National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

(Mr. SCOTT assumed the Chair.)

I see my colleagues have changed places here. For South Carolina, South Carolina depends on the Federal Government for 80 percent of their highway funds and their bridge repair--80 percent. California is 50 percent. North Dakota is 80 percent. Montana is 87 percent.

So what I am saying to my colleagues who I hope are somewhere listening is that if we do not act to fill the highway trust fund and to meet this looming made-up crisis--check out your State and how much you rely on Federal funds.

I already showed the picture of the Minnesota bridge collapse. I would like to put that up again because I think the Minnesota bridge collapse is a metaphor for where we are. Our whole thing is discombobulated. Our whole thing is disrupted because we do not have the courage to fund the highway trust fund, which, as President Eisenhower said all of those areas ago, is critical to our national security.

I am going keep this picture up here for a minute. I want to talk about our States and the bridges that are in disrepair. I hope people who may be listening across the country--if you live in one of these States, give a call to your Senator and ask him or her: What are you doing to fill the highway trust fund?

For example, in Kentucky there are over 1,100 structurally deficient bridges--bridges that could look like this. Pennsylvania has more than 5,000 structurally deficient bridges, which accounts for over 20 percent of all the bridges in their State.

In addition to the dangerously poor conditions of our bridges, 50 percent of our Nation's roads are in less than good condition. These roads and bridges that are no longer in good working condition span across the country.

So I am going to show a chart that I don't think we have ever talked about here. These are examples of deficient highway bridges in need of repair: Alabama, I-65 bridge over U.S. 11 in Jefferson County; Arizona, I-17 bridge over 19th Avenue in Maricopa County; Arkansas, I-30 bridge over the UP Railroad in Pulaski County; California, the Golden Gate Bridge, for goodness' sake; Colorado, the I-70 bridge in Denver; Connecticut, the West River Bridge in New Haven; District of Columbia, the Memorial Bridge. There was a press conference right near the Memorial Bridge by one of my colleagues a couple of weeks ago.

People are getting really scared about this. The point of this is not to scare anybody; the point of this is to say to my colleagues that we are responsible.

You know, maybe it is me. When I was growing up, my mother and father said: If you know there is a problem, do something about it. You don't have a right to turn your back and walk away.

I remember once when I was a county supervisor I found out that the county building we were in was earthquake-prone. Nobody talked about it. As soon as I found out it could collapse in an earthquake, I brought it to my colleagues. I said: Colleagues, we need to do something.

Do you know what they said, one or two of them? Don't bring it up. We don't have the money.

Excuse me. You have to have the money if you know the building you are in could collapse in an earthquake. You have to have some money if you know all of these bridges are in disrepair.

So let's continue. Florida, the Pensacola Bay Bridge; Georgia, a bridge in Fulton County; Hawaii, Halona Street Bridge in Honolulu; Illinois, Poplar Street Bridge; Indiana, the bridge over the CSX Railroad; Iowa, the Centennial Bridge; Kentucky--another one--the Brent Spence Bridge; Louisiana, another bridge there; Maine, the Piscataqua River Bridge; Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge; Massachusetts, the I-95 bridge in Middlesex; Michigan, the I-75 Rogue River Bridge.

Remember, if you are hearing my voice and you are hearing your State mentioned, give a call to your Senator and ask him or her, whether they are a Democrat or Republican, what they are doing about the highway trust fund because in 51 days it will go bust.

In Minnesota--did I mention that--the I-35 East Bridge over Pennsylvania Avenue; Mississippi, the Vicksburg Bridge; Missouri, the East Bridge over Conway Road; Nevada, the Virginia Street Bridge in Reno; New Hampshire, the I-293 bridge in Hillsborough; New Jersey, the Garden State Parkway in Union County; New Mexico, the Main Street Bridge; New York, the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you did not read the book ``The Great Bridge,'' you should read that book by David McCullough. It is an incredible book. That bridge was built so long ago. We don't want to lose the Brooklyn Bridge.

In North Carolina, the Greensboro Bridge; Ohio, the John Roebling Suspension Bridge; Oklahoma, the I-40 bridge over Crooked Oak Creek; Oregon, the Columbia River Crossing; Pennsylvania, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge; Rhode Island, the viaduct in Providence; South Carolina, the I-85 bridge in Greenville; Texas, the I-45 bridge over White Oak Bayou; Utah, the I-15 bridge over SR-93 in Davis County; Washington, the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge; Wisconsin, the U.S. 41 bridge over a river.

I just have to ask my friends on both sides of the aisle, if the roof on your house is about to cave in with your children inside and you know about it, would you find a way to pay for that repair or would you let it collapse on your kids? The answer is obvious. Of course you are going to fix the roof on your house. You have to keep infrastructure in good repair. The roof is caving in on our roads and our bridges. Lord help us if we do not act and someone else goes down in a crisis.

We can look at the details surrounding the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN, shown in that picture. On August 1, 2007, this eight-lane bridge, which is Minnesota's second busiest bridge, carrying 140,000 vehicles every day, suddenly collapsed during rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145 people.

It is critical that our Nation continue investing in our aging infrastructure. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it--Congress, States, businesses, American workers. Republicans say they are for infrastructure investment, but they have not acted. Happily, we are having a markup--I am excited about it--in our EPW Committee. Not one other committee has marked up a long-term bill.

The highway trust fund is an integral part of how the Federal Government provides predictable, multiyear funding to States so that States can plan and construct long-term highway, bridge, and transit projects; therefore, the highway trust fund should be our No. 1 priority. In 51 days, the fund will go bust. It will be gone. We will not be able to pay all of our bills. So we have to move quickly because otherwise we will face a transportation shutdown.

The law that currently authorizes our transportation program is set to expire on July 31, and the highway trust fund will go bankrupt shortly thereafter. The clock is ticking, and failure is not an option. So let's put up that 51-day ticking time bomb, if you will. The highway trust fund is in serious trouble, and much needed transportation projects are in peril.

The short fund creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is terrible for business, it is terrible for workers, and it is terrible for the economy. Billions of dollars will be delayed to our States. Many States, including Utah, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Wyoming, have already delayed or cancelled construction projects due to the uncertainty in the funding.

We are facing a crisis, and everybody knows it. If we do not act and act quickly, we will see a domino effect that will be felt throughout our economy.

I don't think I have to remind people that we came out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. I was here when we saw that happen at the end of George W. Bush's term. We were losing 700,000 jobs a month. I remember standing here on the floor of the Senate feeling that the whole world was collapsing around us.

The recovery is taking a long time, and thank God it is moving forward now. Our economy, though, is still recovering, and we must have a strong, modern, efficient transportation system to move goods and people. There are some people who absolutely need transportation to get to work. This is not a game. Either they need their cars or they need to hop on a bus or a subway. And we have 51 days until the highway trust fund will be empty.

The amount of money we need just to keep up with the demand right now to fix our roads and our bridges--that amount is $123 billion just to catch up on the nightmare we are facing. So we not only need a 6-year bill, but we need one that is robust so we can start spending some money on these repairs. Millions of jobs and thousands of businesses are at stake here.

You know, it is 51 days. And I have stood in several press conferences with business leaders, the chamber of commerce, the AFL-CIO, construction workers, the concrete people, the tar people, the granite people--you name it. They are united as one America in favor of a 6-year solution. I will show you just some of the people whom I have stood with over time in recent days: The AFL-CIO; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce--it is hard to get them on the same page, but they are on the same page and they want this fix; the U.S. Conference of Mayors; the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; the American Council of Engineering Companies; the American Highway Users Alliance; the American Public Transportation Association; the American Road and Transportation Builders Association; the American Society of Civil Engineers; and the American Trucking Association.

The truckers have said to me: Senator, we are willing to pay more in our gas tax because we cannot continue to ride on these roads that are falling apart.

When was the last time someone came up to you and said ``Raise my gas tax''? It is rare. But the truckers have asked us to do it as long as we use the money to fix the road. The chamber of commerce has asked us to raise the gas tax 6 cents to 8 cents. I mean, this is unusual, and I know there is very little support for that.

I have proposed numerous ways to pay for the trust fund, including a refundable gas tax increase. So if you earn $100,000 or less in your family, you get back the tax increase, which is about $40 a year. So I think it is worth $40 a year to know that the bridge you drive on is safe, but we would make it refundable so that you would get that back if you are in the middle class or below.

I will tell you, facing a shutdown--and we are already seeing a shutdown in five, six, or seven States--is painful for businesses. I have had business people come before me with their heads in their hands because they do this work. They build the highways. They fix the bridges. They build the transit systems. And they know we have not come together yet. It is a recipe for disaster.

What planet are we living on? All of America wants this.

I will continue with some more of these names. I just read some of them; I will read some more: the Associated General Contractors; the Association of Equipment Manufacturers; the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations; the International Union of Operating Engineers; the Laborers' International Union of North America; the National Asphalt Pavement Association; the National Association of Counties; the National Association of Manufacturers.

The National Association of Manufacturers, the Associated General Contractors, the International Union of Operating Engineers, the Laborers' International Union of North America--this is all of America. This isn't red. This isn't blue. This is everybody. Everybody wants us to fix the roads. Everybody wants us to fix the bridges.

We have the National Association of Truck Stop Operators; the National Governors Association--the Governors are Republicans and Democrats, and they are begging us to get our act in gear and get this done; the National League of Cities, and finally, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association; the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association; the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association; the Portland Cement Association; and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

The list I read is a partial list. The list that I read, frankly, is mostly Republican-leaning organizations.

Why have we not done our job? Why don't we already have a long-term transportation bill before us before the fund goes bust in 51 days? Why?

It is Congress's responsibility to act quickly to address our Nation's infrastructure needs. Every day that the Republicans fail to move forward with a bill, they are putting people at risk. This isn't about philosophy. This is about bread and butter. This is about getting to work safely. This is about driving with your family and not being fearful that the bridge you are on is going to fail.

I am always asked: Well, Senator, that is all well and good, but how are you going to pay for this?

Well, I have a lot of ideas, and I will lay them out. There are many ways to pay, and I will give just a sampling of ideas, and I will embrace these ideas. I will work with any Democrat or Republican on any one of these ideas.

Replace existing gas and diesel fuel fees with a user fee charged at the refinery based on the fuel price. In other words, do away with the gas tax and replace it with a refinery-based fuel fee. They did that in Virginia, and I think it is working well.

Increase existing gas and diesel fuel fees by indexing those fees to inflation, along with a refundable tax credit for low- and middle-income families to offset those costs. So we can have a modest increase of 6 cents, 7 cents, 8 cents on the gas tax and make it refundable to families earning $100,000 or less.

Assess a user fee on the sale of new and used vehicles. That is another idea.

Use revenue generated from repatriation of corporate earnings currently held overseas. That is international tax reform. We have a lot of money sitting abroad from corporations that have parked it there. They don't like the rate of their taxes. If you lower their tax, that money can come home, and we can use the taxes we collect to fund the highway trust fund. I have a bill on that with Senator Paul. It is bipartisan. Join us. Join us and let's fix the problem.

How about this: Borrow money from the general fund, to be paid back from the stimulative effect of transportation infrastructure investments on the economy. When we make these investments, they generate so much employment and so much business that people will pay income taxes because they are working. These are millions of jobs, thousands of businesses.

Another way to pay for it: Apply a new, honor-based user fee on the number of miles each individual drives each year. So when you fill out a form to get your car registered, just tell me how many miles you traveled last year, there will be a modest fee, and we can help the trust fund.

By the way, I notice my friends want to use savings from reducing the overseas contingency operations account. They want to use that money. They used it for the military; why not use it for saving the trust fund? And how about the savings of uncollected revenues owed to the Federal Government? If we just collected one-third of those, we would meet the shortfall.

So, as I count these ideas, there are eight ideas that I have, and I am sure everybody has their own ideas. There is not a shortage of ideas. There is a bit of shortage of courage to come out and say the obvious. If your roof is about to collapse on your home, it will cost you something to fix it. Admit it upfront. No one is going to do it for free. No one is going to fix these 60,000-plus bridges for free. No one is going to build new highways for free. No one is going to build new transit systems for free. Grow up and pay for it. This is ridiculous.

I am speaking for myself. I will support any of these eight ideas or any combination of them. We know our country is in danger. Our people are in danger every day because of these structurally deficient bridges. If we don't do anything about it, we will be liable--maybe not in a court of law, but in my mind it is a moral responsibility. So I can support any of these ideas. Some of them are conservative ideas, and some of them are liberal ideas. I don't care. I want to pay for the highway trust fund.

The bottom line is that the only solution is a consensus-based, bipartisan 6-year transportation bill that will provide States and local communities with the funding and the certainty they need to build these multiyear projects and modernize our infrastructure.

This isn't rocket science. Choose one of the options. Add one of your own. Do a combination of these options. Let's have the courage and the moral fortitude to do what is our responsibility. We know our Nation's infrastructure is deteriorating. We are responsible for it. This is one Nation under God, and we have to act to protect our people. It is our job.

I think the clearest message was from President Eisenhower on this front, and President Reagan, who stepped up to the plate. President Reagan signed into law an increase in the gas tax. He was so proud. He said: I am proud to do this. We have to do this. Let me read his quote. He signed the surface transportation bill, which did increase the gas tax, and he said:

Because of the prompt and bipartisan action of Congress, we can now ensure for our children a special part of their heritage--a network of highways and mass transit that has enabled our commerce to thrive, our country to grow, and our people to roam freely and easily to every corner of our land.

President Ronald Reagan. I was elected the same year he said this. I mean, I am giving away my age, but I was proud that my President understood this. I didn't agree with Ronald Reagan on a bunch of things. He said once: ``If you have seen one tree, you have seen them all.'' I never agreed with that.

But setting all of that aside, I agree with what he said. This is magnificent. Listen to this:

Because of the prompt and bipartisan action of Congress, we can now ensure for our children a special part of their heritage--a network of highways and mass transit that has enabled our commerce to thrive, our country to grow, and our people to roam freely and easily to every corner of our land.

Another person whom I really admire on this subject is Senator Inhofe, my friend from Oklahoma, my chairman. I was his chairman for a few years--I think 8--and unfortunately for me I am no longer chairman, I am the ranking member. But I will tell you why we will do hand-to-hand combat on the environment--and we did that today. When it comes to infrastructure, we are very close. Do you know what he said? ``The conservative thing is to pass a bill instead of having the extensions.''

Anthony Foxx, our Transportation Secretary, and 11 of his predecessors offered an open letter to Congress expressing their support for passage of a long-term bill. Remember, this was signed by people who worked for--follow me--President Johnson, President Ford, President Reagan, President George Herbert Walker Bush, President Clinton, President George W. Bush, and President Obama. They offered an open letter and said this about the current situation:

Never in our nation's history has America's transportation system been on a more unsustainable course. ..... So, what America needs is to break this cycle of governing crisis-to-crisis, only to enact a stopgap measure at the last moment. We need to make a commitment to the American people and the American economy.

That is four Republican Presidents and three Democratic Presidents--people from those administrations. My goodness, there is bipartisanship everywhere but here in this room.

I read the list of everybody who wants this bill, and it is very impressive: labor, business--small business, large business. It is extraordinary.

A survey by the National Association of Manufacturers of its members--one of our more conservative organizations--found that 65 percent don't believe our infrastructure is sufficient. We know from the Texas Institute study that traffic congestion in 2011 was $121 billion. We are wasting so much time in traffic. The cost to truck goods moving on our highway system--$27 billion in wasted time and diesel fuel.

So I hear a lot of talk about passing a long-term bill. I am pleased I am hearing that talk. I say to my colleagues, I hadn't heard of that, and now I am starting to hear my Republican friends say maybe we can do it. I think we need to do it. We still have 1.4 million fewer construction jobs than we had before the recession.

[Page: S4004]
The clock is ticking. Failure is not an option. Let's get going. Let's come together and do the right thing. Pass the highway bill.

Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source