Date: 2000-10-06
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I will vote against H. Res. 612. the rule on the conference report for H.R. 4475. the FY2001 Transportation Appropriations bill. Like many of my colleagues. I voted "no" to signal my frustration at the chaotic manner in which this bill was fashioned. I would also like to take this opportunity to express an additional concern I had relating to the National Corridor Planning and Development Program. First. let me thank the conferees for including significant investments for the Dallas AreaRapid Transit (DART) system. I am pleased that the bill includes my $70 million request for DART to construct the North Central Light Rail Extension. This funding fulfills the federal governments commitments under a full funding grant agreement reached between DART and the Federal Transit Administration in October. 1999. and will ensure that the North Central extension can proceed on schedule. I would also like to thank the conferees for including $2 million for DART to acquire new buses that will be used throughout the 13 member jurisdictions within DARTs service territory. I was extremely disappointed. however. that the conferees could not fund my $12 million request for the 135 Bridge under the National Corridor Planning and Development Program. In recognition of the increased trade and traffic that NAFTA would bring to Texas. 135 was designated as a corridor under the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995. The 135 Bridge project is necessary to alleviate the heavy local and traderelated traffic that now traverses the Dallas area. Although the conferees did include $1.325 million for 135 construction in the Waco. Texas area. I was disappointed that no funding was provided for the heavily congested part of 135 that traverses Dallas. Moreover. I am extremely concerned that the State of Texas has again been shortchanged under the National Corridor Planning and Development Program. Under H.R. 4475. total earmarks for this program total approximately $95 million. However.. only $5.67S million. or less than 6 percent. was targeted toward projects in Texas. Even more disturbing was that the bill provided funding for two individual projects that both .individually exceed the total amount earmarked for Texas. and that these two. projects are located in states thatare not adjacent to Canada or Mexico. Thd distribution provided in the National Corridor Planning and Development Program is fundamentally unfair toTexas. The corridor and border programs. authorized in TEA21. were designed specifically to target assistance to nationally significant roadways thatfoster international trade and economic growth and that improve the -flow of commerce at U.S. ports of entry. Texas has four nationally significant corridors. two of which (135 and 110) carry almost 50 percent of all NAFTA trucks. Texas border crossings carry nearly 80 percent of international truck traffic. with 40 percent of this traveling through the state to other destinations in the U.S. and Canada. However. in the first two years of the programs. Texas has received only $36 million out of approximately $245 million. or less than 15 percent. By decreasing this meager amount to 6 percent. H.R. 4475 certainly goes in the wrong direction. Mr. Speaker. I am extremely disappointed in this aspect of the Transportation Appropriations bill. and I now intend to redouble my efforts in this area so that future distributions to Texas will be more equitable.