Date: 2005-03-09
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. this bill has been a long time coming. I would like to commend Chairman YOUNG and Ranking Member OBERSTAR for their work together on this bill. It is amazing how two individuals from different parties can get together and share a common cause. and that is to better the transportation system within our Nation. I would also like to commend Chairman YOUNGS staff. they have been very accessible trying to accomplish this bill. and Subcommittee- Chairman PETRI. I understand your passion. and I share that with you. but. I have watched you work in recent years and: your motivation towards providing.. a better transportation system for this country. When this country was founded. we had basically. two main areas. of oversight. That was to ensure interstate commerce. and protect and defend our borders. This bill qnsures interstate commerce. It is definitely not the amount of money a lot of us would like to see it be. Chairman YOUNG. I know. fought very hard. and we all -know what a kind and gentle man he -is and an easy man to getalong with. but -he put that aside and was willing to be forceful. he is a forceful man by nature. and to really fight for what we:believe is right and- that is more money. for our States. . .. I . . California. as the previous.:speaker. said. is probably the- largest donor State in this Nation. Unlessyou go to California and you drive the freeways and you understand what working people go through. what truckers go through. the problem we face:.with the Alameda. Corridor East which deals directly with the. ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. when that was fundedoriginallyin the midnineties. we funded 100 percent of the improvements from the harbors to commerce. but there was nothing aone from commerce all the way through LA County. San Bernardino County. Riverside County and Orange County. The impact.is incredible. and it is growing daily. How many people do you know that cannot afford to live within the communities within which they work so ithey have to buy in an area that is outside of their working areas. we see inCalifornia. and they spend hours each day driving back and forth to work. and it is getting worse. Unless we come up with the funds to improve our atgrade crossings for the trains. we are. just going to sit there and watch trains go by. We are going to sit on the freeways and watch trucks coming. back and forth from those harbors when people are trying to get back and forth to work to provide for their families. Nothing has as great an .impact on our economic development. growth patterns and quality of life as transportation. If you are going to have a good system. if you are going to have a system that is critical in keeping people moving and goods moving and cities and communities prosperous. you have to provide for the transportation needs that the American people are demanding and require. In California. they have gone through some very difficult economic times. The State of California has. been in deficit for recent years and is having to continue to cut back on their spending. One area they tend to focus on cutting back on seems to be transportation. I have never been as impacted by calls. letters and requests from my local communities.. and -those requests are for dollars to be able to meet the local transportation needs that they have. needs that. in the past. they have been able to accommodate themselves. This year. in some. of our communities in California. it is worse than others because we have been plagued by an incredible amount .of rain. more rain than the sewers in California are able to accommodate. We have houses sliding off of hills. very severe economic problems and situations that our cities and counties have been put into. And dollars that would otherwise be placed in transportation to fulfill those needs locally are being placed to help people who are being impacted by the slides and the devastation that California hao recently experienced. Then that puts the cities. in a situation where they have to come back .to Congress and say. .we need some of our tax dollars back to be able to help move people. to repair the potholes.. to improve the highways. the freeways that are impacted. the bridges that areideteriorating in California and throughout this country. We have to do something about that. That is what this bill does. Again. I want to praise Chairman YOUNG. He has done everything he can to provide the maximum amount of dollars we can through a bill. I would like to commend our leadership. Subcommittee Chairman PETRI. I really appreciate everything he has done. The staff that are here in the room. They have always been accommodating and willing to listen to our needs. and they have always done what they can to help us. Chairman YOUNG has gone out of his way to be understanding. cooperative and basically provide the resources that we need to better the peoples lives in California. I am proud to be a part of this committee and be a part of this bill. I strongly support an "aye" vote.