Highway Technical Corrections Act of 2007--Motion to Proceed--Continued

Floor Speech

HIGHWAY TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - April 15, 2008)

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise in support of passing the bill that is on the Senate floor; that is, the SAFETEA-LU technical corrections bill. When we look at the bill that is of the magnitude of the SAFETEA-LU bill and its extraordinary importance in our economy, there are bound to be some drafting errors and issues. I am glad we are taking the time to correct these errors so we can continue to strengthen our national infrastructure and our economy.

As a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I applaud Senator Boxer's leadership in getting this bill to the floor. This bill is a step in the right direction as this Congress focuses more and more attention on our national infrastructure.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, as well as future efforts, to strengthen our national infrastructure.

The Presiding Officer, being a Senator from Colorado, knows and I know there is a new economy in the future. It is the energy economy. But if we are going to move forward the next century's economy, we cannot be stuck in the last century's transportation system.

I believe when you invest in infrastructure, you invest in the American economy. Rebuilding Main Street means revitalizing Main Street. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that for every $1 billion of Federal highway investment, it creates over 30,000 jobs. So when we rebuild our roads, we strengthen our economy.

As you know, a bridge collapsed one day in the middle of Minnesota. It was something no one could ever believe would happen in the middle of our major Interstate Highway System.

As I said that day, a bridge should not fall down in the middle of America, especially not an eight-lane interstate highway, especially not one of the most heavily traveled bridges in our State, and especially not at rush hour in the heart of a major metropolitan area, and especially not in my front yard. As you know, Mr. President, as you have seen, the area of that bridge was only 8 blocks from my house.

Unfortunately, it has taken a disaster of this magnitude to put the issue of infrastructure investment squarely on the national agenda, and it is long overdue.

The sudden failure and collapse of the I-35W bridge has raised many questions about the condition and safety of our roads and bridges. In fact, we just had a bridge that was similarly designed shut down in St. Cloud, MN, about an hour and a half away from the bridge that collapsed. It was designed by the same designer, with the same problem with the bent gussets. The investigation is still going on into the exact cause and triggering events that led to the collapse of the I-35W bridge.

The fact a bridge closed down so near, and the State of Minnesota decided to replace that bridge rather than repair it, shows this is not an isolated incident. Critical investment in the maintenance and construction of our Nation's transportation is imperative. Strengthening and maintaining our national infrastructure must be a national priority.

At the moment, our priorities are not in the right place.

We spend $12 billion a month in Iraq, with no end in sight, but our bridges fall down in the middle of America. We have tax cuts for the top 1 percent, but it is getting harder and harder for the middle class to get by. We need to better prioritize our national spending.

Our robust, well-maintained, up-to-date highway system is vital to the continued expansion of our economy. It is, in fact, an essential driver of our economic prosperity. As President Kennedy once said:

Building a road or highway isn't pretty. But it's something that our economy needs to have.

And nowhere is this truer than in rural America.

In Minnesota, the relationship between highways and the economy is most obvious in our rural areas. Transportation is absolutely essential to their viability and to their vitality. Rural Minnesota is now in the midst of an economic revival that promises to grow even stronger. We are seeing this all over America with the energy revolution, whether it is wind or solar or geothermal or whether it is ethanol or biodiesel.

As our Nation demands greater energy independence and security, the rural parts of our country are poised to benefit enormously with the further development of home-grown energy. I believe we need to be prepared to maximize the opportunities offered by this renewable energy revolution. It is only beginning to emerge, but it promises major economic and technological changes for our country.

Already the development of wind farms and ethanol plants has rejuvenated many rural areas in our State. We are third in the country when it comes to wind energy. But at the same time, these wonderful new energies are placing new demands on our transportation infrastructure. Here is one example: Demand for ethanol has increased dramatically. This Congress has pushed it. We are now with corn ethanol, but we know we will also expand into cellulosic, switchgrass, prairie grass, and other forms of biomass. For the first 6 months of 2007, ethanol production in the United States totaled nearly 3 billion gallons--32 percent higher than the same period last year.

Currently, there are 128 ethanol plants nationwide, with total annual production capacity nearing close to 7 billion gallons. An additional 85 plants are under construction. As we know, this is just the beginning. We look at places such as Brazil, which are completely energy independent because of what they have done with sugarcane. We know corn isn't the only answer. We will expand into other kinds of ethanol. But we do know this is going to place demands--demands we want to have--on our Nation's transportation infrastructure.

Total ethanol production in the United States is projected to exceed 13 billion gallons per year by early 2009, if not sooner. What does that mean in terms of transportation? Well, this means an average square mile of land in southern Minnesota, which now generates the equivalent of 80 loaded semitrucks per year, could soon produce double that--160 loads of grain per year. As more homegrown energy is produced, rural roads and bridges will have greater demands placed on them, as will rural rail.

I have had members of my own State of Minnesota--constituents--come up and show me these old rail ties that are breaking down. I have seen myself the bridges that are in need of shoulders. I have seen the highways that are in need of repair. Some of our roads in Minnesota are in such disrepair they have actually been letting them go to dirt. We are going the opposite because they do not have the money to repair them.

The ethanol plant in Benson, MN, now has over 525 fully loaded semis hauling either corn, ethanol or other forms of biodiesel from their plant every week. This is a 45-million gallon ethanol facility. Their production falls around the middle of Minnesota's 16 ethanol plants.

SMI Hydraulics is a company in rural southwestern Minnesota that manufactures the bases for the wind towers you see all across southern Minnesota. I have visited the company. They basically started in a barn, and they are building these huge wind towers. The heavy trucks that bring the steel to the company put an understandable heavy burden on the roads they travel and are putting their durability to the test.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates truck freight in rural America is going to double--double--by the year 2020. The continuing trend toward greater reliance on trucking to support these industries raises concern about the wear and tear on rural roads and bridges. Many of these roads and bridges were built before this trend was evident. Whoever thought they would be carrying this huge wind tunnel? No one ever thought it would happen, but it does. They were not designed for this type of traffic.

Much of the rural road network in the United States was constructed during an era of slower travel and lighter vehicles. Current traffic, which is heavier and wider, has accelerated the rate of deterioration and made these types of roads less serviceable. In many important grain-producing States, such as Minnesota, more than 40 percent of the major highway system is rated as being in less than fair condition. Our transportation systems need to support the development of these industries, so we need to look at the full spectrum of transportation options.

I truly appreciate Senator Boxer's leadership, looking not just at truck travel, not just at roads but also at mass transportation and other ways we can transport our goods to market. With more than half our State of Minnesota's total population now living in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area, the need for more transportation options has become very clear to all of us.

It is not just about the rural areas in our State. Increasing traffic congestion has become a major threat to Minnesota's quality of life and our prosperity, costing precious time and money for both commuters and businesses. There is enormous support in our State for something called Northstar rail, which would bring people basically from the Twin Cities to the area of St. Cloud--Big Lake, to be exact. St. Cloud is the area I explained where the bridge had been closed because of safety concerns. And if you drive that 94 Interstate right now, I can tell you, you waste so much time sitting in traffic you practically feel sick to your stomach if you are there in rush hour.

We need that mass transit, and legislators and people who were originally completely opposed to this project are now standing up in front of the line because they know how important it is for their constituents. This is a case where I have to tell you the constituents were there before the elected officials and led the way to try to get this Northstar rail in. And because of the Federal help, it is now getting built.

The bottom line for any business is you lose money when your people and your products get stuck in traffic, and you also lose the ability to attract topnotch, talented workers if they must contend with aggravating and time-consuming traffic jams. To combat this threat, we must commit to broadening our transportation options, developing the right mix of multimodal solutions to serve our emerging needs, while maintaining our existing systems and highways. This mix, of course, includes not just rail but rapid bus transit, high-occupancy toll lanes, and anything we can do to try to move the people to the places they need to go.

Our Nation has faced this challenge before, a half century ago, and we succeeded in building a new modern transportation system for a new modern economy. At the heart of it all was the interstate highway system. In his 1963 memoir, ``Mandate for Change 1953-1956,'' President Eisenhower famously said this of transportation:

More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America. Its impact on the American economy--the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up--was beyond calculation.

He was right. It is our responsibility to restore Eisenhower's vision of a transportation infrastructure that works for all of America. I can tell you this firsthand, from my heart, having seen what happens when you don't invest as you are supposed to; having seen a major bridge fall down one day in the middle of America; having seen the promise in the rural parts of our State of the new energy revolution but then hearing how they can't get their goods to market because they have a bunch of single-road highways, when they have trucks that are trying to bring wind towers in, when they are trying to be part of the solution to this energy crisis.

It is our responsibility to restore that vision that Eisenhower had--to build this transportation infrastructure in our country. That is why I am so proud to support Senator Boxer and her work on this bill, and I hope our colleagues will support this bill and that we get this bill passed for the good of America.

I yield the floor.

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mrs. BOXER. Yes, I will be glad to yield to my colleague.

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. I ask the Senator, how long has she been trying to get this bill through? I know she has been waiting. I know it has been months.

Mrs. BOXER. The House passed it 1 year ago, and we passed it in the committee in June 2007. This is not something that--this has been around. We have been asking Senator Reid. He wanted to bring it up, but it is getting caught up in other matters. It has been a long time.

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. It seems to me, when there is so much bipartisan support, the other side of the aisle would try to advance this bill. I know in our State we have had this tragedy. They see this not only as you talk about it--as a way to figure out, do an analysis of what we really need to meet our transportation needs but they also need it as investment. As you know, we were unable, on the stimulus package, to get some of the things we wanted on the Democratic side, so we did get the check in the mail to people. But long after those rebate checks are cashed, we need a long-term investment strategy in this country that invests in jobs.

I thank Senator Boxer for bringing up that piece of the bill. I was very focused on the nuts and bolts on the roads, the wear and tear on the roads that we all think about when driving on the highway, but we also have to think about this as an investment strategy. I thank her for bringing out that important point.

Mrs. BOXER. I am happy to do it, I say to my friend, and I am glad she asked me when we passed this bill out of committee--June 2007. June 2008 is fast upon us. The House also passed it a year ago.

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