The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“APPLAUDING THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO KEEP AMERICA MOVING AND RECOGNIZING NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION WEEK” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3026-H3028 on May 17, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
APPLAUDING THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO KEEP AMERICA MOVING AND RECOGNIZING
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION WEEK
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 420) applauding the men and women who keep America moving and recognizing National Transportation Week.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 420
Whereas the United States transportation system is an extensive, inter-related public and private network of roads, airports, railroads, transit routes, waterways, terminals, ports, and pipelines;
Whereas millions of people and businesses rely on this expanding system to get to work, embark on vacations, conduct business, and ship goods within the United States and abroad;
Whereas this system links regions and connects small and large cities and urban and rural areas;
Whereas transportation contributes to economic activity and to a nation's global competitiveness as a service, an industry, and an infrastructure;
Whereas the transportation sector accounts for 11 percent of the United States Gross Domestic Product;
Whereas the transportation sector employs over 11 million Americans;
Whereas the average household spends about 20 percent of its income on transportation, more than on any other expense except housing;
Whereas the President has proclaimed, by Executive Order, May 16 through May 22, 2004, as National Transportation Week;
Whereas Congress, by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957
(36 U.S.C. 120), designated the third Friday in May of each year as ``National Defense Transportation Day'' and, by joint resolution approved May 14, 1962 (36 U.S.C. 133), declared that the week during which that Friday falls be designated as
``National Transportation Week''; and
Whereas National Transportation Week provides an opportunity for the transportation community to join together for greater awareness about the importance of transportation and for making youth aware of transportation-related careers: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the 108th Congress--
(1) applauds the men and women who keep America moving;
(2) recognizes National Transportation Week by supporting the goals of that Week; and
(3) urges all Americans to become more aware of the benefits and contributions of transportation to the United States economy.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter).
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 420, introduced by the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), recognizes the week of May 16 through the 22 as National Transportation Week and applauds the men and women who keep America moving.
Every Member of this body is well aware of the importance and the significance of our Nation's transportation system and its direct impact on the lives of everyone. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the U.S. transportation system is composed of 46,747 miles of interstate highways, nearly 600 million airline passengers, 97,631 miles of class-one freight railroads, over 160,000 route-miles by bus, 26,000 miles of navigable waterways and over 69,000 miles of oil pipelines.
Mr. Speaker, our transportation system is so important to our Nation's economic activity and to our Nation's global competitiveness as a service, an industry and an infrastructure that it is more than appropriate that we recognize and applaud the men and women who keep America moving.
Our transportation sector accounts for 11 percent of the United States' gross domestic product and employs over 11 million Americans.
In my home State of Nevada, we are absolutely dependent on transportation for our economy. Tourism is the number one employer in my district, and the number one, two or three employer in every district in the country. Without the 30 million people who travel through McCarran International Airport each year, or the millions more who drive to Las Vegas and Laughlin down I-15 and US-95, we would not be experiencing the unprecedented growth in our community that we currently enjoy today.
I could go on, but I will conclude by saying I am encouraged every day by the new technologies that are constantly being developed to move us in ways that are faster, more efficient and environmentally sensitive. In Las Vegas, we are seeking to become the first community to deploy high-speed Maglev rail technology to better link us to southern California. We are also deploying Intelligent Transportation System technology known as the FAST system to warn us of traffic delays and Amber alerts.
Again, it is important that we recognize the significance and enormous contributions that transportation makes to our Nation's economy. I urge the adoption of this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 420, a resolution recognizing National Transportation Week and applauding the men and women who keep America moving.
Although Congress established National Transportation Week more than 40 years ago, this concurrent resolution provides an opportunity to acknowledge the great contribution of advances in transportation to our Nation's economic success and to salute the men and women who toil on a daily basis to improve America's mobility.
Our transportation investments have paid enormous dividends and enabled our Nation to become the premier economic power in the world. For instance, over the last 2 decades, spending for transportation and logistics fell from 16 percent of gross domestic product to less than 9 percent. We are moving more goods and more people far more efficiently than ever before. By reducing the portion of GDP that is dedicated to logistics, this 7 percent efficiency gain in our $10 trillion economy results in a savings of more than $700 billion per year.
It is this great American success story that this resolution recognizing National Transportation Week celebrates, and I urge Members to support the resolution.
But words without deeds are meaningless. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on a bipartisan basis recognized that the beginning. Under the leadership of the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), they worked together to craft a bill that would invest $375 billion over 6 years to improve our highways, transit systems and safety programs, the very level of investment derived from the Department of Transportation's report on our highway and transit needs. Moreover, the investment would create and sustain up to 3.6 million family wage construction jobs, including 1.7 million new jobs.
Despite strong bipartisan support for this legislation in the House, the House Republican leadership, at the bidding of the White House, would not allow the committee to bring that bipartisan bill to the floor. Had the Bush administration not erected the roadblocks that prevented our bill from advancing through the legislative process, we could have celebrated National Transportation Week in a more meaningful way, pouring the concrete, laying the rail, and cutting the paychecks envisioned within the enactment of TEA-LU.
In an effort to move the bill forward, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure reluctantly reported and the House overwhelmingly passed a bill weeks ago with an investment level that is more than $100 billion less than our original bill, $100 billion less than what DOT's analysis shows is required to relieve congestion and improve the surface transportation system in our country.
But even the significantly smaller House bill, authorizing $283 billion and guaranteeing $275 billion is too high for the White House. The administration is still insisting that the total investment be no more than $256 billion over 6 years.
So, let me be clear on what the administration's bill provides: Not one more dollar for highway and transit infrastructure, not one new job. Compared to where we are today, the administration's bill provides no increase for highway funding and no increase for transit funding for the next 5 years, not a single additional dollar. As a result, not one additional job will be created by this zero-growth investment.
The administration's absolute insistence on flat-line investment for highway and transit infrastructure is unprecedented. In contrast, under TEA21, highway investment jumped from $21.5 billion in fiscal year 1998 to $31.6 billion in fiscal year 2003, a 47 percent increase. Transit investment grew even faster, from $4.6 billion in 1998 to $7.3 billion in fiscal year 2003, a 56 percent increase. Even under very difficult budget conditions in the early 1990s, under ISTEA, highway investment still managed to increase from $16.8 billion in 1992 to $18.3 billion in 1997, a 9 percent increase.
Under the President's bill, highway investment will have zero percent growth, from $33.6 billion in 2004 to $33.6 billion in 2009. Similarly, transit investment will have zero percent growth, from $7.2 billion in 2004 to $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2009. Moreover, the President's proposal will cut the guaranteed transit investment to $5.9 billion, an 18 percent cut from fiscal year 2003.
Mr. Speaker, this country has worked too hard to put the current transportation system in place to allow the administration and this Congress to squander previous investments made over generations and allow that system to deteriorate. As we celebrate National Transportation Week, let us move beyond the rhetoric of congressional resolutions to a bill that honors the work of generations of transportation workers and a system that must remain the envy of the world.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 420.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity, while discussing National Transportation Week, to personally thank the 11 million Americans in our Nation's transportation workforce, especially those in Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, for their hard work. They literally keep America moving, and I am pleased that we can recognize them all today.
Mr. Speaker, moving people and goods quickly and efficiently is vital to keeping the United States globally competitive, and we need to break the impasse and complete a right-sized highways and transit bill. The needs are many, and many Americans need the work.
Not only must we adequately invest in our transportation systems, but we must also continue to invest in transportation workforce development. Today's youth in America will be constructing and operating our future transportation systems, and we must encourage imagination, innovation and interest in transportation.
Mr. Speaker, National Transportation Week could not have come at a better time. I urge the administration to allow us to proceed with a highways and transit bill that will create good jobs for Americans and provide resources to deal with the bottlenecks, crumbling bridges, the need for more light rail construction, intermodal terminals, trade corridors, transportation security, and safety programs.
{time} 1430
I would like to thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), for being some of our Nation's biggest advocates for safe and efficient transportation systems. I look forward to continuing to work with them to address our Nation's infrastructure needs. I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) for leading this discussion.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, a little more indepth history of the southern Nevada challenge in transportation, I think, today with Transportation Week it would be appropriated.
As you know, Nevada is one of the fastest growing States in the Union. We are growing at 5 to 7,000 people a month into the southern Nevada area. You can imagine the challenges that we have before us as a community that has almost doubled in the last 10 years, literally creating communities the size of 60 or 70,000 people every year.
Fortunately, over a decade ago, members of the Clark County Commission, local governments across the valley, decided to get together and create what is called the Regional Transportation Commission. The Regional Transportation Commission in concert with five local communities in southern Nevada worked together for the betterment and improvement of the southern Nevada area. As I mentioned, with the massive growth, the transportation needs are extreme. Fortunately, with the passage of this bill we will see additional funds to help us with this growth. And I applaud leadership and I applaud the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my support for H. Con. Res. 420, a bill that designates May 16-22, 2004 as National Transportation Week. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and more than 30 other transportation industry organizations, National Transportation Week is an opportunity to highlight the functions and accomplishments of the transportation industry.
There are nearly 4 million miles of roads in the United States. That's enough to circle the globe 16 times, travel round trip to the moon 8 times, or take 800 round trips between New York and Los Angeles. Since 1982 our population has grown almost 19 percent, the number of registered motor vehicles has increased 36 percent, and vehicle miles traveled has ballooned 72 percent. In spite of this growth, we have failed to keep pace with the increasing demands on highways and transit systems. Over the last 20 years we have added less than five percent to road capacity and even less to public transit.
Transportation is about people, and about providing them with the opportunity to lead safer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. Moreover, our country's economic strength, our ability to improve productivity, and our capacity to create jobs are all dependent--to a great extent--on the health and vitality of our transportation system and its infrastructure. In 2003 the value of imported goods and goods designated for export that were carried on our Nation's transportation system amounted to nearly $2 trillion--that's $1,259 billion in imports and $724 billion in exports.
According to the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Transportation forecasts, by the year 2020: Annual vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. will increase 51 percent--from 2.8 trillion in 2000 to 4.2 trillion in 2020; the driving age population in the United States will increase 21 percent by 2020; and truck freight volumes will nearly double from 9 billion tons in 2000, to almost 17 billion tons in 2020.
I am stating these statistics because I am very concerned about the inadequate funding of our Nation's transportation system and this Committee's transportation bill. Without increased investment we will suffer both socially and economically. For every $1 billion invested in Federal highway and transit spending, 47,500 jobs are created or sustained. Our Nation's deteriorating infrastructure and congestion, along with safety and economic problems warrant our strong and immediate response. Hopefully, during National Transportation Week, by acknowledging how heavily we rely on our national transportation system and the essential role in plays in our social and economic health, we will agree on a funding figure that adequately supports our need to keep America moving.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 420.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________
