Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II

Floor Speech

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Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Chairman, the folders that I am holding here represent our dysfunctional Federal bureaucracy. They provide a stark example of the burdensome red tape that a Wisconsin business must go through just to get approval of a single project.

Mr. Chairman, in this folder is when the county controls a project. This folder is when the State controls the project. Mr. Chairman, this folder is when the Federal Government controls the project.

Well, these examples aren't specifically for a highway project. They are emblematic of the bureaucracy our Federal Government imposes in northeastern Wisconsin and across the Nation. My amendment today will smooth the road for our infrastructure projects by reducing the redundant permitting requirements that prevent us from rebuilding our roads and bridges across this country.

My amendment includes many of the practical reforms that I and my colleagues on the Transportation Committee have championed under Chairman Mica's leadership. Today, the average life span of a construction project is 15 years, but only 5 of those years involve actual on-the-ground construction.

Let me say that again. At least 10 years of a project are not spent building anything, but instead are spent filling thousands of folders just like these with millions of pages of paperwork.

My amendment expedites this process. In some cases we can cut this timeline in half merely by allowing the Federal and State agencies to work together. How about that for an idea, to work together on the review and permitting process.

My amendment sets hard deadlines for Federal agencies to approve infrastructure projects, no longer leaving them in limbo. There has been a lot of talk about shovel-ready projects in recent years. Well, my amendment will help States, municipalities, and contractors to put their pencils down and, Mr. Chairman, pick the shovels up. It's exactly what we need in a time when our economy is struggling.

The Federal Government needs to stop putting up roadblocks to job creation and figure out ways to make things easier and less costly. My amendment would do just that.

It also exempts certain unplanned emergencies from some of the review processes. When a State or city is hit by damaging storms or unexpected flooding, our top priority should be to get our roads and bridges repaired, not subjecting our communities to an endless permitting process that may further harm their quality of life.

Mr. Chairman, the bill before us today is not perfect, but then again no bill ever is. However, my amendment will put us on the road to reforming how we build and maintain our infrastructure throughout this country, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. RIBBLE. I do want to thank the ranking member. We do have a disagreement, and disagreements happen in this Chamber a lot. But anyone who's traveled our roads and highways and tried to cross bridges that have been falling apart, that are filled with potholes, that have needed repairs for, sometimes, decades recognizes the real cost and real cause of the delay.

Mr. Chairman, I would note that my amendment in no way eliminates NEPA or the need for an environmental review to occur. However, our current process reduces redundant submissions, and approvals can render a road project obsolete before the ground has ever been broken.

My amendment merely ensures that Federal and State governments get to actually work together in doing the review. They get to work together to do this. And unlike others, I have full confidence in the people that live in the States where this work is going to be done. They're the neighbors of these road projects. They're the ones that swim in the lakes and streams and drink the water, breathe the air. They're the ones that live there. They ought to have more say on how these projects are completed, and we can actually get more projects done because of this.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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