Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2887 Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011. When I came to Congress I fought to become a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee because I know the importance of these issues for the people of the California 37th district as well as every American. Transportation is an issue that affects virtually every American every day and should never be put on the backburner.

H.R. 2887 will ensure that thousands of workers stay on the job and critical infrastructure projects do not come to a halt. Although I would much rather see a bill that reauthorizes our surface transportation and FAA programs long term, this bill will give the time we need to craft bipartisan long term bills. This bill extends the FAA and Surface Transportation reauthorization at the current level which is the lowest we should go. Not extending these programs would result in over 164,000 jobs lost in California infrastructure jobs alone. We have to look no further than August to see what happens when this Congress fails to act on reauthorizing these programs. Nearly, 90,000 jobs were put in jeopardy, over 3,600 FAA experts furloughed, $11 billion in contracts in limbo, and millions of dollars were lost. We have seen what shutting down can do--now we should see what investing can do.

Reports from engineers to reports from truck drivers outline the unacceptable current state of our deteriorating transportation system and have called for an immediate investment. As a country we waste billions of dollars every year with unnecessary delays due to a crumbling and over-congested surface transportation system. We must simplify our transportation programs and focus on a performance based system. We must also make the difficult choices about how these programs get funded and avoid having to continuously path the highway trust fund.

I have introduced several pieces of legislation that take a commonsense approach to these reoccurring problems. It provides solutions like strengthening Title VI so that projects are not delayed and redesigned when they over look low income and minority based communities. Establishing a Freight Corridors of National Significance Program will improve the efficiency, operation, and security of the national transportation system to move freight by prioritizing, investing, and promoting partnerships that advance interstate and foreign commerce, promote economic competitiveness, job creation, and improve the mobility of goods. Finally, with the growing number of states with strong environmental controls, we should make every effort to eliminate duplicative procedures that delay projects, while maintaining environmental safeguards.

I urge my colleagues to support this clean extension of these two critical programs so we can get back to work on a long term full reauthorization. I look forward to working with Chairman Mica and Ranking member Rahall in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to develop these common sense ideas that will create jobs and rebuild our infrastructure.

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