Infrastructure

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, fixing our Nation's crumbling infrastructure to boost the economy and increase transportation safety should not be a partisan issue; yet Republicans in Congress continue to show neglect and indifference towards the Nation's infrastructure and transportation safety needs.

The 2-month extension of the highway trust fund they offered in their unacceptable T-HUD appropriation bill is the latest example. The T-HUD bill shows a dangerous disregard for safety measures on America's highways at a time when we well know transportation safety should be a priority.

It allows massive, double 33-foot tractor-trailers to travel at high speeds on America's Interstate Highway System, and it suspends Federal safety guidelines aimed at eliminating trucker fatigue, allowing long-haul truckers to work more than twice the average workweek for Americans.

Mr. Speaker, the short-term highway trust fund does not solve the problem of deteriorating roads and bridges; it simply puts a Band-Aid on it.

Republicans kicked the can down the road, but it got stuck in a pothole. Now is the time to fix the infrastructure in our counties, and we need to put people back to work in order to do it, but what we really need is a robust, long-term commitment.

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