Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, Part II

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today the House must consider yet another short-term extension to keep highway transit safety and HAZMAT investments limping along, this time for only 2 weeks. We must pass this bill today, however, to avert a shutdown of Federal transportation programs, which expire in just 4 days.

This stopgap measure is a means to a much-needed end, which the House and the Senate are working diligently to accomplish a long-term surface transportation bill to provide certainty to States and to address our Nation's crumbling roads, bridges, and transit systems.

Every State department of transportation, every county, every city, every contractor, every construction worker, every commuter stuck in traffic, every business that uses our roads and bridges to move goods wants Congress to break through its own gridlock and wants us to come up with a long-term bill.

I would very much like to thank Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member DeFazio, Subcommittee Chair GRAVES, and all the members who have worked together in the most bipartisan manner--it is bipartisanship that I believe is a model for how this House should operate--in order to craft a surface transportation authorization bill that passed by voice vote out of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and that received robust support when considered by the House after many amendments were also considered.

The conference committee is now diligently doing its work, and I look forward to continuing our talks with the Senate to produce a comprehensive bill for the President to sign. Until such time as the conference committee can complete its work, we must keep programs up and running, Mr. Speaker. This extension does just that.

This extension is a necessary step to avert a shutdown, and I will, therefore, support it. It is my sincere hope that this is the last extension, and I earnestly believe it will be because of the bipartisanship this bill has enjoyed, the very last extension we will need because it is beyond time to get serious about how we are going to fund our transportation future.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I thank the gentleman for coming forward this evening. I have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, the House must consider yet another short-term extension to keep highway, transit, highway safety, and hazmat investments limping along, this time for two weeks.

We must pass this bill today to avert a shutdown of Federal transportation programs, which expire in just four short days.

This stopgap measure is a means to a much-needed end toward which the House and Senate are working diligently: a long-term surface transportation bill to provide certainty to States and to address our nations' crumbling roads, bridges, and transit systems.

Every State Department of Transportation, every county, every city, every contractor, every construction worker, every commuter stuck in traffic, every business that uses our roads and bridges to move goods wants Congress to break through its own gridlock and come up with a long-term bill.

I would like to thank Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member DeFazio, Subcommittee Chairman Graves, and all of the members who have worked together in a bipartisan manner to craft a surface transportation authorization bill that passed by voice vote out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and that received robust support when considered by the House.

The Conference Committee is now diligently doing its work, and I look forward to continue our talks with the Senate to produce a comprehensive bill for the President to sign. Until such time as the Conference Committee can complete its work, we must keep programs up and running. This extension does just that.

This extension is a necessary step to avert a shutdown, and I will therefore support it. It is my sincere hope that this is the last extension we will need, because it is beyond time to get serious about how we are going to fund our transportation future.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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