[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13163-13164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           RICKETY PATCHWORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, work on the Nation's bridges, highways, and 
transit has all but stopped because of 34 patch extensions that keep 
everything--except patchwork--on hold.
  Today, the House is rushing out of town early, leaving a new 3-month 
patch. This time, though, the Republican House is scrambling out of the 
Capitol, literally, to get away from the Republican Senate, which had 
been trying for a 6-year bill. The Republican House's ``my way or the 
highway'' was addressed to the Republican Senate, and the public be 
damned--and it worked. The Republican Senate has given up on the 
Nation's infrastructure, too. The Republican Senate announced this 
morning that it will accept the House's 3-month patch. Six

[[Page 13164]]

months of control of the House and Senate by the Republicans has made 
Congress even more dysfunctional.
  The new House 3-month patch has nothing to do with roads and bridges. 
Who knows what will get done this time? House Republicans see political 
goals at the end of their 3-month road, when the must-pass highway bill 
could serve their purposes, such as the usual, if dangerous, dispute 
over an extension of the debt ceiling.
  Yet, Republican and Democratic States alike keep meeting their 
obligations under the State-Federal partnership. Eighteen States and 
the District of Columbia have raised their gas user fees, going as high 
as 10-cent increases in Iowa and in Wyoming; but the roads, bridges, 
and transit remain stalled because the Federal partner keeps dropping 
out. More than half of the funds for a nationwide system that connects 
our States with one another comes from the Federal trust fund.
  During the 34 patch delays, not a lick of work on a final bill has 
been done except the Senate's current try at a 6-year bill. There have 
been no serious talks here on alternatives to the gas user fee, 
although it long ago was swallowed by today's hard-won fuel efficiency 
that leaves the transit trust fund thirsty for a refill after a year 
and a half or so.
  Democrats, however, have offered four alternatives to the current 
user fee, which is the legacy of the Eisenhower years. House 
Republicans have offered none. Congress has refused to raise the 
Federal user fee since 1992, adding to the woes of the 1950's method we 
use to pay for our roads.
  The Republican House runs out of town today to hide from the 
Republican Senate. As they run home, I can only hope they run into the 
arms of their own angry constituents on their own rickety roads. House 
Republicans can run, but they can't hide from the broken down bridges, 
roads, and transit they will use back home.

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