[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11429-11430]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WE NEED A LONG-TERM HIGHWAY BILL

  (Mrs. BUSTOS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. BUSTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to take up and 
pass a long-overdue bill to fund our roads and bridges for the long 
term. Yet again, we are approaching the end of a short-term extension 
with the highway trust fund in danger of expiring at the end of this 
month. We can't keep kicking the can down the road. We need a long-term 
bill, and we need it now.
  In my congressional district alone, there are 421 bridges that are 
structurally deficient. Just earlier this

[[Page 11430]]

month, I stood alongside the Murray Baker Bridge in Peoria that runs 
over the Illinois River, the heart of my district. Its structure is in 
need of replacement.
  Further northwest, where I live, there is the Interstate 74 Bridge. 
Just over the weekend, I stood alongside it. It spans the Mississippi 
River. It was built for traffic of about 40,000 cars. Today it 
accommodates about twice that many. In fact, former Secretary of 
Transportation Ray LaHood stood alongside that bridge and said it is 
the worst bridge he has seen in the United States of America.
  The families I represent deserve better. The businesses I represent 
deserve better. We need to pass a bill, a long-term highway bill, and 
we need to pass it now.

                          ____________________