Hire More Heroes Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. BLUMENAUER. I appreciate my colleague's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this.
Mr. Chairman, I do appreciate what the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is doing. I feel a bit empty in no longer being on the committee. That is why I try and show up as often as I can when you have things on the floor. There is a soft spot in my heart for the committee, and it is nice to see a Shuster again chairing the committee.
I appreciate your moving forward to try and call the question. Yours has been a difficult task because the committee on which I sit, the Ways and Means Committee, has yet to address, in a comprehensive way, the long-term funding. Your job is made much more difficult because you are forced to deal with paying for 2015 infrastructure through 2021 with 1993 dollars, and it doesn't much work.
In a few minutes, I will be offering to the Rules Committee legislation that I have introduced that is supported by the AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, truckers, AAA, bicyclists, engineers, local government--the widest array of alliances supporting a major piece of legislation here on Capitol Hill. I am not extremely confident that it will be made in order, but I think it is something that should.
Unless and until we deal with adjusting the user fee, we are going to continue dealing with cats and dogs, short-term fixes, having uncertainty, and destroying the principle of user pays, which has been undergirding transportation finance in this country since Oregon gave you the first gas tax dedicated to transportation in 1919.
I must say that I appreciate the committee looking at transportation for the future. At a time when the number one area of employment for American men is as drivers, we are about to see dramatic changes in technology, in utilization that is going to change the landscape.
I appreciate the committee exploring areas of technological innovation. These are areas in which we must accelerate our work lest we be overcome by circumstances. It is a tremendous opportunity for us to get more value out of the transportation system with more safety, to get more efficient, and to be able to open up a whole array of economic opportunities. If we don't get ahead of it, it is going to be very disruptive.
I must say I am a little dismayed that the bill proposes flat funding for something near and dear, I think, to the hearts of a number of us in dealing with pedestrian and cycling activities. We can do better than that, and I hope, through the amendment process and the give-and-take between the House and the Senate, particularly if we are able to give you the funding you need, we can remedy that.
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Mr. BLUMENAUER. In the meantime, I appreciate what has been done, the manner in which it has been approached, and the effort to try and bring people together.
Historically, infrastructure was something that was bipartisan in nature, that made people feel good about the process; and it is, of course, the fastest way to put millions of Americans to work at family-wage jobs while they improve communities from coast to coast. I look forward to working with the committee as it works its way through the process to make it the best that we can for the multiple objectives that we all share.
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Mr. BLUMENAUER. I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak and for his raising this issue.
Madam Chairman, it is important that we have a balanced transportation system, and there are already problems in terms of being able to promote nonmotorized transportation in terms of bike and pedestrian. Being able to maintain the ability for the Federal funding, I think, is important. I don't think we should relegate this to being a second-class type of transportation.
I was in Brooklyn on Friday night, and people were engaged in their initiatives with cycling. I started the week in Dallas. Texas cities are incorporating these mechanisms into their basic approach to transportation.
This is not the end of the world, but I think it is ill-advised, and it is the wrong signal for us to be sending. There are several dozen women from the bicycle industry here--executives from companies--who are involved with hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity. This is something that does not deserve to be downgraded. This is not going to upset the apple cart by any stretch of the imagination.
I appreciate my colleague for putting the spotlight on this. We are watching cycling explode from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, to Rochester, New York, to Indianapolis, Indiana. This is a small but important step backwards.
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Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Chair, I appreciate what the committee has done putting this new program in. I think it is important. I look forward to its success.
Since it is a competitive grant program, allowing most States to be eligible doesn't take that away.
The other areas that the gentleman is talking about have much more generous funding than programs that hit our youth and our senior citizens in term of bike and pedestrian.
I think, by any rational reallocation, we would be putting more in. This is a drop in the bucket, $28 million overall. It would be money well spent and would allow the program to be able to evaluate which programs are the best, particularly some that have successfully lowered their accident rate a little bit below the 15 percent threshold. Maybe they have got something going. Maybe they have got something that we could use for national applications.
I respectfully request that the amendment be approved.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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