Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5434) to provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, and transit programs, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5434.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5434, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021.

I wish that we were not at this point, calling up a short-term extension of Federal highway, transit, highway safety, motor carrier, research, and transportation financing programs. Yet, here we are.

The House did its work. We passed the INVEST in America Act on July 4, H.R. 3684, a 5-year transformative reauthorization of surface transportation for the Nation dealing with climate change, resilience, creating jobs, social equity, a host of other things, and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

The Senate did something different, but they did pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Senate amendment to H.R. 3684, which also included a 5-year authorization of surface transportation programs.

We have not yet found a path forward for both Chambers to pass the same version of this bill. But we do need to act immediately to restore the ability of Federal surface transportation programs to function and to prevent putting thousands of U.S. Department of Transportation employees out of work for additional time.

We need to act now to avoid further ramifications for surface transportation programs. At 12:01 a.m. today, October 1, 2021, U.S. Department of Transportation operations funded out of the highway trust fund had to shut down due to a lapse in authorization. Mr. Speaker, 3,700 employees received furlough notices that they could not work today or had to work without pay due to a temporary shutdown of these programs.

Beginning this morning, the authority for Federal highway, transit, highway safety, and motor carrier safety programs lapsed. This means that until Congress passes an extension or replacement authorization, the furlough of approximately 3,700 employees will continue, and the Federal Highway Administration cannot provide any new funding to States, the District of Columbia, and the territories. The Federal Highway Administration can continue reimbursing States for obligations incurred before the lapse, but that is not enough.

The Federal Transit Administration can't issue new funding to 1,300 transit grantees that rely on Federal grants to fund construction, buy vehicles and equipment, and, in some cases, pay for operating costs. They can continue to make payments for grants issued before October 1, but that is not good enough.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can't award new highway traffic safety grants, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must stop issuing new motor carrier safety grants. The Office of the Secretary can't make any TIFIA loans, which are critical for many large projects.

The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021 will allow the Department of Transportation to restart operations of programs funded by the highway trust fund through October 31, 2021, and bring employees back to work. It will also authorize DOT to provide backpay for employees who had to miss a day of work through no fault of their own and for those who worked without pay.

The bill also includes provisions to adjust program levels should Congress enact a long-term surface transportation or infrastructure bill, H.R. 3684, during the extension period.

Finally, the bill provides a similar short-term extension for the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this extension which will help provide additional time to work through a final resolution on the legislation between the House and the Senate.

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe I have the right to close. I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this short-term extension to put DOT back to work and get on with the critical business of rebuilding America's infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am planning to support this short-term extension of highway programs because it is a clean extension, and it is the right thing to do at this point.

At midnight last night, funding for these programs expired because I suppose Speaker Pelosi and the majority

thought this lapse and shutdown would be minimal. Maybe we should ask the thousands of workers who are now furloughed, our State departments of transportation, and other stakeholders whether they also would minimize the majority's inaction and the game playing that is taking place.

Let me be clear: The Speaker's partisan process is what led us to this point, and this chaos highlights more than ever the need for us to be working across the aisle. Getting a bipartisan highway infrastructure bill done should be easiest thing that we do in Congress. Bipartisanship has always been the formula for success on infrastructure, and that hasn't changed.

In my 20 years in Congress, I have supported all three highway bills that have been signed into law. All three of them were bipartisan. All three of them were under Republican chairmen.

I stand ready to participate in a truly bipartisan process that involves input from both the House and the Senate, not just one Chamber.

Republicans have put forward infrastructure principles in numerous pieces of infrastructure legislation. We were ready to come to the negotiating table, but we didn't get that opportunity. Republicans warned that a partisan path would put us in a position like this, and here we are.

Nevertheless, we remain ready to come to the table and get back to the bipartisan tradition on infrastructure. Passing this extension is the right thing to do, but the last thing we need is a series of short- term extensions. These short-term extensions are extremely detrimental to the States, to the stakeholders, and to the jobs that support these critical projects and programs.

Short-term extensions mean leaving States with uncertainty in their plans to fix, maintain, and upgrade roads and bridges. Mr. Speaker, you can't plan multiyear infrastructure and highway projects with the guarantee of only a few weeks of funding at a time.

It is time to get back to what works. Bipartisanship on both sides of Capitol Hill is the key to success when it comes to infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this clean extension, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Again, Mr. Speaker, this process has been horribly managed, and it is unfortunate that we didn't take this action before transportation programs were shut down and people were furloughed. Having said that, we need to provide this certainty for our State DOTs and for our transportation stakeholders.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I do urge support for this clean, short-term extension. It doesn't cost anything, and it is the right thing to do. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5434, which is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam Speaker, on Friday October 1, 2021, I missed the vote on H.R. 5434, Surface Transportation Extension Act. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 313.