[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7294]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

  (Mr. WESTERMAN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I realize, like my 
friends across the aisle, that we find ourselves in a crisis situation 
of our own making. The Federal highway trust fund is set to run out of 
money, and with our current infrastructure needs, the fund's moneys are 
simply not enough. But instead of addressing the issue during the last 
several Congresses, short-term fixes have been passed, and Congress has 
kicked the can down the road. We need more than rhetoric on the 
importance of infrastructure. We need solutions.
  Mr. Speaker, on Thursday I will introduce the Prioritizing American 
Roads and Jobs Act. This bill will roll back 100 percent Medicaid 
expansion reimbursement rates to be equal to traditional Medicaid 
rates, with the savings transferring to the highway trust fund. This 
bill will add $15 billion a year to the trust fund and put it back on 
the path to financial stability for the long term, while freeing up 
$150 billion for deficit reduction over the next 10 years.

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