Date: 2015-07-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I would offer to say that a highway bill. 6 years. or a surface transportation bill for 6 years is a bipartisan American way to do things. Why dont we do that for the American people and do it now? Vote "no" on the rule. Mr. Speaker. as a senior member of the Homeland Security. I rise to speak on H.R. 3236. Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015." which reauthorizes federalaid highway and transit programs for three monthsthrough October 29. 2015by transferring $8.1 billion from other federal funds to the Highway Trust Fund to cover projected trust fund shortfalls over that time period. The bill also allows the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) to use $3.4 billion provided last year for the Veterans Choice health care program to pay for care provided since May 1 to veteran patients by nonVA providers under VA Care in the Community programs. The bill also is intended to give the VA the funding flexibility needed to prevent the possible closure of some VA hospitals in coming weeks. Mr. Speaker. instead of this 90day temporary extension. I would have strongly preferred that we were debating a comprehensive. fair. equitable. and longterm transportation reauthorization bill the nation desperately needs. We have had two years to do so. Democrats want such a bill as does the President. but apparently our friends across the aisle do not since they have spent the last two years wasting time on advocating policies wanted by no one except for the rightwing extremists of the Tea Party. But I reluctantly support this emergency but temporary measure because as the Department of Transportation has reported. if we do not act now highway trust fund balances by the beginning of August will reach dangerously low levels and result in a reduction of payments to states by an average of 28 percent. Many states have already begun to cancel or delay planned construction projects. threatening 700.000 thousands of jobs. including 106.100 jobs in my home state of Texas. Mr. Speaker. the Highway Trust Fund was created in 1956 during the Eisenhower Administration to help finance construction of the Interstate Highway System. which modernized the nations transportation infrastructure and was instrumental in making the United States the worlds dominant economic power for two generations. Our national leaders then understood that investing in our roads and bridges strengthened our economy. created millions of goodpaying jobs. and improved the quality of life for all Americans. It is currently composed of two accounts that fund federalaid highway and transit projects built by states. Federal funding from the trust fund accounts for a major portion of state transportation spending. The Highway Trust Fund is financed by gasoline and diesel taxes. which until the last decade produced a steady increase in revenues sufficient to accommodate increased levels of spending on highway and transit projects. However. those tax rates18.4 cents/gallon federal tax on gasoline and a 24.4 cents/gallon tax on diesel fuelhave remained unchanged since 1993 and were not indexed to inflation so the value of those revenues has eroded over the years. and. combined with the fact that vehicles have been getting increasingly better mileage. the revenues deposited into the Highway Trust Fund beginning last decade have not kept pace with highway and transit spending from the trust fund. Consequently. since 2008. Congress has periodically had to transfer at the 11th hour general Treasury revenues into the trust fund to pay for authorized highway and transit spending levels and avoid a funding shortfall. The total amount to date is more than $54 billion. Obviously. this practice is economically inefficient and injects uncertainty in the highway construction plans. projects. and schedules of state and local transportation agencies. not to mention the anxiety it causes to workers and businesses whose economic livelihood is dependent on those projects. Mr. Speaker. the last transportation authorized by Congress for 4 years or more. SAFETEALU. expired on September 30. 2009. at the end of FY 2009. Because Congress and the Administration could not agree to a new reauthorization. it was necessary to resort to stopgap temporary extensions on no less than eight occasions spanning a period of 910 days before Congress finally enacted the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act" (MAP21 Act) on July 6. 2012. which reauthorized highway and transportation programs through Fiscal Year 2014. a little more than two years. or until September 30. 2014. MAP21 was intended as a shortterm measure to give Congress and the Administration breathing room to reach agreement on a longterm reauthorization bill. Yet. as Mr. LEVIN. the Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee. has often pointed out. since gaining the majority in 2010. our Republican colleagues have failed to take any action to sustain the Highway Trust Fund over the longterm and shore up vital infrastructure projects and has not held even a single hearing on financing options for the Highway Trust Fund. Instead. House Republicans have wasted the nations time voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act at least 59 times. waging a War on Women. pursuing partisan investigations into Benghazi. the IRS. and the trying to overturn President Obamas executive actions that make our immigration enforcement laws less inhumane. Instead of doing their job. House Republicans big new idea is to attack the President for doing his job. Mr. Speaker. it is long past time for this Congress. and especially the House majority. to focus on the real problems and challenges facing the American people. And one of the biggest of those challenges is ensuring that America has a transportation policy and the infrastructure needed to compete and win in the global economy of the 21 st Century. To do that we have to extend the reauthorization of current transportation programs and to authorize the transfer of the funds to the Highway Trust Fund needed to fund authorized construction projects and keep 700.000 workers. including 106.100 in Texas on the job. But that is only a start and just a part of our job. The real work that needs to be done in the remaining days of this Congress is to reach an agreement on a longterm highway and transportation bill that is fair. equitable. fiscally responsible. creates jobs and leads to sustained economic growth.