Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users

TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A LEGACY FOR USERS -- (House of Representatives - April 02, 2004)

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Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) for bringing this issue up.

What we are trying to do is expand options to fund transportation solutions. As both gentlemen have pointed out, there are many limitations on that, and States throughout the country are struggling with their efforts to find the resources to fund the transportation solutions they want. This is one idea to basically make tolls an option for State projects so that they could receive Federal funds if they wanted to use those tolls to fund it and maintenance of that new construction. The amendment expands this to allow for whatever projects want to apply.

It is my opinion that the bill itself is actually narrower. It only allows an isolated number of projects to have these toll roads. It is not my understanding that this amendment in any way changes the current structure on mass transit. I am not certain that we currently allow Federal funds to go for tolling to fund that. But this amendment, to my understanding, and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) can perhaps correct me, does not speak to what the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) just talked about. It does not further restrict funds for transit. If it did, I would not be supportive of it. It expands what is available for roads.

Toll roads, by definition, are for roads. If there was some way to expand further to deal with mass transit, I would be in favor of it. It was my understanding that this amendment does not further restrict what the law already does. It targets one area and expands the opportunities, whereas the current bill only allows for an isolated number of projects to take advantage of this opportunity. As the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) pointed out, it is like three projects throughout the country that could get this, and obviously there are more than that.

So this is an opportunity to expand access to transportation opportunities, and that is why I support the amendment. My State and just about every other State I can think of desperately needs more funds for transportation. This opens up an avenue, a way for them to get those funds and build new roads and opens it up in a way that the public is likely to be supportive of. It funds specifically the road that they would be paying tolls on until it is paid for and the maintenance and care of it.

Getting public support for these issues has long been a challenge. We voted down the gas tax in the State of Washington on several occasions. This would be an opportunity to get people something that they want and expand transportation funds.