[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11331-11332]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRANSPORTATION 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, as you can see by this chart, the Federal 
gas

[[Page 11332]]

user fee, at only $97 a year, buys drivers $515 in costs per driver 
because of bad roads.
  Just released data also shows that up to 73 percent of the bridges in 
some States are deficient. Can you think of any other necessity, except 
the $97 gas user fee, that has not increased in 22 years? We are 
getting what we paid for in the hidden costs of bad roads and bridges.
  The congressional response has been so disproportionate to the needs 
of the States that we are told that another short-term extension--that 
would be the 34th--12 legislative days from now could yield a veto.
  The States say that these short-term extensions are useless. Only the 
next 2 weeks to get a long-term authorization is pushing it. Given the 
state of our bridges and roads, we have no alternative.

                          ____________________