Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, allow me to thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall and Subcommittee Chair Petri and Ranking Member Eleanor Holmes Norton.

I rise today in support of H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act for 2014.

In particular, the bill before the House this afternoon would do two things: first, it would provide a total of $35.3 billion for highway, public transit, and surface transportation programs; secondly, it would extend surface transportation programs authorized under MAP-21 through May 31, 2015.

I support this bill because it takes almost 60,000 construction jobs in Texas out of harm's way, and it ensures that over 3,500 active highway and transit projects in Texas will not be slowed or stopped by the highway trust fund's shortfall.

However, my support for this bill is reluctant, as I believe we have missed another opportunity to craft a long-term highway program yet again. While I am pleased that we have come together to address the impeding highway crisis, we are also kicking the can down the road again.

Today, 65 percent of our Nation's roads are rated at less than good condition, and 25 percent of our bridges require significant repair. In Texas alone, we have over 300,000 miles of public roads, 8 percent of which are in poor condition.

The measure before us today all but ensures that we will be having this exact same debate again sometime in the next Congress; rather, what we need to do is adopt a long-term plan that will provide certainty, increase transit investments, and keep workers in our construction industries on the job. When we return from the August recess, I urge my colleagues to work together and begin crafting a long-term surface transportation bill. We have seen again and again legislating by crisis is not effective.

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Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I thank the gentleman.

As our roads erode and our transit systems decay, we owe our constituents no less than acting in their best interest and enacting a long-term bill as soon as possible.

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