Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I am planning to support this short-term extension of highway programs because it is a clean extension, and it is the right thing to do at this point.

At midnight last night, funding for these programs expired because I suppose Speaker Pelosi and the majority thought this lapse and shutdown would be minimal. Maybe we should ask the thousands of workers who are now furloughed, our State departments of transportation, and other stakeholders whether they also would minimize the majority's inaction and the game playing that is taking place.

Let me be clear: The Speaker's partisan process is what led us to this point, and this chaos highlights more than ever the need for us to be working across the aisle. Getting a bipartisan highway infrastructure bill done should be easiest thing that we do in Congress. Bipartisanship has always been the formula for success on infrastructure, and that hasn't changed.

In my 20 years in Congress, I have supported all three highway bills that have been signed into law. All three of them were bipartisan. All three of them were under Republican chairmen.

I stand ready to participate in a truly bipartisan process that involves input from both the House and the Senate, not just one Chamber.

Republicans have put forward infrastructure principles in numerous pieces of infrastructure legislation. We were ready to come to the negotiating table, but we didn't get that opportunity. Republicans warned that a partisan path would put us in a position like this, and here we are.

Nevertheless, we remain ready to come to the table and get back to the bipartisan tradition on infrastructure. Passing this extension is the right thing to do, but the last thing we need is a series of short- term extensions. These short-term extensions are extremely detrimental to the States, to the stakeholders, and to the jobs that support these critical projects and programs.

Short-term extensions mean leaving States with uncertainty in their plans to fix, maintain, and upgrade roads and bridges. Mr. Speaker, you can't plan multiyear infrastructure and highway projects with the guarantee of only a few weeks of funding at a time.

It is time to get back to what works. Bipartisanship on both sides of Capitol Hill is the key to success when it comes to infrastructure.

Again, Mr. Speaker, this process has been horribly managed, and it is unfortunate that we didn't take this action before transportation programs were shut down and people were furloughed. Having said that, we need to provide this certainty for our State DOTs and for our transportation stakeholders.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I do urge support for this clean, short-term extension. It doesn't cost anything, and it is the right thing to do. I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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