Immediate and Full Repeal of the Disabled Veterans Tax Act of 2004

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time and for his excellent management of the bill and the splendid work the gentleman from Illinois has invested over these many months on the bill, and our chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Alaska, who has spearheaded the drive for the right policy for America. The gentleman from Ohio said a moment ago this is an investment in America; it is an investment in jobs at home.

The gentleman from Wisconsin talked about China's investment in highways. That is just a pittance of what China is investing: $200 billion to double the capacity of their existing waterway ports; $100 billion to modernize their airports, build six new airports, modernize 35 existing airports, build regional airports, to move goods and people more efficiently and effectively and to compete in the globalized marketplace.

Japan, 10 years ago, launched a $1 trillion infrastructure investment program to upgrade the Shinkansen high-speed rail that carries 256 million passengers a year at speeds of nearly 200 miles an hour; upgrade their ports; build a new airport in the ocean as they have already done, extend that; and improve their existing international airport in Tokyo. Why are they doing that? Because they want to compete in the global marketplace more effectively, more efficiently; and every investment they make is a disadvantage to us if we do not keep up, if we do not make our infrastructure investments at home to keep America productive.

Time is running out. I said that 7 years ago. I was on this floor saying time is running out on us. We need to extend this bill, but we need to pass this bill. This was then BESTEA in 1997, and we did, we extended; but we did get a bill passed.

So last fall we were here for the expiration of TEA-21; and I said in this well on this floor, I am afraid we will be back here on this floor once again pleading for another extension of time to keep transportation programs from once again expiring. I do not want to be back on this floor saying again what I said 6 years ago, time is running out, end of quote; but here we are, once again, not because we cannot get a bill accomplished in this committee.

I want it said on the record. We have had a very, how shall I say, competitive negotiation in committee, competing ideas, competing thoughts, competing policies; but we have worked them out. We have the major policy

issues agreed upon largely, a few things yet to be done; and we will get those done in the historic bipartisan spirit of this committee and practice of this committee.

What we cannot get done is the funding side. We cannot do that alone. We need the executive branch to participate with us. We need the Committee on Ways and Means to participate, and they will if they are released. Free the Committee on Ways and Means. Let them go ahead. I think the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) will agree with us that we need a robust bill.

What we cannot have is a reverse option. We started off with $375 billion. Do I hear $350 billion? Do I hear 325? Do I hear 318? Do I hear 311? Do I hear 300? Auctions are supposed to go the other way. We are going in the wrong way, not for lack of effort by our chairman, by members of the committee on both sides.

The gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) has stuck his neck out and said it time and again. He has led the way. He has told the White House what we need to do. He has told his Republican conference what we need to do. He has told every user group in America what we need to do. He sent us out on the road as missionaries advocating for a robust bill; and nowhere that I have been, nowhere the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Petri) has been, nowhere that the gentleman from Illinois (Ranking Member Lipinski) has been, nowhere the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) has been has anyone said we should not do five cents for America.

This investment in the highway trust fund is the best investment America makes. We have an anti-deficiency provision in the highway trust fund law that says you cannot run a deficit and never have in the nearly 50 years of the highway trust fund, never have, never will; and the users of the system understand that. That is why they are willing to pay the five cents.

Yesterday, OPEC announced that they are going to cut back on production of oil to drive the price of fuel up so that they can continue to generate profits in the face of an eroding American dollar. We are going to sit here and let them do that and say, oh, we cannot burden the American public with five cents? Thirty-six dollars per capita in America to get a better highway system, to get a better investment in transit.

If we were to pass this bill at $375 billion now and the President sign it into law in the next 2 months, we would have 475,000 people in the construction trades working in America by Labor Day, $60 billion of economic activity, putting America back to work. How can that be wrong? How can that be partisan? It is the best investment we can make in America. Get this country moving again, create the jobs. We did it under TEA-21, created 1.3 million jobs in construction trades. No one was sitting on the benches of America. Today we have 800,000 construction workers out of a job and can put half of them to work in the next four months if we pass our bill, our committee bill, and leave a legacy for the chairman, leave a legacy for America. That is what we have got to do, do the right thing for America, not sit around here and fritter away our future and be subject to globalization.

We have seen textiles move offshore. We have seen leather goods move offshore. We have seen steel production move offshore. We now even have call centers moving offshore. We are bringing people from India into universities, community colleges in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa to train them with speech therapists in a Midwest accent so they can go back to India and run call centers. That is actually happening.

Well, one thing they cannot build in China is the Alameda Corridor. They cannot build CREATE in Tokyo for Illinois, for Chicago. They cannot build Anchorage roadways in Taiwan. You build them in America. You create those jobs in America, right here. This is an American program. This is an investment for the future of this country. Why are we quibbling around with five cents? Get over it.

We could have 200 Democrats voting for that bill if we could get it on the House floor, and how can that be a liability for the President if we all stand together and do the right thing for America?

Right now, we are going to kick the can down the road a little bit and hope the people come to their senses, do the $375 billion bill so we do not have to be here another 3 months saying, well, sorry, we could not do it, folks; sorry, America, we could not put you back to work; sorry, we cannot do the right thing for this country, we will wait till next year.

Well, if that is what it comes to, we will wait till next year; but I want to do the right thing, want to do it now. We are going to join in partnership to get there. We have got to make the right investments. We have got to do the right thing. For the time being, the right thing is to pass this extension.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3783) to provide an extension of highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3783, the legislation now under consideration by the House, will continue for an additional 4 months the highway construction, highway safety, transit, motor carrier, and surface transportation research programs. These programs will be continued under current-law program structure and conditions.

This bill is necessary in order to give the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and our colleagues in the Senate time to complete a multi-year surface transportation bill.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3783 provides for over $31 billion in new funding authority, which reflects 9 months' work or nine-twelfths of the budget authority and associated outlays in the year 2004 budget resolution that Congress passed last year.

As my colleagues may know, Mr. Speaker, I have introduced H.R. 3550 with the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users, or TEA-LU. TEA-LU will begin to meet the needs and begin to improve our aging and deteriorating transportation infrastructure.

TEA-LU will address and resolve the funding inequity issue between the donor and donee States, create new jobs, and stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, the overall funding for transportation has not been resolved entirely; and, therefore, we must pass this 4-month extension.

Even though TEA-LU has been introduced, there are many issues remaining for this House to resolve. As I mentioned earlier, identifying the appropriate resources to support funding levels over the next 6 years is the primary challenge. If TEA-LU is reduced to the level of the Senate bill, many worthy projects and programs will be reduced or quite possibly eliminated from the bill.

In the interim, this 4-month extension is a must-pass bill. If we do not pass this bill and send it to the President before February 29, four Department of Transportation agencies will close their doors and furlough their employees: the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

If we do not pass this extension, new highway projects will be shelved, States will not be reimbursed the Federal share of the projects, safety grants will not be provided to the States, transit construction will be halted, and Federal enforcement of our motor carrier safety regulations on the highways and at the borders will suffer.

It is crucial that H.R. 3783 be passed by both the House and the Senate and delivered to the Senate before February 29. Our economy cannot withstand the shutdown of the national surface transportation programs.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways, Transit and Pipelines of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank my good friend from Minnesota on his eloquent presentation. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), and the committee members and the staffs who have worked so hard on this legislation and the parent legislation.

There is not much I can add to what the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) has said. Everybody knows where I am standing on this legislation; and by the way, the number 375 is not an artificial number. It is the number that came from the administration, what is needed to improve and maintain the existing highway system, when the interstate highway system becomes 50 years old, or will be 50 years old 3 years from now; and that is an old system.

This is the legislation that can solve the economic woes of this country, not just because of jobs but because transportation provides the resources for the prescription drugs, for Medicare, for education, for Social Security. All those things thrive on our economy, and our economy cannot provide the basis for those systems without transportation.

Truck traffic alone will increase 90 percent over what it is now in the next 15 years. Car traffic, the mileage being used will increase a huge amount over the next 15 years. The most expensive thing we can do today is not the five cents, not the two cents, not even using the funds out of the general fund for the trust fund, but to do nothing. To do nothing is the most expensive cost to the American people. The most expensive cost to the American people is to do nothing.

I can assure my good friends that I am working and my colleagues are working, and we are going to try to achieve the goal we seek; but I will not support a bill that goes so far below the needs. My administration is wrong in this, and I have told them that. I think most of my colleagues have read my letter to the President. They are dead wrong. Because if we do not do this, the legacy we leave behind will, in fact, I think be a legacy of incompetency.

I do not want to wear that label. The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and myself and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and the staffs and everybody, we are trying to do something that is right for this great Nation, a legacy for users, a need, jobs for America. That is the parent bill, H.R. 3550; and I hope we continue this discussion but reach a solution in the very near future.

The legislation we are addressing today is mandatory because if we do not do it, not only will the agency be shut down, but the States will not issue contracts for the upcoming building session; and so I urge full support for this legislation.

I will ask for a vote. I want my colleagues all to know that, because I think it is important we are on the record of where we stand as a body about building for the future of our great Nation in transportation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this extension is an important piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3783, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004.

This bill would extend surface transportation funding for an additional 4 months, from March 2004 through June 2004. TEA-21 expired on September 30, 2003. Current funds are flowing because we passed a 5- month extension last year. The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2003 extended our highway and transit programs through February 29. That is only a short 2 weeks away. That is why we need to once again pass another extension to avoid

disruption of Federal surface transportation programs. If we do not pass an extension by February 29, current law would essentially cut off highway and transit funding as of March 1. That would result in devastating impacts to every single State in the Union.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3783 would extend the current programs and authorize a total of $32 billion in continued funding through June 2004. This bill would authorize $26.4 billion for highway programs, $5.4 billion for transit programs, and $499 million for motor carrier safety and highway safety programs. We need to pass this bill because it will keep our Nation moving.

However, I believe the real debate today is not just about the need for this extension, because we all know we need to pass it and sign it into law. The real debate today is about the need to pass a multi-year authorization bill at a robust funding level that will adequately address our surface transportation needs. The real debate today is why the administration is shortsighted and shortchanging the great American middle class.

Last year, the administration's $247 billion SAFETEA proposal was too little too late. Even with the revised funding level of $256 billion, it is still too little and too late. Most recent figures showed the U.S. unemployment rate is at 5.6 percent. Millions of Americans are still unemployed. They are struggling to put food on their kitchen tables. With our sluggish national economy and millions of Americans out of work, we need something much more than the administration's SAFETEA proposal.

What this Nation needs is a robust public works funding package, and SAFETEA just is not it. What we need is H.R. 3550, the Transportation Equity Act, A Legacy for Users. Under the leadership of the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), this proposal on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure would authorize $375 billion over 6 years.

Some have criticized that our proposed surface transportation funding will bust the budget and worsen the Federal deficit. Let us be clear about this, nothing could be further from the truth.

Ronald Wilson Reagan knew that fact. In 1982, he said that the highway program will not increase the Federal deficit because the Highway Trust Fund is off budget and because it is funded through user fees. It is a pay-as-you-go system that is deficit neutral.

In addition, I believe, just as Ronald Wilson Reagan believed when he asked Congress to raise the highway user fee by five cents, that highway user fees are simply good tax policy.

Let us pass the extension now because we need to do it. But, most importantly, let us pass a robust multi-year transportation funding bill because we ought to do it. Just as George Herbert Walker Bush said when he signed ISTEA into law back in December of 1991, this bill really is about one thing. It is all about jobs, jobs, jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) on those excellent remarks of his.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, could the Chair inform me how much time I have left.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute 25 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 35 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill H.R. 3783, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004.

Although a lot of work has been done on the reauthorization bill, there are challenges remaining, including identifying the needed resources to support funding levels over the next 6 years and addressing the concerns of donor States who want to get a better return on their contribution to the Highway Trust Fund.

This short-term extension is a must-pass bill and so, frankly, is the six-year reauthorization at some point. This is not, as some try to characterize it, pork. This is needed investment in our Nation's productive infrastructure.

If we fail to invest in our Nation's productive infrastructure, we will become less competitive as an economy, we will have a less productive economy, higher prices in the stores, less safe driving on our highways. It is estimated that one out of three deaths on our highways, some 40,000 a year, could be prevented if we had well- maintained, well-designed, modern transportation infrastructure.

This is an investment which, if we fail to make, we are going to pay anyway. The fact is we are not going to save any money by underinvesting in our transportation infrastructure as a country. We will pay in terms of blowing gas out of people's tailpipes, in terms of delay, in terms of inefficiencies in our economy or we can invest and have something to show for it: a first-rate transportation system linking our country together, making us competitive as an economy.

Today, we worry a lot in America about the growing economic competition we face from across the Pacific in China. Let me tell you what China is doing. They are taking a leaf out of our book. Back 60 years ago, Dwight Eisenhower, who knew something about war and about competitiveness and about our country, he stood back, put a cap as best he could on defense spending and pulled the lid full speed ahead on investing in our productive domestic transportation infrastructure. We built the interstate highway system.

What did the Soviet Union do? No roads to speak of. They relied on their railroads. Forty years later, who had the better investment strategy? We had something to save for. We were more competitive as a country, and they collapsed.

What is happening today in the world? We are talking and debating about whether we are going to maintain our commitment to a first-rate infrastructure, grow it to accommodate growth in our economy, grow it to accommodate on the public sector side the tremendous investment the private sector has made in communication and computer technology, to manage data, which at the end of the day squeeze inventory out of the system, go to just-in-time delivery, wonderful things that make us much more productive. But if the goods cannot be moved efficiently, none of that pays off the way it otherwise can.

What is China planning to do today? They are planning over the next 15 years to replicate our interstate transportation system, four-lane highways linking that continent. They are planning on doing in 15 years what it took us 60 years to do. If we fail to meet this challenge, where will we be? What will we have to show for all this supposed savings that we make as a country by underinvesting in our infrastructure? We will leave our children and our grandchildren disarmed in the face of that challenge.

So I ask my colleagues to put aside the rhetoric, recognize that there are different kinds of spending in this world. Everyone says their spending is investment. This is real investment. You have got something to show for it. We will leave a legacy to our children and our grandchildren that we can be proud of and that they can benefit from. This is must-pass legislation, and we are going to have to pay for it if we are going to want to get something for it.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the continuing resolution before us today. It is vitally important that this bill be passed by both the House and the Senate and delivered to the President before February 29. Our economy cannot withstand the shutdown of the national surface transportation programs, and it cannot withstand a kind of gnawing away and erosion of our commitment in this area otherwise, either. If we do that, we will regret it in years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the three gentlemen who have preceded me in speaking, because what they have done is herculean. They have worked together in a bipartisan manner to try to get a bill for this House. I thought they were being wonderfully ambitious to try to get it this month; and I think

this House should be very grateful to them because they are having to contend with something that is very, very difficult.

There are three different figures here, Mr. Speaker. Our committee wants $375 billion, the Senate has come forward with $318 billion, and the administration has come forward with $256 billion. And these three gentlemen are trying to find some way to thread this needle and get us all through it. I want to thank them for it.

I do want to say that you would think that this was taxpayers' money. When you think about these different figures, the average person would not believe that this money is in trust to be spent on exactly what we are here on the floor getting an extension for, on mass transportation, on roads, on infrastructure. What we have got is a seminal decision waiting for us.

The best case for going full way with the House bill, of course, is the failure of the recovery to generate any jobs. We cannot go on this way without having to pay a price for it.

The difference in the figures bothers me. The gentleman from the other body, Mr. Inhofe, has indicated that if the full figure that our committee wants is not forthcoming, and I am here using his words, cutting the costs would cause more problems than it would solve because the committee's allocation of funds among the States would be in jeopardy.

This money does not go flinging all around. It goes to States desperately in need of it now, particularly given the huge funding problems the States are having across the board. He is talking about a figure that is less than our figure of $318 million, that the problem would go to the formula itself. So everybody would look to get a lot less money than they need if we cannot agree upon a formula that in fact uses the trust fund for what people paid at the pump to have it used for.

We would not be in this situation if we had passed the $50 billion bill where we came forward last year with $50 billion paid for bill, ready to go, projects in every Members' districts ready to go, sitting on the table, cannot go for lack of funds. That bill never made it to the floor. What jobs are flowing are flowing only anemically, left over from the old transportation bills.

I do not have any doubt that this bill will pass. I have come to the floor to speak about the bill that the gentlemen have been working on, a bill we must have, a bill that is adequately funded, a bill that will use the Highway Trust Fund for the purposes we have collected those funds for.

We must go forward, not backwards. If you need a reason besides the state of your own economy and your own State, think about drugs, think about jobs and the failure of our economy to recover.