Highway Trust Fund Extension--Continued

Floor Speech

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND EXTENSION--Continued -- (Senate - July 30, 2009)

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Mr. WARNER. Madam President, as the Highway Trust Fund Act moves through the Senate, I would like to take a moment to stress the importance and urgency of reforming our national transportation system.

I commend Chairman Boxer for her leadership on this effort to keep the trust fund solvent. But the fact that we needed this emergency infusion indicates a much greater problem with the transportation system and how it is funded. I recognize and appreciate the desire to pass a clean 18-month extension of SAFETEA-LU. However, I think we can all agree that fundamental reform will be needed when the time comes to consider a full 6-year authorization bill.

Our Nation's infrastructure is currently inadequate to preserve our global competitiveness and the way we allocate funds for surface transportation lacks true accountability. In short, we do not tie funding to performance. To move to a true performance-based system, there are some immediate steps that should be taken.

An 18-month extension provides a unique opportunity to take some of these steps. Without making any policy reforms or adding any programs, we can begin to collect information on how well transportation funds are serving the public, which will ease our transition to a reformed and effective long-term policy. I have drafted an amendment that would direct the Secretary of Transportation to coordinate with states, metropolitan planning organizations and our new chief performance officer to develop metrics to address the following factors: (1) National Connectivity: How have transportation investments improved the connection of people and goods across the Nation?

(2) Metropolitan Accessibility: How have transportation investments allowed Americans in metropolitan regions to access their jobs and other activities more reliably and efficiently?

(3) Energy Security and Environmental Protection: How have transportation investments reduced carbon emissions and petroleum consumption?

(4) Safety: How have transportation investments improved safety by reducing fatalities and injuries associated with transportation?

My proposal outlines how States and metropolitan regions can begin to report these measures. The factors above are outcome-oriented, objective and measurable. They are also designed to cut across all modes of transportation, and to measure performance across an entire region as opposed to measuring specific projects in a vacuum.

This legislation will help ease the transition to a more performance-based system. Not only will it provide us with actual performance data, but it will help clarify what additional resources states will need to better provide such data in the future.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate on this initiative to ensure its inclusion in any extension of SAFETEA-LU.

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