[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4358]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   THE TIME TO REBUILD AMERICA IS NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Higgins) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, as our Nation winds down from its military 
engagements overseas, it's time for America to do some nation-building 
here at home.
  A $1.2 trillion investment in rebuilding American roads, bridges, 
transit, and water systems would create 27 million jobs over 5 years. 
In the first year alone, the economy would add 5.2 million new jobs and 
grow by over $400 billion. In the second year, unemployment would be 
reduced to 5.6 percent. These are among the findings of the New America 
Foundation report, ``The Way Forward.''
  Nearly every expert agrees that America's infrastructure is broken 
and is in need of immediate repair and replacement. The American 
Society of Civil Engineers gave America a D grade for infrastructure 
quality. It is estimated that $2.2 trillion is needed to bring our 
Nation's infrastructure to good repair. The World Economic Forum ranks 
the United States 23rd in infrastructure quality. Transportation for 
America reports that there are 69,000 structurally deficient bridges 
nationwide, including 2,000 in New York and 99 in western New York 
alone.
  In fact, every second of every day, seven cars drive on a bridge that 
is structurally deficient. Dangerous road conditions were a significant 
factor in one-third of all traffic fatalities last year, and Americans 
spent 4.2 billion hours stuck in traffic due to congestion, costing $78 
billion, or $710 for every American motorist.
  The 1987 collapse of the Schoharie Creek Bridge in New York killing 
10 people and the 2007 collapse of the Minneapolis bridge killing 13 
people are tragic reminders of the human costs associated with 
deteriorating infrastructure.
  The economic costs are staggering, too. The United States Chamber of 
Commerce says that the Nation will lose $336 billion in economic growth 
in the next 5 years due to inadequate infrastructure. One local 
example: in January, the New York State Department of Transportation 
closed a crucial bridge in Springville, New York, due to concerns about 
its safety, and the weeks-long closure was devastating to local 
businesses.
  The time to rebuild America is now. Actually, it's right now. The 
cost of borrowing money is at a historic low rate. The interest rates 
on 5-year debt is less than 1 percent. The Treasury Department is 
considering negative interest rates, meaning that investors will 
actually pay the Federal Government to buy United States debt.
  The question is not whether to undertake this work. Public 
infrastructure is a public responsibility. The question is when to 
undertake this work. The cost acceleration of delaying road and bridge 
repair increases by 500 percent after only 2 years. Put simply, a $1 
million road repair project today not undertaken will cost $5 million 
in 2014; a $5 million bridge repair project will cost $25 million in 
2014. What's more, a 5-year $1.2 trillion program would create such 
robust economic activity that it would generate an additional $600 
billion in Federal tax revenues, that is to say that our country would 
be purchasing $1.2 trillion in investment for infrastructure for nearly 
half off.
  The United States has spent $76 billion rebuilding the infrastructure 
of Afghanistan, a population of 30 million people, and $63 billion 
rebuilding Iraq, a population of 27 million people. Both of these 
nation-building efforts were deficit financed. And as they took money 
out of the American economy, they actually undermined American economic 
growth and employment.
  And for America, a population of over 300 million, the House is 
considering a 5-year $260 billion transportation bill, or $52 billion 
each year for the next 5 years, on average. That's less in any given 
year than we spent in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
  Rebuilding our Nation's roads and bridges will support private sector 
American businesses. Construction trade jobs average approximately 
$70,000 a year, and these jobs can't be outsourced to China or Mexico.


                          Helmets to Hardhats

  Mr. HIGGINS. I began this morning by talking about the wars in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. Let me now say something about our returning veterans.
  The unemployment rate for returning veterans under the age of 24 is 
an unacceptably high rate of 38 percent. A good and grateful Nation 
owes it to these veterans to ensure that they return home to economic 
opportunity.
  The Department of Defense sponsored a program back in 2002 called 
Helmets to Hardhats to accelerate apprenticeship training and job 
placement for these returning veterans. Helmets to Hardhats is now a 
nonprofit organization working with 15 construction trades and over 
80,000 American businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the right time to make a robust investment to 
repair our outdated and failing infrastructure. There's a lot of work 
to be done, and a lot of Americans need to be put to work.

                          ____________________