Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 3074, Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3074, TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 23, 2007)

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Mr. SHUSTER. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule for the Department of Transportation, HUD and related agencies appropriations.

The ranking member of the Transportation Committee, Mr. Mica, has made compelling and passionate remarks regarding the objections shared by many members of the committee on both sides of the aisle. Numerous provisions in the underlying bill constitute legislating on an appropriations bill and fall within the jurisdiction of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

As the ranking member of the Railroad Subcommittee, pipelines and hazardous materials, I would like to voice my opposition waiving points of order under clause 2, rule XXI, which is the rule against authorizing on appropriations bills.

In House Resolution 558, I'm especially concerned about the language that places all Amtrak contracts and leases that make them subject to the Washington, D.C., law. This language should be removed from the bill because it is authorizing on an appropriations bill.

This provision was apparently intended to help resolve a pending Amtrak negotiation with the State of Maryland. That negotiation involved a dispute of a disputed clause in the MARC commuter railroad operating agreement. Amtrak wants all disputes handled under D.C. law, but Maryland State requires that it's handled under their jurisdiction, which is appropriate.

Instead of a narrowly tailored provision, this provision is unlimited in scope and states that all leases and contracts entered into by Amtrak shall be governed by D.C. law. This could be construed to include all D.C. laws, including building codes, environmental permits and security deposits, et cetera, et cetera.

In addition, Amtrak trackage agreements with computer railroads such as the New Jersey Transit, Long Island Railroad, Virginia Railway Express and freight carriers would ultimately be placed under D.C. law. This could lead to many unintended consequences such as changing the law on all rail leases, contracts and perhaps rail labor contracts.

Again, I voice my opposition for House Resolution 558 and the waiver of the point of order based on clause 2 of rule XXI.

Since the Democratic majority has taken over the House, we've seen a chipping away of the authority and the jurisdiction of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. So I would urge the chairmen of the committee to join together in a bipartisan fashion to oppose this rule which continues to erode the jurisdiction of the Transportation Committee and thus, I believe, sets a precedent for all committees in the House, all authorizing committees, to continue to see their authorities and their jurisdictions to erode and given away to the Appropriations Committee.

So again, I rise in opposition to this rule and urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand for the continuing erosion of our authorities and our jurisdictions to these committees that were given historically to these committees.

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