[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10472-10473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HIGHWAY BILL

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I have one more topic I would like to 
speak about today, and that is the fact that we have a looming 
deadline. In 36 days, the highway trust fund is going to be at zero--
empty. In 36 days as of today, if we do not act together, there will be 
a shutdown of the highway trust fund, which will have a ripple effect 
through the entire economy and harm businesses and workers and families 
in every single one of our States coast to coast. The harm will be felt 
equally--Republicans, Democrats, Independents, people who don't 
participate in the political process, people who do. Everybody will 
suffer if we cannot come together and address the highway trust fund. 
If this happens, Congress fails in its responsibility.
  With all due respect, I have to say that it falls right on the 
majority because we have been saying and will continue to say that we 
want to work together on a bipartisan basis to get this done.
  There was a time when it was not a partisan issue, when Republicans 
were leaders on building our infrastructure. In fact, President 
Eisenhower said in 1952: ``A network of modern roads is as necessary to 
our national defense as it is to our national economy and our personal 
safety.''
  What is interesting is that tomorrow is the day when it is 59 years--
tomorrow, 59 years ago, Congress approved the Federal Highway Act, 
connecting all of our country for commerce, for farmers, for families. 
The rollcall, interestingly, was almost unanimous. Only one Senator 
voted no. Everybody else voted yes. Ninety-nine voted yes. Then it 
passed in the House on a voice vote.
  Think about all the discussions we are having today. The Federal 
Highway Act passed on a voice vote in the House. Only one person in the 
Senate voted no. It was signed by President Eisenhower 3 days later. It 
was the biggest public works project in our Nation's history. It could 
not have happened if not for a triumph of bipartisanship. A Republican 
President working with a Democratic Congress got this done.
  When we look at who benefited from taking that dirt road, paving it, 
and being able to go across our country, it certainly was colleagues in 
the West, colleagues in the South. It wasn't just the cities. In fact, 
they probably had roads already. It was everybody else, as we moved 
across the country. So this should not be regional. It should not be 
partisan. It doesn't make any sense for us not to come together and get 
this done.
  Behind the teamwork at the time, after they worked together to pass 
this, construction began on a system of 40,000 miles of highways, 
enough to circle the globe 1\1/2\ times. That is what was done when 
people worked together to build the strong infrastructure of the 20th 
century.
  It didn't take long before the economic impact was felt. By the late 
1950s, our interstate highways were responsible for 31 percent of the 
annual growth of the economy. Over 30 percent of the growth in the 
economy came from that one act, developing the infrastructure to move 
goods and services and people across our country.
  The people of this country were getting to their destinations faster, 
more safely than ever before. Every rural community was flourishing 
just as our urban communities had been.
  Thanks to President Eisenhower's leadership and a Democratic-
controlled Congress, our roads in the mid-21st century were the envy of 
the world. Other nations noticed. Those nations aspired to be like us, 
to be like America in a global economy.
  They now are making huge investments in their infrastructure, from 
China, at 9 percent of their GDP--four times more than we are--to 
Brazil.
  I have said before that when I was in China a couple of years ago, 
they rolled out 20 new international airports--20 international 
airports. That didn't count anything else they were doing.
  In Brazil they rolled out for us--when I was there with the Secretary 
of Agriculture--their new rail system and road system that was going to 
get agricultural commodities to the ports and move people around their 
country so they could move forward as a global, economic power.
  Today our European competitors spend twice as much as we do, and now 
it is time for America to step forward because, unfortunately, we are 
now playing catchup. The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness 
Report for 2014 and 2015 ranks America 16th in the world in the quality 
of our roads. America is one spot behind Luxembourg and just one spot 
ahead of Croatia, as I said before. Yay, we are beating Croatia. It is 
an embarrassment, and it is not what our people need or our businesses 
need or what our farmers need or what our workers need.
  In 2002, that same report had us at No. 5--the fifth best 
transportation system. Now we are 16th, and the American Society of 
Civil Engineers has given America a D. And how many of us would be 
satisfied if our children came home from school with a D? I know I 
wouldn't be.
  It also said that 32 percent of America's major roads are in poor or 
mediocre condition. We know what has happened when bridges have fallen. 
We know what happens. I have seen it in Michigan and heard the stories 
of people driving under overpasses and cement falls down on the car. 
People's lives are threatened. People's lives have been taken.
  Driving on bad roads costs motorists $109 billion in road repairs a 
year. I talked to one colleague who told me that he had to replace all 
four tires on his car when he went through one pothole not long ago, 
and that in the last year he had bought seven new tires for his car, 
which is way more than he would have been paying if we had created a 
way to fund our roads on a long-term basis that made sense.
  It is not right for Congress to neglect our responsibility to 
maintain and, in fact, strengthen our infrastructure. In fact, we, as 
individuals and business people driving on roads, driving across 
bridges, and moving across our country, are paying for the fact that we

[[Page 10473]]

have not come together with a long-term plan. We cannot expect our 
workers and companies to compete in the 21st century global marketplace 
if we are forced to use 20th century roads and bridges.
  So I would say, in conclusion, that we have 36 days left to act. Now, 
when we want to, we can act pretty quickly.
  I commend colleagues from the EPW Committee who have come forward 
with a 6-year bill. We have in front of us a policy passed by the 
committee.
  I congratulate Senator Inhofe and Senator Boxer for coming forward 
with a proposal that will increase the funding over time, and I believe 
and hope we will do it in an even more robust way. They put forth 
policies that will, in the long term, create the economic stability for 
our businesses and the jobs for our workers and our families that they 
need. The DRIVE Act, as we call it, is an important step forward. I 
commend the chairman of the Finance Committee for holding hearings on 
how we finance that, because that is our responsibility.
  I say, again, we have enough time to get this done because President 
Eisenhower, over 50 years ago tomorrow, with a Democratic Congress, got 
it done. Thirty-six days is enough time for us to meet the expectations 
of the American people on this issue.
  Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I have been interested in how the Democrats 
are constantly pushing to get moneys for the Federal highway system. 
All of us are. Every one of us in this body wants to do everything we 
can for the highway system. However, they are talking in such big terms 
that the only way you could possibly reach those kinds of moneys would 
be with further tax increases.
  Now, my experience here is that when our friends on the other side 
call for tax increases, it is so they can spend. Frankly, I would tell 
you, if we raised the amount of money they are asking for in tax 
increases, I could tell you all of the projects that are going to be 
done, and many of them are not the crucial projects in this country.
  All I can say is that we are going to try to find the moneys, but we 
don't want to raise taxes, and we certainly don't want to raise the gas 
tax at this time. We will find enough moneys to do, hopefully, a 
multiyear approach toward the highway plan. I am dedicated to try to 
find that way.
  The other committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, is, 
I believe, the committee that has passed a bill calling for a 6-year 
highway program. I hope that it would meet my highest goal, if we could 
do that, but I don't think we would be able to do that under the 
current monetary and economic systems that we have today.
  But, nevertheless, I am going to do my best to try to help to get the 
highway bill through and to do it the right way.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Hatch 
be recognized following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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