Newsletter: Here we go again

Statement

The drives on highways throughout northeast Ohio from meeting to meeting this month were not smooth rides. The roads were bumpy and our bridges are rusty. Our infrastructure is simply deteriorating and nothing is being done. Ohioans need a solution to this problem for the sake of travel safety, economy growth, and merely maintaining the wellbeing of their cars. This issue continues to be discussed, but never solved. We remain ignoring the magnitude of the problem and pushing the cost of fixing our roads down the chain, which eventually only leads to the hands and wallets of our children and grandchildren.

When Congress returns to session come September, there will be big agenda items on the legislative calendar -- the Iran Deal, international tax reform, and yet again, the Highway Trust Fund. As a result of kicking the can down the road before we left for August, the patch to fix our infrastructure will deplete after three months. This means we need to discuss and vote on another "solution" for the Highway Trust Fund this fall.

I will vote for nothing less of a long-term solution to fix our nation's infrastructure.

I continue to believe that short-term patches for maintaining the way people get to work and home to their families, and the way our products and goods are transported is unacceptable. Our inaction in investing in this and having generations -- our children and grandchildren - after us, who do not currently use these roads, pay for them is even more unacceptable.

As a former business owner, I understand the need for long-term certainty and predictability for our cities and states, as well as our road builders and users. Given our country's dire fiscal situation, it is difficult to find the funds for long-term solutions without adding to the deficit. This is exactly why I introduced a bipartisan long-term solution - the Bridge to Sustainable Infrastructure Act - to provide the users of our roads, our workers, and state and local governments with the certainty that the costs of our inaction will not be passed down to our children and grandchildren. My bill also provides an avenue for those who do not agree with a user-fee to bring forth another solution.

This month, while discussing the dire need for a solution to our infrastructure, constituents all throughout northeast Ohio are in agreement that we indeed need a long --term solution. We cannot continue to live like this anymore.

Ronald Reagan said "you use it, you pay for it' and we can all agree that we don't want to place this burden of investing in our deteriorating infrastructure in the hands of the next generations, who do not use our current roads.

If you need any additional information, please visit my website at renacci.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-3876, Wadsworth office: (330) 334-0040, or Parma office: (440) 882-6779. I also encourage you to subscribe to my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube pages to get updates on my work in Washington and the 16th District.

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