Further Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, reluctantly, I am going to support yet another short- term extension of the highway program. Unfortunately, this simply continues to put our State departments of transportation and transportation stakeholders in a very tough position, and they really deserve more than this.

Let me be clear: The Speaker's partisan process is what has led us to this point, and this predicament highlights more than ever the need for us to be working across the aisle--and across the building, for that matter.

Nearly a month ago, we were here in virtually the same position, having the same conversations about the need for a highway extension because the Speaker is holding the infrastructure bill hostage for her real priority. And we all know what that is. It is a massive, multitrillion-dollar tax-and-spend wish list.

This should not be how it is, tying the hands of an entire Congress to pass a socialist agenda that folks in America just simply don't support. Infrastructure has never been this way. Bipartisanship has always been the formula for success on infrastructure, and that hasn't changed. It hasn't changed any at all.

While this process may have started out as a bipartisan piece of legislation in the Senate, the Speaker made darn sure that as soon as the bill was sent across the Capitol, it immediately was tainted with her ultraliberal, partisan agenda.

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

House Republicans have stood ready and committed to participate in a truly bipartisan process that involves input from both the House and the Senate, not just one Chamber, and both parties. We were ready to come to the negotiation table.

Earlier this year, House Republicans warned that a partisan path would put us in a position like this, and here we are.

The chairman is absolutely right. Passing this extension is the right thing to do. The last thing we need, though, is a series of short-term extensions. A longer extension is a much-preferred path because it allows our States to plan with certainty.

Multiple short-term extensions are extremely detrimental to the States. They are detrimental to the stakeholders and the jobs that support these critical projects and programs.

Extensions mean leaving the States with uncertainty to fix, to maintain, to upgrade roads and bridges. And you can't plan multiyear infrastructure and highway projects with the guarantee of only a few weeks of funding at any one time.

So it is time to get back to what works, and that is bipartisanship on both sides of this building. That is the key to success when it comes to infrastructure.

I urge my colleagues to support this short-term extension and support our States' transportation programs. However, next time around, we really need to consider a longer term extension. It is what is best for the States.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Again, it is unfortunate that we are here today as Democrats continue negotiating their partisan reconciliation proposal while an infrastructure bill sits. It sits idly and serves nothing more than those partisan programs.

This is nothing more than a Trojan horse, Madam Speaker, and it is being used for its popularity to get votes for the progressive wish list. I believe our State DOTs and our State transportation stakeholders, every one of them deserve better.

I hardly think that this short-term extension gives certainty to those folks, and I recognize that what is even worse is the fact that there is no certainty whatsoever.

Given that, reluctantly, I do urge support of this short-term extension with the expectation that a longer term extension will be needed the next time that we are here doing this once again.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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