Highway Trust Fund
Floor Speech
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Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, in the middle of the last century, our Michigan automakers were selling thousands of cars and trucks to an outstanding and expanding American middle class. We are proud to build those automobiles in Michigan.
Unfortunately, the roads of that day were too narrow, and it took drivers and truckers much too long to get to their destinations. Our Nation's leaders recognized that these delays were hurting our workers' productivity and stifling the American economy.
In October of 1964, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a trip to Detroit and speaking in Cadillac Square he declared: ``We are pushing ahead with a great road program that will take this Nation out of its antiquated shackles of secondary roads and give us the types of highways we need for this great mass of automobiles.''
Of course, this vision gave rise to the interstate highway system which ignited the American economy, and by the late 1950s, our new interstate highways were responsible for 31 percent of the annual increase in the American economy. That is quite amazing, when we think about that. Our highways were the envy of the world, which is why other nations that aspire to be like us, now as economic superpowers, are investing in their infrastructure--from China to Brazil and everywhere in between--in roads and bridges and airports and seaports and all of the other infrastructure they know supports a robust, growing economy.
President Eisenhower, the architect of our interstate highway system was, of course, a Republican. So it is ironic that 60 years later my Republican colleagues are the ones blocking us from building on President Eisenhower's legacy for growing the economy by investing in long-term infrastructure--not 60 days, not 30 days, not 6 months, but long-term infrastructure investment.
Over the last 6 years, Congress has passed short-term extensions over and over again, repeatedly patching over the shortfall in the highway trust fund. Today, we are actually at a point where we are 57 days away from the highway trust fund actually going empty--shutting down--57 days before the highway trust fund is empty.
This is no way to invest in our country and jobs and the roads and bridges and other infrastructure we need to support a thriving economy. It makes it hard for States and for local transportation agencies to plan. The uncertainty drives up costs, as we all know.
The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report from 2014 to 2015 ranked America 16th in the quality of our roads--16th in the quality of our roads in the world--one spot below Luxembourg and just a little bit ahead of Croatia. Now, if that isn't something that motivates all of us to come together around a long-term plan for investing in our roads and bridges and other infrastructure, I don't know what should. America, the world's superpower, is 16th in the world today in terms of investing in the future of our economy and what we need for fixing roads and bridges and other infrastructure investments.
The American Society of Civil Engineers' most recent report card for America's roads and bridges gave our roads a D--a failing grade. We talk about the importance of education and striving for excellence for our children in schools, yet we have been given--the Congress--a failing grade of D for lack of action and vision and investment in long-term infrastructure spending in our country. It said that 42 percent of the major urban highways are congested, that this costs $101 billion in wasted time and fuel every year--$101 billion every year, year after year that we don't address this--and countless jobs. And on the other side, we all know that investing in long-term infrastructure creates good, middle class jobs. Why in the world we are not coming together and making this a top priority is beyond me.
Since we can't afford to effectively repair and replace our bridges, engineers have to add plywood and nets--if you are driving along and look up and see the plywood and nets--to the bottom of bridges so they don't crumble and fall on to cars. We have had pieces fall down on to the road over the last number of years. In fact, that is what happened to a motorist in Maryland back in February.
Just a few miles from here, the Arlington Memorial Bridge, a historic bridge, has corroded support beams and columns and big signs on it now with lane closures in both directions for the next year because of emergency repairs. This is the Capital of the United States of America we are talking about and the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Across the country, potholes are getting bigger, freeways are getting more congested, and our workers, our schoolchildren, our products--agricultural products, manufacturing products--and small businesses and large businesses trying to get to market are caught in gridlock.
In my home State of Michigan, the average person pays $154 a year to pay for improvements to roads and bridges. That is actually the lowest in the Nation, not nearly enough for what we ought to be doing to invest in improvements. Because of the poor road conditions in Michigan and the damage to cars, the average person spends $357 a year to fix their car--more than a lot of the efforts we have talked about in terms of looking for a long-term solution to be able to fund the highway trust fund when it runs empty in 57 days.
I have heard from workers in Michigan who hit potholes on their way to work and had to stop on the way to work to go to a repair shop. Some tell me they have to swerve around major potholes. I drive, of course, Michigan roads all of the time, going home almost every weekend, and I am constantly doing that. I have had to take my car in as well to get major repairs--realignments, new tires--because of what is happening on the roads.
This is a case where we know what the cure is for the disease, but instead we are treating the symptoms. Instead of fixing the roads, we are fixing our cars. That makes no sense. It is shortsighted. Our economy depends upon having roads and bridges and rail that is safe and effective across the country--short rail, by the way, for our farmers and agriculture and the passenger rail that is so critical. We have seen what happens when there are not safety provisions and when tragedies occur.
Our infrastructure is crumbling in the United States of America. Who would ever have thought we would have gotten to this point, 57 days until the highway trust fund is empty--57 days?
A previous generation of Americans responded to this challenge to invest and to build America by making bold investments that powered our economy into the 20th century, that made us an economic powerhouse, that created the greatest middle class in the world. Now, the question is how our generation will respond to the challenges of putting in place the investments, the plans, the commitments to not only fix our roads and bridges but to be able to create the infrastructure that will take us to the next level in terms of spurring jobs in the economy.
There is talk that once we get to the end of 57 days, we will just kick the can down the road again. How about this time until December? That is a good time for finding some patch of putting together $10 billion or $11 billion to be able to get us to the end of the year. And of course what do we say to communities, to cities, to States? What do we say to the county road commissions in Michigan? What do we say to those who are trying to negotiate contracts and are spending more money because of the stop-start short-term efforts? What do we say to those spending hundreds of dollars a year trying to fix their cars and wondering what in the world is going on with something so basic--so basic--as roads and bridges and other infrastructure?
And yet every time we get to a place where a decision needs to be made, the decision gets kicked down the road.
If there is one thing we have learned, it is that short-term patches don't fix long-term potholes. It is time to step up now. We are tired of seeing this happen over and over. Where are the hearings? Where are the bills on the floor? We have 57 days. That is enough time to get a long-term plan together, to find a bipartisan plan. There are a number of different alternatives. Colleagues on both sides of the aisle have proposed solutions, and 57 days is enough time for us to be able to come together.
First, we need to have hearings, and we need to see bills reported to the floor. Where is the activity going on, the sense of urgency about the fact that in 57 days the highway trust fund will be empty?
We are committed to working with colleagues in a bipartisan way to find solutions. Every time we see a short-term patch, a short-term extension happen, we are letting down our businesses, our workers, our farmers, and the next generation of Americans. It is time--it is pastime--to have a long-term fix.
Frankly, I know what difference it makes when we can put in several years of policy in funding in an area of the economy. We came together to do that last year, and I am very proud of the work that we all did together on a bipartisan basis for rural America--for farmers, for ranchers--when we put together the farm bill, a 5-year bill of economic policy, funding, and investments that allowed people to plan, allowed communities to grow, allowed rural development to happen, and businesses to be able to invest, providing the economic certainty that they needed for looking longer than 2 months or 6 months. We need to do that as it relates to the highway trust fund. We are long past doing that.
The time has come for a long-term fix. It is time for our generation, and it is time for our Republican colleagues who have traditionally worked with us on a bipartisan basis to emulate the bold action of the previous generation. President Eisenhower said in 1952: ``A network of modern roads is as necessary to defense as it is to our national economy and personal safety.'' Fixing roads and bridges, expanding the ability for business to move and for agriculture to move and to create jobs should not be a partisan issue. We should not be at an impasse here. We should not be coming to the floor every day--which we will be doing--to count this down. What we ought to be doing is sitting together in committee, sitting together and working on a solution to get it done in the next 57 days. That is what we need to be doing.
I think it is important for each of us to answer this question: Are you happy with the D on America's report card on the roads? Is D enough? We would certainly not say that to our kids. Are you willing to let Croatia pass America in the Global Competitiveness Report? Croatia with better roads and better bridges than the United States of America--really?
Are we willing to spend the resources that we need to work together to find a bipartisan solution to fix our roads and bridges, to invest in safe rail and in opportunities for us to have the infrastructure and transportation we need? Are we going to force American drivers to pay even more on repairs year after year after year? Are we going to be like Ike or are our Republican colleagues in the majority going to just kick the can down the road one more time?
In Eisenhower's time there was a bipartisan agreement for investing in America's infrastructure. We can do that again. There is absolutely no reason why we should not be able to do that. We have to come together. Republican colleagues who chair the committees need to be sending us a signal. We need to be holding hearings and working together to develop bills and bringing bills to the floor and debating them and making clear that now is the time to get it done.
Don't kick the can down the road again. Step up. Let's fix our roads and bridges. Let's invest in rebuilding America for the future. Let's create jobs and send a signal that we can work together to get that done in the 57 days until the highway trust fund is empty--57 days. It is enough time to do it if people think this is important. I hope they will.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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