[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11007]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PASS HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION FUNDING

  (Mr. KILDEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, on July 31, the highway and transit trust 
fund will expire.
  So what does the expiration of the trust fund mean to America, to 
American families?
  It means the potential loss of over 600,000 jobs. It means the 
cancelation of major infrastructure projects. In fact, I heard this 
morning that five States have already canceled or delayed major 
projects because of Congress' lack of ability to do its work.
  My home State of Michigan, we know more than anyplace that if we 
invest in our roads and bridges and rails, we grow our economy.
  Other nations, instead of planning months ahead, are planning years 
ahead and building infrastructure. China, for example, is spending 10 
times what we are as a percentage of their GDP on infrastructure.
  Meanwhile, back in May, instead of thinking about the decades to come 
and hundreds of thousands of jobs, this Congress passed a 2-month 
extension, a self-imposed, manmade crisis, governing crisis to crisis 
on every big issue that we deal with.
  We can't let this happen. This Congress needs to do its job. We need 
to come together in a bipartisan way--we can do it--and pass an 
extension of the highway trust fund that invests in America and puts 
American workers back to work rebuilding this country.
  If we don't do this, we cannot expect our economy to grow. Congress 
has to act.

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