[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4148-4149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   OUR TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, hundreds of men and women are in 
Washington, D.C., this week representing America's transit agencies, 
millions of transit users, with the highest ridership in over a half 
century: 10.7 billion rides.
  Tomorrow, they will be joined by over two dozen streetcar cities. 
This is one of the fastest growing new development and transit tools 
that is taking place all across the United States. They are here 
seeking the Federal Government to step up and do its job.
  For the first time in over 150 years, the Federal Government is in 
retreat on infrastructure. It all started, as you know, with the 
Constitution designating postal roads as one of the first obligations 
of our new country, and then we were involved with the development of a 
system of canals to help promote American commerce.
  152 years ago, the Transcontinental Railroad Act was passed that 
ultimately tied America together from coast to coast and led to the 
finest passenger and freight rail system in the world.

[[Page 4149]]

  Later, there were massive water projects in the West, 
electricification projects that brought the magic of electricity to 
rural and smalltown America. The interstate freeway system that began 
germinating under the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt 
during the Great Depression, blossomed into full flower, signed by 
President Eisenhower in 1956.
  Mr. Speaker, we have established mass transit, with Ronald Reagan 
establishing a transit account, guaranteeing 20 percent of the gas tax 
revenues for that critical function and actually raising the gas tax a 
nickel a gallon, legislation signed by President Reagan.
  And then there was the legislation in 1992, the Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Efficiency Act, that promoted flexibility and a large-
scale vision process to make the system work. Even the much-maligned 
Recovery Act, the so-called stimulus, had billions of dollars to help 
rebuild the country. But we have been stuck now for over a decade.
  In 204 days, the bottom falls out of the highway trust fund, which 
means the Feds are going to have to cut back on transportation funding 
this summer, which means this spring, State and local governments are 
going to be holding back.
  I have been working with business, labor, and environmental leaders, 
local governments, AAA, the truckers, bicyclists, and contractors to be 
able to come forward with a funding program that will work. The first 
gas tax increase in 21 years is what we have proposed that would be 
indexed for inflation so we wouldn't have to go through this anymore.
  In addition, H.R. 3638 would explore the new methodology that was 
used in an Oregon pilot project that would pay for road use based on a 
user fee for the distance traveled. It has the opportunity not just to 
fund transportation but to transform the travel system in the United 
States.
  Congress needs to step up. What are their solutions if they don't 
want to raise the gas tax for the first time in 21 years? Maybe we 
could have a hearing before the Ways and Means Committee on how we are 
going to finance the reauthorization.
  We can, in fact, solve this problem. We can put millions of people to 
work to revitalize our communities and to make our families safer, 
healthier, and economically secure. When these men and women visit you 
on Capitol Hill, please be prepared to say: If not raising the gas tax, 
tell them what is your solution so that we don't fall off the cliff in 
204 days and retard vital progress?

                          ____________________