Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act
Floor Speech
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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to speak about an issue of great importance to millions of my constituents in New York, our Nation's transportation system, particularly public transit. This is the very lifeline that millions rely on to get to and from work, to bring their paychecks home every single day to their families at night. Various proposals that have been put forth throughout the course of the debate in both the House and the Senate would actually slash funding for mass transit. The proposal advanced by the House Republicans last month to eliminate the mass transit account of the highway funds was a stunning misunderstanding of our Nation's transit needs. Cutting off public transit from its traditional funding source without providing viable alternatives is irresponsible. In fact, former Congressman and now Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the House bill ``the worst transportation bill'' he had ever seen.
Let me state some clear facts. New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is the Nation's largest public transportation system, operating over 8,000 rail and subway cars and nearly 6,000 buses. On an average weekday, nearly 8.5 million Americans ride these trains, subways, and buses operated by the MTA to commute to work or to visit the city, which generates enormous economic revenue, not just for New York but for our country. Moving these riders into cars flies in the face of any sound environmental public policy and furthers our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
Increasing costs for our Nation's transit riders should be rejected out of hand by the Senate. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that we do what is responsible and that we maintain transit funding to encourage the use of mass transit and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I understand we have many very difficult decisions to make as we debate this bill, but I think stopping New York's transit system in its tracks is simply not a credible solution.
I also have a few amendments for this bill. Each of them is equally important and they address different issues. The first one I wish to address affects me as a mom of two young boys who I know will want to be driving at 16. Kids all across America cannot wait for that day when they get their driver's license. But there are terrible statistics about teen deaths. In fact, one statistic showed 11 teens die every single day because of car accidents. I know every family in America has been affected by those horrible high school tragedies, of kids dying in a car accident on their way home from the big game, on their way from the prom, every scenario we can imagine.
We have to give our teens better tools, better training, so when they get to become full-time drivers and have all the various permissions allowed, they are ready for that. We can imagine the scenarios in our own minds as parents, I know. Think about texting and driving. One cannot imagine how deadly distracted driving is in our country. Imagine the young driver who does not have a lot of judgment. Imagine the young driver who has five other kids in the car and they are coming back from the big game and they are all excited and they are all listening to the music and it is nighttime. Those are risky situations where we know if we give those drivers more training before they are in those risky situations, they will be able to handle them better.
Experts agree the graduated driver's license, basically gradually phasing teens into the driving experience with different responsibilities and different permissions as they get older, is the way to begin to address some of these risks. It has been a proven effective method in many States that have already instituted graduated driver's licenses. So I think we need to have a national priority, a priority that says they must as a State put in some basic training requirements, some measure of graduated driver's license, to ensure when these kids get on the road they have the skills and tools they need to keep themselves safe, their passengers safe, and the other drivers on the road are safe as well.
As parents, as people who set public policy for our Nation, we should be making the safety and well-being and the lives of at least those 11 teens every day who die a priority, and this is a proven way to do it and we can do it.
The second amendment basically increases economic opportunity. New York is unusual in that we are a border State. We share a border with Canada. There is so much opportunity for cross-border transactions and cross-border commerce. This change is very simple. It gives authority to our States to invest in critical border crossings, such as freight and passenger rail systems. By providing this very simple change, States such as New York, California, Vermont, and Texas will be able to choose to enhance these crossings and increase many more economic engines to address our tough economy.
The last amendment, equally important, is about jobs. How do we create the economic engine to get America working again? One way is to increase our pipeline, actually do better training for jobs that are available. One of the ways we can do that is this pilot program, already proven effective elsewhere, the Construction Careers Demonstration Project, amendment No. 1648. Basically, it is a proven commonsense strategy for at-risk workers to give them an opportunity to be trained in the building and construction trades so they find employment, they provide for their families, and we reduce unemployment. It is a very simple change. It is just a pilot program.
I urge my colleagues to support these three amendments and focus on how we can pass a good, useful, beneficial transportation bill which will get our economy moving.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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