14, emphasized, ``Let it be remarked . 
     . . that the intercourse throughout the Union will be 
     facilitated by new improvements. Roads will everywhere be 
     shortened, and kept in better order; accommodations for 
     travelers will be multiplied and meliorated; an interior 
     navigation on our eastern side will be opened throughout, or 
     nearly throughout, the whole extent of the thirteen States'';
       Whereas Madison's words have served as a worthy reminder of 
     the needs for transportation infrastructure since that time;
       Whereas the Gallatin Report incorporated the improvements 
     to the Postal Service that Benjamin Franklin bequeathed to 
     the Nation, including Franklin's route surveys, his placement 
     of milestones on principal roads, and his development of 
     shorter transportation routes;
       Whereas the Gallatin Report called for an inland waterway 
     navigation canal from Massachusetts to North Carolina, which 
     was the precursor to the modern day Intercostal Waterway 
     system;
       Whereas the United States, as a result of Gallatin's 
     legacy, has a record of successful infrastructure 
     developments, including--
       (1) the Erie Canal, which vastly reduced transportation 
     costs to the interior;
       (2) the transcontinental railway, which united the Nation;
       (3) transit projects across the Nation, which promote 
     freedom and opportunity;
       (4) the National Highway System, including the Dwight D. 
     Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, which 
     fostered interstate commerce, national unity, and broke down 
     barriers between the States; and
       (5) the Tennessee Valley Authority, devised by President 
     Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a ``corporation clothed with the 
     power of government but possessed of the flexibility and 
     initiative of a private enterprise'', which brought 
     electricity, conservation planning, and opportunity for 
     thousands in the Tennessee Valley and across the Nation;

       Whereas to be regarded as a success, any national planning 
     endeavor must address and reconcile the needs of different 
     regions of the Nation;
       Whereas the genius of the Gallatin Report was its alignment 
     of the hopes of the Nation with the opportunities presented 
     by access to new markets, populations, and territories;
       Whereas the United States currently faces new challenges in 
     financing the transportation infrastructure that is necessary 
     for the future economic needs of the Nation; and
       Whereas if the United States is to succeed in a world of 
     increasing international competition, the United States must 
     have a new national plan for transportation improvements to 
     provide for the Nation's future: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) reaffirms the goals and ideals that formed the impetus 
     for Albert Gallatin's national plan for transportation 
     improvements 200 years ago;
       (2) calls on the Federal Government, States, localities, 
     schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the 
     citizens of the United States to mark this important 
     anniversary by recalling the important legacy of public 
     investment in infrastructure, which connects and enhances the 
     economies, communications, and communities of the several 
     States; and
       (3) supports the creation of a new national plan for 
     transportation improvements to align the demands for economic 
     development with the resources of the Nation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 936.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oregon?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution reaffirming 
our national commitment to our national transportation infrastructure. 
Two hundred years ago, a farsighted President, Thomas Jefferson, 
commissioned Secretary Gallatin to provide a report and a vision for 
transportation in America, to knit together the then-young Nation and 
to better facilitate the movement of its people, its goods, its 
commerce and people, and to better compete in the international 
economy.
  For 200 years, or nearly 200 years, that vision has been maintained 
and has been the prevailing view here in Washington, DC.
  Unfortunately, we now have an occupant of the White House and a 
Secretary of Transportation who do not share that vision. A recent 
report detailing the extraordinary state of disrepair into which our 
transportation infrastructure has fallen from a commission created by 
this Congress in the SAFETEA-LU legislation pointed to the need for a 
massive increase in investment at all levels, Federal, State and local, 
because in order just to maintain the existing infrastructure, we would 
have to spend more than we are spending today. We are not even treading 
water. We are not even maintaining a deteriorating infrastructure; we 
are deteriorating towards Third World status. While our competitors 
around the world are leaping ahead with major investments in transit 
and roads, bridges and highways, and with major investments in ports 
and waterways, we are falling behind.
  In response to that, unfortunately, the Secretary of Transportation 
joined with a minority in dissenting from the report and essentially 
proposed that we phase out any Federal role or investment in our 
national transportation infrastructure.
  I can think of nothing more wrong-headed, shortsighted, or more 
destructive for the future of our country than to pull back from these 
extraordinary needs. So that's why I think it is so important that we 
look back, we look back over 200 years of history, we look back to the 
Gallatin Report, we look back to the successes that have followed upon 
that vision that we have been building upon for 200 years, and we set a 
course for the next 200 years so that we can again boast of having the 
state-of-the-art, most efficient, most energy-efficient transportation 
network in the world, which is far from the condition in which we find 
ourselves today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page 3658]]


  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I have agreed to reserve my time so the 
Speaker may be yielded to.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I yield 1 minute 
to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank both gentlemen for yielding and for 
their support of this important resolution. I thank Mr. Duncan for his 
leadership and for supporting this resolution. Mr. DeFazio, of course, 
has been a champion on these issues for a long time. And in terms of 
building the infrastructure of America, Mr. Blumenauer has, through his 
relentless advocacy for building America's infrastructure in an 
environmentally sound way, has added to the vision of how we want to do 
this.
  I learned about the Gallatin Report, which you talked about, Mr. 
DeFazio, from Mr. Blumenauer. Imagine 200 years ago, around the time of 
the Lewis and Clark expeditions and the Louisiana Purchase, a great 
President realized that for commerce to flow and for people to move and 
our country to flourish, we needed to build the infrastructure of our 
country; and Mr. DeFazio described the immensity of that project by 
Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury.
  Secretary Gallatin said at the time his vision of roads and canals to 
unite our young Nation could not be left to individual exertion. 
Contrary to popular thinking at the time, Gallatin had the great 
foresight to see the long-term benefits of infrastructure investments 
far outweighed the cost. And because of that, public capital, not just 
private resources, were necessary.
  From the beginning of our country, our Founders and the leaders of 
our country were entrepreneurs. They were risk-takers. They believed in 
public-private partnerships, and that is what this was.
  At the beginning of the 19th century, it is important I think to 
note, there were barely 1,000 miles of canals in America. Sixty years 
later, in part because of the vision of Albert Gallatin, more than 
4,200 miles of canals, ranging west to Illinois, north to Michigan, and 
south to Texas, facilitated trade and mobility across our country.
  The Erie Canal, the transcontinental railway, and America's model of 
planning and investment stand today as legacies of Albert Gallatin's 
vision. A statue of Albert Gallatin stands today at the entrance to the 
Treasury Department building in recognition of his many 
accomplishments.
  It is in the tradition of Albert Gallatin that 100 years later, again 
my teacher and mentor on the history of this vision for America, Mr. 
Blumenauer, informs me that Theodore Roosevelt launched a similar 
commitment by convening a White House conference on conservation to 
preserve America's natural beauty. That led to the creation of the 
National Park Service and helped a growing America remain a great 
America and continue on to be an even greater America.
  In 2008, 100 years later, 200 years after Thomas Jefferson and 
Secretary Gallatin, 100 years after Theodore Roosevelt, in keeping with 
the tradition of visionary leaders like them, we are prepared to invest 
in America's strength. We again must invest in our infrastructure to do 
so.
  Today that means green solutions such as mass transit and modern 
solutions such as expanding broadband across America.

                              {time}  1315

  Whether we're talking about roads or bridges or mass transit, whether 
we're talking about canals and waterways, sewage and water facilities, 
whether we're talking about broadband or we're talking about the grid 
to transmit electricity, whether it be talking about schools, an 
investment in infrastructure that serves the needs of our children and 
their education, all of this infrastructure needs a major, major 
infusion of capital, and we want to do that in a fiscally sound way.
  Just as they did 200 years ago, these infrastructure investments 
offer our Nation job-creating opportunities to invigorate, reinvigorate 
America's economies. Anything we're talking about in terms of 
infrastructure means good-paying jobs right here at home in America. 
It's not only about creating those jobs; it's about growing our 
economy.
  Today, because of the leadership of Mr. Oberstar, the distinguished 
Chair of the committee, Mr. DeFazio, who opened the debate here, Mr. 
Duncan, thank you as well, and the leadership of Congressman Earl 
Blumenauer, Congress has the opportunity to honor the genius of the 
Gallatin plan, as the resolution says, establishing a more perfect 
Union.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of Secretary Albert Gallatin who, 
with his plan, encouraged the prosperity and the national unity of 
America.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
And I appreciate the remarks of our distinguished Speaker, and also 
Chairman DeFazio. And I would like to also add my voice to support for 
this House Resolution 936. This resolution was introduced by 
Representative Blumenauer and cosponsored by Chairman Oberstar, 
Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman DeFazio, the subcommittee of 
which I have the privilege of being the ranking member, and 
Representative Petri, to honor the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin 
report on roads and canals, a first-of-its-kind assessment for Federal 
interests and investment in our Nation's transportation infrastructure.
  In 1808, when he presented the report, Secretary of the Treasury 
Albert Gallatin urged the Federal Government to focus on three basic 
concepts.
  The first concept was that it is appropriate for the Federal 
Government to finance transportation projects that transcend local 
needs. Second, only projects that yield a return on investment should 
be constructed. Third, a nationwide system of transportation is 
essential in the interest of national defense.
  All of these concepts that Gallatin proposed 200 years ago are 
relevant to the challenges that our Nation faces today and in the 
future.
  I also appreciate that the resolution has incorporated the need for a 
new national transportation plan. Ranking Member Mica has, for some 
time, advocated for a new national transportation plan that provides a 
long-term strategic approach to funding our Nation's transportation 
infrastructure system so that we can continue to be competitive in a 
worldwide economy.
  I believe that Secretary Gallatin would have supported this type of 
vision for the future of our transportation system, and I certainly 
hope that my colleagues will as well.
  I have said many times, Mr. Speaker, that the people in Tennessee use 
the roads in Ohio and California, and people in New York and Michigan 
use the roads in Tennessee. There is very much a significant and 
legitimate national interest in our transportation system in this 
country.
  Also, I appreciated the Speaker's remarks about the need to invest in 
and improve our Nation's infrastructure. I heard someone say about the 
last stimulus package that what we were really doing was borrowing 
money from China so that the people could go out and buy Chinese 
products. If we spend money on our infrastructure, we will be spending 
that money here and the money will be going to American workers to do 
these projects. And many of them are very, very necessary.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this resolution is very appropriate, and I urge 
my colleagues to support this.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy, 
and I appreciate the leadership from my friend from Oregon on this 
legislation; likewise, my friend and colleague from Tennessee, with 
whom I'd served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee so 
many years. They have adequately, I think, framed what we have here. 
This is not merely the commemoration of some obscure historical event. 
As was mentioned by the Speaker, this is the framework upon which 
America was built for over 200

[[Page 3659]]

years; the vision of President Jefferson and Albert Gallatin, the work 
of President Roosevelt, having a framework for taking a ragtag group of 
13 colonies and making it into a transcontinental powerhouse. This 
farsighted leadership and Federal action helped make America what it is 
today.
  But right now, on Capitol Hill today, there are literally thousands 
of people who are here urging that we deal with the infrastructure 
crisis in this country, people dealing with mass transit, firefighters, 
engineers. There are thousands of people who are concerned, right now, 
that it is time for us to take this resolution as a clarion call for a 
wake up.
  The American Society of Civil Engineers has rated our infrastructure 
at D minus. We are being outcompeted internationally by the European 
Union and the Chinese.
  This is history that is worth reviewing; how we built the 
partnerships that created the infrastructure, how we were able to tie 
communities together, to be able to enhance new technologies. When it 
was time for the transcontinental railroad, the framework was in place.
  It is time for us to have a clear-eyed assessment of what the 
infrastructure needs are of today. My colleague, Mr. DeFazio, talked a 
little bit about this in his statement because, frankly, we've got the 
evidence at hand of what the condition is. We know that there is time 
for us to move forward with a new plan for this century. It is time to 
build the constituency and the public awareness going from the Sierra 
Club to the Garden Club, the AFL-CIO to the Chamber of Commerce, the 
bicyclists and the truckers.
  In 314 days, we start a new era here on Capitol Hill. There are 
people out and about who are starting work on this, the America 2050 
program, a nonpartisan assessment under the leadership of the RPA, 
headquartered in New York, to other assemblage of professional and 
academic and business.
  I hope this resolution helps focus the attention of people on this 
Chamber for what we all need to do to help our colleagues on the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to move forward with an 
assessment of our needs now, a plan for this century, so that all of 
our communities can be more livable and our families safer, healthier, 
and more economically secure.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and once again I 
urge support for this resolution.
  I will say this: We have had many, many hearings in the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee about the need to greatly 
improve our infrastructure in this country. We attempted, in the last 
highway bill, to put in some environmental streamlining. These projects 
are taking about three times as long and costing about three times as 
much because of environmental rules and regulations and red tape. We 
have got to speed up these infrastructure projects. The other developed 
nations are doing these projects in a third or half the time that we 
are, and that's going to really harm this country in the future if we 
don't speed these projects up.
  Also, if we don't have more domestic energy production, we're going 
to make ourselves much more vulnerable to foreign energy producers, but 
we're not going to be able to afford the infrastructure projects that 
we really need to do in this country. So those are two thoughts that we 
need to take into consideration when we consider a resolution like 
this.
  But I commend my colleagues, Chairman DeFazio and Mr. Blumenauer and 
Mr. Petri, for this resolution, and I urge its support.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
  It's already been referenced earlier by the Speaker, and by Mr. 
Blumenauer, that one thing we could do for the ailing American economy 
to put people back to work, quite quickly this year, this construction 
year, would be investment in our infrastructure. These would be 
American jobs with American products. They can't be exported. The 
benefits are here at home. It will make our country more competitive in 
the international marketplace. They help businesses with just-in-time 
delivery. You're now seeing trucks detoured by 100, 200 miles because 
of failing and weight-limited bridges. There's a tremendous amount of 
work that needs to be done.
  It would also make us more energy efficient by helping to obviate 
some of the congestion that we're currently suffering from, the detours 
that I already mentioned.
  If we set a goal, for instance, of looking at our largest cities, 
having 10 percent of people take transit to work, we could save 40 
percent from the oil that we currently import from the Middle East. 
That would be tremendous for national security, our balance of trade, 
and great for the American people and good for the environment.
  Now, some might say that's too ambitious. Well, I just came back, or 
I took the committee on a trip to Europe. In London, more than 85 
percent of the people ride transit to work. And in Barcelona, they're 
investing more money in one addition to their subway system, which is 
at capacity right now, than we're investing in all transit in the 
entire continent of the United States of America.
  We are not pushing the margins here in terms of our investment. We 
can do better and we can learn from the past and, at the same time, 
look to a more transportation efficient future by observing this 
commemoration of Gallatin and beginning to construct our own version of 
a Gallatin report as we move to the reauthorization of the surface 
transportation and transit legislation in 2009.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 936, 
which honors the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads and 
Canals, celebrates the national unity the Gallatin Report engendered, 
and recognizes the vast contributions that transportation improvements 
have provided to the United States.
  With the acquisition of vast land area under the Louisiana Purchase 
in 1803, and with the persistent westward migration of early settlers, 
the United States in the early 19th century was a young and rapidly 
expanding Republic. To President Thomas Jefferson, the architect of the 
Louisiana Purchase, uniting the United States and its people was of 
paramount importance.
  President Jefferson directed his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert 
Gallatin, to develop a national plan for transportation improvements to 
unite the country. Secretary Gallatin presented his report--the 
Gallatin Report on Roads and Canals, Gallatin Report--in 1808.
  Mr. Speaker, Gallatin's national plan matched the Nation's hopes with 
the opportunities presented by a growing population, expanding 
territories, and widening markets. It recommended, for example, an 
inland waterway navigation canal from Massachusetts to North Carolina, 
which was the precursor to our present Intracoastal Waterway system.
  As a result of Gallatin's national plan, the United States has 
achieved a number of important and significant transportation 
infrastructure improvements, including:
  The Erie Canal that connected the east coast with the Great Lakes to 
reduce transportation costs to the interior of the country;
  The transcontinental railway that linked the east and west coasts and 
united the country at a time of national discord;
  The Tennessee Valley Authority that brought electric power, economic 
development, and employment opportunity to a region in need;
  The National Highway System, including the Interstate System, that 
fostered transportation connectivity, promoted interstate commerce, and 
advanced national unity; and
  Transit projects throughout the country that provided accessibility 
and choice.
  This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads 
and Canals. H. Res. 936 honors the Gallatin Report and celebrates the 
national unity the Gallatin Report has engendered.
  This resolution reaffirms the goals and ideals that prompted the 
development of the Gallatin Report 200 years ago. It commemorates the 
legacy of Gallatin's national plan for transportation improvements and 
the public investment in infrastructure the Gallatin Report helped 
bring forth.
  Our Nation's surface transportation system is at a crossroads. As we 
continue the discussion of the future of the system, it is important to 
recognize the bold vision provided by Secretary Gallatin in his report.
  The Gallatin Report should serve as a lasting reminder to this and 
future Congresses of

[[Page 3660]]

the need for vision and leadership at the national level.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H. Res. 936 and urge my colleagues to 
join me in agreeing to the resolution.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 936, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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