[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6588]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              WE ARE STARVING OUR NATION'S INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, the majority has found a new way to keep 
from funding a long-term surface transportation bill within 6 days: 
keep passing short-term patches. As a result, we are starving the 
Nation's infrastructure.
  Twenty-three States are so desperate that they have either raised 
their State gas taxes or are in the process; still, the states are 
screaming for Congress to have the guts to do the same. State gas taxes 
were meant to partner with the Federal tax. States can't do it alone. 
The States have shown that the public understands the gas tax is a user 
fee.
  The roads, bridges, and transit America most needs can't even be 
started with short-term patch funding. The people are leading us to 
their roads and bridges.
  It is time we followed, Mr. Speaker.

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