Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 -- Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we spend far too much time here in the Senate scrambling to address short-term crises and far too little time working to tackle the serious long-term challenges facing our Nation. That is why I am very pleased the Senate will soon be considering the fiscal year 2014 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. This transportation and housing bill received strong bipartisan support as it moved through the Appropriations Committee. It was reported out of subcommittee unanimously.
On June 27, the members of the full committee voted 22 to 8 to report this bill here to the Senate. This bill received this strong bipartisan support because it helps families and communities, it gets workers back on the job, it is fiscally responsible, and it lays down a strong foundation for long-term and broad-based economic growth.
Our transportation and housing bill is very different from the one that is moving through the House of Representatives right now, which passed out of their committee on a strict party-line vote. The Senate bill funds the highly successful TIGER Program to ensure support for transportation projects of national or regional significance. The House bill zeros out that funding and even takes away TIGER funding provided for this current year.
The Senate bill provides $500 million to make necessary repairs to our Nation's bridges, when one in four bridges today across the country is classified as deficient. The House bill does not provide that critical funding. Our bipartisan Senate bill fully funds the Essential Air Service Program. The House bill kicks communities out of the program and then shortchanges the program.
On this side, our bill protects investments in our aviation infrastructure, while the House bill cuts spending we need to maintain and modernize the air traffic system by more than $ 1/2 billion, to the lowest level since fiscal year 2000, more than a decade ago now.
The Senate bill maintains funding for the CDBG and HOME Programs, while the House bill proposes to cut both to their lowest levels ever. It preserves the Federal commitment to the mostly elderly and disabled tenants of public housing and section 8 project-based housing, while the intentional short funding of both programs in the House bill would ultimately lead to their demise.
The House bill falls short in these and many other areas because its investment level is simply unsustainable. It is even lower than sequester levels. Without adequate resources to fund core and housing programs, it cuts deeply and broadly and very few programs escape the axe.
The approach taken by the House should concern all of us, because this is not about politics, it is about our country. Investing in our infrastructure is something that brings together the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, major labor groups such as the AFL-CIO, economists, and policy experts across the entire political spectrum because, as any business owner will tell you, no matter how challenging the current environment, you never want to cut the investments that allow you to compete and prosper once that crisis ends.
There are plenty of independent assessments showing that right now as a country we are not investing enough in our aging infrastructure, and no one--no one--is suggesting we invest too much. The fact is, if we slash our investments in infrastructure, we are not saving any money at all; we are making things worse. We are weakening our basis for private investment and economic growth. We are putting public safety at risk. We are allowing congestion to continue taxing families with painfully long commutes, long waits at airports, and health-threatening pollution.
Roads are going to need to be fixed eventually. Bridges are going to need to be strengthened at some point before they collapse. The air traffic control system will have to be modernized before air travel becomes too unreliable. Waiting will only make the work more expensive when we eventually do it. It is shortsighted and does not make any sense. That is why the bipartisan Senate bill supports critical investments in our Nation's infrastructure that are necessary to support and grow our economy. The investments included in our bill make it possible for people to get to work and products to get to market. Because other countries are investing in their infrastructure as quickly as they can, investments here in America are a key factor in making sure our country can compete and win in the 21st century global economy.
Our bipartisan bill also supports our local communities' efforts to promote economic development, supports small businesses, and creates affordable housing. These investments help create jobs and are necessary to ensure our Nation's economic competitiveness into the future. Our bill funds a critical piece of the safety net, housing assistance and homeless shelters for millions of families who are one step from the street. It moves us closer to finally eliminating homelessness among our Nation's veterans.
The need for these investments far exceeds the resources in this bill. But here in the Senate we have been able to keep our commitment to our States and our communities and ensure the agencies in the bill can meet their statutory responsibility.
The House bill's untenable investment level and commitment to sequestration makes those commitments impossible to keep.
The Senate bill also works to improve the programs funded, including reforms that address concerns Members raised the last time the transportation and housing bill came to the Senate floor. Our bipartisan bill includes important section 8 reforms to reduce costs and create efficiencies. It contains reforms to improve the oversight of public housing agencies and boards, ensures accountability for property owners who don't maintain the quality of their HUD-assisted housing, and increases accountability in the CDBG Program. The House bill doesn't include any of those reforms. Our bill also continues to require oversight by the offices of the inspectors general and GAO and incorporates their findings into the bill's guidance to agencies.
In short, our bill is a good bill, and, along with Senator Collins, I encourage Members to bring their amendments to the floor and to work with us to make this bill even better. This bill has broad bipartisan support because it takes a practical approach to addressing the real needs we find in the transportation and housing sectors. The investments it makes would create jobs and help the middle class right now, it would help lay down a strong foundation for long-term and broad-based economic growth, and it helps position our country and our economy to compete and win in the 21st-century global economy.
The approach taken by our House colleagues on their transportation and housing bill would cut investments in a way that may make our short-term budget deficit look better on paper but that would hurt our families, cost us far more in the long run, and hollow out our long-term investments and potential for economic growth. So I urge all our colleagues to help support our bipartisan bill and move us rapidly to final passage.
Again, before I yield, I wish to thank Chairwoman Mikulski, who was here a few moments ago, for her tremendous support and leadership. She was, as she stated, the former chair of the VA HUD subcommittee, and she really appreciates the importance of the investments this bill makes.
This bill does include the priorities of Members on both sides of the aisle, reflecting the bipartisan tradition in the Appropriations Committee. So I especially thank my entire subcommittee for their work, and I would like to take a moment to especially express my appreciation and thanks to my ranking member Senator Collins for all her hard work and cooperation throughout this process. I am very proud that together we have written a bill that works for families and communities.
Investing in our families and communities and long-term economic growth shouldn't be a partisan issue, and I think the bipartisan work that went into this bill and the strong support it received in committee proves it doesn't have to be.
I look forward to moving to this vote at noon today to allow us to get on the bill, and I encourage all our Members to bring their amendments to us. My ranking member Senator Collins and I will work our way through those as efficiently as we can so we can bring this bill to a conclusion.
Again, I thank Senator Collins for her tremendous work and her in-depth understanding of the tremendous issues within this bill, I thank her for working with us, and I yield to her at this time.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, shortly the Senate will move to a vote on the motion to proceed to the transportation-housing bill.
This is the first appropriations bill to come before the Senate. We have worked very hard, in a bipartisan way, to have a bill that invests in the projects that are important to this country, to move us forward, and help secure a strong future for this country.
It is a bill that was tough to write. Our allocation is much lower than those of us who are working on these issues would like to see it, but we have tried to be pragmatic and practical and move forward.
I know there are those Members of the Senate who make the argument that our allocation is higher than the House and would vote against these bills. I would remind all of our colleagues, I have been out on this floor innumerable times urging our colleagues to let us go to conference on the budget so we can work out this disagreement and be able to have allocations be the same from the House and the Senate. But we have been unable to do that because a small group of Senators on the other side have objected to us going to that conference. So we are at the place now where we have to move these appropriations bills forward. It does mean eventually we will have to get to a conference and, as my ranking member pointed out, we will have to work out an agreement. But until we can go to conference and work out the overall number, we have to move forward on these bills; otherwise, we are going to face a crisis come the end of September in terms of funding our government and giving certainty to people across this country about whether we will be allocating funds for them to be able to move forward on their budgets at the local and State levels.
I urge our colleagues to vote yes, allow us to move to this bill. As my ranking member has said, bring your amendments to the floor. If you have an objection to something in the bill or you want to change something or you want a discussion about something, we will be here, ready to take amendments, look at them, and have the will of the Senate move forward.
In a few short minutes, we will move to that vote and I urge our colleagues to vote yes.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, the Senate has now agreed on a bipartisan basis to move forward on the transportation and housing bill. I wish to thank all of our colleagues.
As we move forward on this appropriations bill, we will be open for amendments. I know there are Members who have a number of issues they would like for us to consider. I urge them to bring their amendments to Senator Collins and me, the managers of this bill, as soon as possible so we can begin to work our way through them.
So as we go to recess for caucus lunches, I ask Members to please work with both of us so we can manage this bill in a responsible way and then move to final passage.
I appreciate all of the work of my ranking member Senator Collins as well as the members of the committee and all of the Senators who are working with us to move this bill forward.
Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.
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