[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12738-12739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, in a few minutes, we will be meeting 
with President Obama here in the Capitol. While I appreciate the 
President's commitment to the economy, and I do believe he is 
passionate about renewing and rebuilding America, there is a certain 
irony to having the conversation today, because this is the very same 
day the House is supposed to be completing its work on a woefully 
inadequate budget bill to fund Transportation, Housing and Urban 
Development.
  By insisting on an increase in defense spending and approving a 
budget target that is unrealistically low and freezing in the 
sequestration, we are seeing budgets that bear no relationship to 
reality: $44.1 billion in transportation discretionary appropriations, 
down 15 percent from the authorized level. It makes no attempt to deal 
with the looming collapse of the highway trust fund; it slashes Amtrak 
a third below the current level--hardly responsible.
  Many of the budget reductions in the housing programs and the 
Community Development Block Grants are even worse. We began those 
deliberations on the same day the American Society for Civil Engineers 
released their report card on the state of America's infrastructure. 
The grade was D-plus. It was only that high because we have increased 
some private investment, some local government funding and, of course, 
the reviled stimulus funding that helped reduce some of the more 
egregious shortfalls while putting people to work.
  It is ironic that some of the rationale for some of this bizarre 
budget behavior, which, thankfully, will never be enacted into law, is 
the need to save taxpayer money and reduce deficits.
  In reality, if this budget were approved, it would actually end up 
costing American taxpayers more. Families will earn even less if we 
continue this funding level for infrastructure that is inadequate. 
There will be hundreds of millions of hours of time lost as people are 
stuck in traffic, and the number of miles of congestion increased over 
30 percent. Of course, our businesses will pay almost a half trillion 
dollars more in transportation costs and repair while business will be 
underperforming, and that will cost money too.
  The path forward is clear. We should provide increased funding for 
transportation and infrastructure. The gas tax has not been increased 
in 20 years, which, incidentally, was the last time we had balanced 
budgets. This is the quickest way to get the new revenues that many 
feel are necessary to be part of any rational, long-term grand budget 
agreement and tax reform.
  It would be supported by a wide array of business, labor, 
environmental groups, and local government. Indeed, there is a vast 
coalition that is saying, tax me so I can do my job better and we can 
revitalize America's communities and our sagging economy.

[[Page 12739]]

  It is no longer acceptable for us to talk past one another. By 
dealing boldly with the infrastructure crisis in the context of 
realistic budgets and meaningful tax reform, we can put Americans back 
to work. We can break the logjam here on Capitol Hill. We can 
strengthen the economy while we make our communities more livable and 
our families safer, healthier, and more economically secure.

                          ____________________