Hire more Heroes Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the chairman of the
committee, Mr. Shuster, as well as Ranking Member DeFazio and all the
members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their
hard work on this large bill, this legislation.

The amendment I offer today for myself and Mr. Schrader of Oregon is
vitally important to the American economy. Nearly a year ago, a dispute
began at 29 of our Nation's West Coast ports that drastically slowed
imports and exports to a near standstill.

Agricultural products rotted on the docks. Retailers couldn't get
products to stores. American manufacturers could not get their products
to foreign customers. By one estimate, there was nearly $7 billion in
damages to our economy.

Mr. Chairman, I have no interest in pointing fingers over who is
responsible for the dispute. However, I do believe that Congress has a
great interest in preventing future disruptions from harming our
businesses and consumers as well as our economy.

One thing that became abundantly clear during the disruption was that
there was very little data available to gauge how our ports are
functioning on a day-to-day basis. If something is impeding port
performance, be it a dispute, major congestion, or even a natural
disaster, we need to know if and how our ports are suffering before it
harms our economy and standing with foreign trading partners.

This amendment is simple. It requires the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics to collect and make available data on how our Nation's ports
are operating. Currently, the Bureau collects this information for our
railroads, for our highways, and our airports. We also need this
information for our ports as well.

The amendment that we are introducing is already in the Senate
highway bill. It has been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee by
voice vote. This is not and should not be controversial.

I also want to note that there are over 150 organizations supporting
this measure, organizations like the National Retail Federation, the
American Farm Bureau, the Association of American Railroads, the
National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Trucking
Association. The list goes on and on. It has very broad multi-industry
and bipartisan support.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment is about transparency and certainty for
our Nation's economy. If something is harming our ports, our
decisionmakers need information to address and mitigate that harm.

Now, I would have urged my colleagues to adopt this amendment, just
as a broad, bipartisan group did so in the Senate, but I have been in
close conversation with staff of the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, as well as the chairman and the ranking member. I would ask
for continued commitment on the part of the chairman to keep working on
this issue. It is very important and vital to the economy of the United
States.
With that commitment, Mr. Chairman, I withdraw the amendment.

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