Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As you know, Democrats on this Committee have been calling for this Committee to consider the important issue of long-term financing of the Highway Trust Fund for years. Three letters and two Congresses later, here we are.
In just 6 short weeks, the trust fund’s spending authority will expire and the balances will run out. The schedule of short-term extensions - 24 to date - has done a tremendous disservice to our nation’s infrastructure needs.
The facts are startling. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our national infrastructure a “D+" grade. My home state of Michigan was given a “D". There are bridges in terrible condition - 145,000 of them total - in every one of our districts. A quarter of them are more than 60 years old. Two-thirds of our highways are in poor or mediocre condition.
And if commerce and safety were not enough of a concern, our economy suffers as well.
A May 2014 economic report from Standard and Poor’s Rating Agency notes that, “each dollar of infrastructure spending, if allocated wisely, translates into much more than that in terms of economic growth." The report further finds that:
* A $1.3 billion investment in 2015 would likely add 29,000 jobs to the construction sector, and would add even more jobs to other infrastructure-related industries.
* That investment would also likely add $2 billion to real economic growth and reduce the federal deficit by $200 million for that year.
* After an initial increase in aggregate demand, the economy’s productive capacity and output typically increase once the infrastructure is built and absorbed into the economy. That means increased growth and more job gains long after the project ended.
Inaction here is not an option. Indeed, we should seize this opportunity. This is an issue that touches the daily lives of our constituents, and the economic future of our nation.
This cannot be done on a partisan basis. A long-term infrastructure bill must be a product of our coming together - Mr. Chairman, you and I and all of us on the Committee. All options should be on the table, except doing nothing.
