Hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee - Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill: Laying the Foundation for U.S. Economic Growth and Job Creation Part I

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member DeFazio, and all the members of this committee, for inviting me to testify today.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, it is February, a month when we typically celebrate Groundhog Day. I am told that Groundhogs all across America predicted that winter will last six weeks longer this year but they also anticipate that Congress will pass a six year surface transportation bill.

Seriously, it does feel like Groundhog Day. Over the past year, I've been to 41 states and more than 100 cities. And every place I go, I see the same thing over and over again: Every community has a to-do list. And those lists are growing longer and longer.

We're doing less and less.

We have three basic problems that a transportation bill can help fix.

The Brent Spence Bridge is not the only bridge in America that needs to be repaired or replaced. One-quarter of our nation's bridges are in similar shape. But it's a good example. The Brent Spence Bridge connects Kentucky and Ohio. It's over 50 years old and is carrying more than twice the traffic it was designed for.

Concrete is now falling from the bridge's ramps on the cars parked below. It needs to be replaced. There is no solution for this problem today. Not for the Brent-Spence Bridge and not for the thousands like it.

In fact, just last night, we got news about a structurally deficient bridge on the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway. Concrete started crumbling and fell on the roadway below, badly damaging a car passing through.

Fortunately, this time, the driver survived. But make no mistake -- infrastructure in disrepair has the potential to harm -- and to kill.

Second, aside from tackling deferred maintenance, we need to build new things again. Our nation is growing by 70 million people over the next 30 years. That growth is coming largely in the south and western parts of the country. We will choke on our own growth if we're not careful.

That's why, when we hear the State DOT Secretary in Tennessee say he's canceling $400M in projects due to funding uncertainty here in Washington, we should all be concerned. The same is true when we hear about Arkansas, just postponed three more projects -- on top of the 15 they postponed in 2014.

Finally, we need to make our transportation system smarter -- more efficient and effective. That's why USDOT sent you the GROW AMERICA Act last year. The GROW AMERICA Act includes -- and I think many of you will agree with me -- being even better stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Among other policy proposals -- like ones that would've enhanced safety -- it would have cut red tape and streamlined the permitting process. That way, we can get projects done faster and remove barriers to the private investment. Those are dollars we'll need to address our infrastructure deficit.

But here's the other point I want to make today, and in many ways it's the more important point: Even if we start doing things in a way that is 1,000 percent more efficient, the fundamental way that the federal government has been investing will still fall well short of meeting our country's needs.

"The federal government," to quote Arkansas's Transportation Director who just had to postpone those projects, "is putting the states in a real bind." That's because over the last 6 six years, Congress has funded our transportation system with 32 short-term measures -- including the latest one which will expire this May, right at the beginning of construction season. These short term measures are killing communities' will to build. Not just in Tennessee. Not just in Arkansas. But across the country.

So, here's what we plan to do. In the coming weeks, we are going to send Congress a new and improved GROW AMERICA Act: one that provides funding for six years -- and more of it.

Our goal can't be just to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. Multiple studies show us -- from the CBO's, to industry groups, to our own at DOT -- that merely replenishing the fund will keep us at a funding level that falls short of meeting even our basic maintenance needs.

That's why the new GROW AMERICA act will increase our investment in surface transportation to $478 billion over six years.

Maybe this number -- 478 billion -- sounds like a lot. But I believe it is necessary not only for America's transportation system -- but doable politically. Keep in mind: Others are calling for far, far more. And we've also hammered down a way to pay for all of this through business tax reform.

So today I say: Let's play to win as a country again. To do so, we need you to set the ceiling, not the floor. And I believe this committee, on a bipartisan basis, can do that. I believe this committee can produce a bill that is truly transformative -- and that brings the country together.

So I'm here to work with you. And I'm looking forward to your questions.

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