[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11394]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRANSPORTATION FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, we have an unusual prospect tomorrow 
where a proposal to raise money for the highway trust fund is opposed 
by the very interests strongly identified with the need for more 
transportation funding.
  How did we get to this point? Why do we need the money? And why would 
the very interests that seem to benefit be opposed?
  This is the latest chapter in the strange saga of congressional 
irresponsibility on transportation funding that started when the last 
Congress refused to meaningfully address the funding crisis. You see, 
the funding has fallen in the highway trust fund that is based on 
gallons of fuel consumed, but the need continues.
  The United States is now spending far less on infrastructure than our 
competing countries, and the vital Federal partnership, which can be a 
third or more of the funding in our States, is falling further and 
further behind.
  But Congress put its head in the sand. There has not even been a 
hearing on the needs of transportation finance by the Ways and Means 
Committee, which is the House committee with primary jurisdiction. I am 
afraid my friend Dave Camp, the chair of that committee, has it exactly 
wrong. He is proposing a short-term fix tomorrow, saying it is time for 
the committees of the entire House and Senate to have the influence 
they deserve by kicking it into the next Congress. Well, wait a minute, 
by refusing to have a hearing for 3\1/2\ years on transportation 
financing, this has produced the backroom maneuvering with no public 
discussion that he says he is opposed to.
  Now the results of the last Congress' failure to deal meaningfully 
are coming sharply into focus. The already inadequate highway trust 
fund will not even last through the end of the 27-month extension, 
which expires September 30. By draining every last dime out of the 
highway trust fund, they have lost the capacity to manage it, and the 
Federal Government is preparing to cut back. That means State and local 
projects will be on hold later this summer.
  This pending crisis has finally sparked action, but because we have 
never bothered to listen to the businesses and labor unions--Pete Ruane 
of Road Builders, Terry O'Sullivan of the Laborers', Tom Donohue of the 
U.S. Chamber, Rich Trumka of the AFL-CIO, Bill Graves of the American 
Trucking Assoc.--these are people who could have told Congress why it 
actually could be even worse than allowing the trust fund to 
temporarily go dry. That would be to punt this into the next Congress.
  We have a long-term funding crisis. To kick this can to the next 
Congress makes it a virtual certainty we will continue to wrestle far 
beyond the next 2 years. Remember, in the next Congress, the Senate 
will be more evenly divided no matter who is in charge; we will be in 
the middle of a heated Presidential campaign, which seems like it has 
already started and half the Members of the other body are running for 
President. There is no realistic opportunity for the meaningful help 
America needs. It will be put on hold until another Presidential 
election is past and, hopefully, a stronger Congress elected. But that 
is 3 years or more. America deserves better.
  That is why, almost without exception, the people who care the most 
and know the most, simply want a solution that gets us past the summer 
shutdown, enough money to tide us towards the end of the next year so 
this Congress can act. Then this Congress can take action that is 
sustainable with dedicated funding and that is robust enough to have a 
6-year transportation bill that America needs.
  There was a time when transportation and infrastructure brought 
America together to produce the finest roads, bridges, transit, and 
railroads in the world. We can do this again. It is time to start down 
this path.
  I have been working with these stakeholders for years. We are open to 
solutions to the transportation problems. Let's listen to the needs 
that others have. Let's reject a proposal to punt to the next Congress. 
Let's get down to business and not adjourn this year until this 
Congress has met its responsibilities.

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