Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to oppose a $900 million earmark to the Gateway Project, an upgrade of an Amtrak rail bridge and tunnel between Newark and New York City. This earmark is a downpayment. The project is supposed to be $29.5 billion.

My amendment would do two things: It would cut spending by $474 million, and it would take $400 million and add it to national transit funding.

Mr. Chairman, New Jersey canceled a project doing the same thing in 2010. That was when it cost $8.7 billion. Now the Federal version costs $13 billion. This is what the Governor's office said, defending the decision, in reference to comments made by Senator Frank Lautenberg: `` . . . perhaps he can explain why he is insisting New Jersey tax and toll payers fund 70 percent of a project, while billions in Federal funding pour out of Washington for high-speed rail lines in other States like Florida, which will pay only 20 percent of project costs.'' Here we are, Mr. Chairman. Billions are about to pour out of Washington. If this earmark stands, then we send a clear message to the States: Shortchange your infrastructure, and Washington will bail you out.
Mr. Chairman, I urge support, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. Chairman, a couple of things. I look at this, and this still allows funding of existing projects and infrastructure, but it also reduces the deficit, too.

And I want to quote the Eno Center for Transportation here: ``It is obvious from the beginning of the timeline that the new Hudson River tunnel project was conceived as a way around Governor Christie's cancellation of the ARC tunnel project. Instead of having Jersey Transit as the sponsor like ARC, the new tunnel would be under the aegis of Amtrak.''

Mr. Chairman, this isn't about Amtrak funding. This is about funding for a single project in New Jersey that the State, itself, wouldn't fund in 2010. Amtrak funding for the Northeast Corridor account remains untouched under my amendment.

We are talking about Amtrak funding for a single project. As the chairman, himself, has said, a significant proportion of the $328 million in the Northeast Corridor account will go to Amtrak.

This is 300 times the size of an average earmark, when we had earmarks. We have an earmark ban in place right now. There is debate over this, but it is not fair with the ban in place that chairmen get huge earmarks and the rest of us, essentially, are banned. There should be one rule that applies to everyone, and right now the earmark ban is what applies.

One-sixth of the non-aviation DOT money in this bill is going to Gateway. In what universe is that reasonable?
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. Chairman, this is a lot of money, as I mentioned earlier. The State of Good Repair account is funding at 18 times last year's appropriated level. Let me say that again: 18 times last year's level and the budget request.

I will close with one more quote from Governor Christie regarding the decision to cancel the original version of this project. He said: ``I don't want to hear about the jobs it will create. If I don't have money for the payroll, it will not create the jobs. This is not a difficult decision for me.''

The Federal Government doesn't have the money for the payroll either, Mr. Chairman. We are $20 trillion in debt. Heritage Action for America, Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, National Taxpayers Union, and Citizens Against Government Waste are scoring ``yes'' on my amendment.

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