Transportation and Infrastructure Funding

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, both sides of the aisle recognize the importance of our transportation network to remain globally competitive and to keep our roads, railways, and bridges safe. We all know that long-term projects are more cost effective and provide good-paying jobs.

In Michigan's 14th District, we know the reality of driving on crumbling bridges and roads. The Federal Highway Administration says nearly 30 percent of our state's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. What else needs to go wrong before we do what is right? We must have a long-term funding plan in place before this latest 60-day patch job ends.

We have passed 32 short-term extensions in the past six years. This lack of long-term planning wastes money and resources. More importantly, it has cost lives. Lives that could have been saved or spared serious injury had we all taken this issue seriously. I do not want to attend one more funeral for the victim of a transportation disaster knowing that Congress failed to act on this problem.

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