Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2014 - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I believe when it comes to caring for our Nation's heroes, we can't accept anything less than excellence.

As have many of my colleagues, I have been very troubled by the most recent allegations of the VA failing to provide veterans timely health care. The VA generally offers very high-quality health care and does many things as well or better than the private sector. But when you are caring for our Nation's heroes and you have the backing of the full resources of the Federal Government, "just as good'' is not enough. We expect more. So I am very frustrated to be here again talking about these deeply disturbing issues and the Department's repeated failures to change.

GAO and the inspector general have reported on these problems many times over the years. Last Congress we did a great deal of work around wait times, particularly for mental health care. I think the VA is starting to see that business as usual is not acceptable.

The administration has taken steps to begin addressing some of the major systemwide problems, but much more needs to be done. Tomorrow, when I meet with the President's nominee for the VA Secretary, I am going to ask him how he plans to make these changes. That is why I am very glad to be serving on the veterans conference committee, because Congress needs to act as well.

The most important thing we can do right now is to pass responsible and effective legislation to bring much-needed reforms to the VA, and we need to do it soon.

There have been major bipartisan efforts in both the House and in the Senate to move legislation addressing these problems. Many Members have been part of those efforts, and I commend them all for their commitment to bipartisanship and for putting the needs of our veterans first. It is vital that we continue to build on this bipartisan momentum and to continue making progress if we are going to address some of the immediate accountability and transparency concerns that are plaguing the VA and to fix its deep-seated structural and cultural challenges.

I know Members have a wide range of concerns with the bill, and I believe we can address those concerns responsibly and in a way that puts our veterans first and gives the VA the tools it needs to address the challenges it faces. That means building and strengthening the VA system so it delivers the best care for the long term. But it is important for us to act quickly to start making these changes. We cannot allow this process to break down. Veterans are still waiting to get the care they need.

Many of us were rightly outraged the VA did not act to help veterans because the Department ignored all the information and did nothing. This Congress must not do the same and fail veterans by not acting.

I urge all of our colleagues to work as hard and as quickly as possible to finalize an agreement and get it to the President. More problems will be uncovered and the investigations will proceed, and we will need more action from the VA, the administration, and Congress, because our Nation made a promise to the men and women who answer the call of duty, and one of the most important ways we uphold that is by making sure our veterans can get access to the health care they need and they deserve, no matter what it takes.

HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

I also wish to speak about another important issue Congress needs to act on, and that is the looming crisis with the highway trust fund.

As is the case with other States around the country, my home State of Washington relies on the highway trust fund to pay for construction projects. These are projects that ease traffic on our highways, repair bridges, and make safety improvements. This year, for example, officials in Washington State plan to use money from the highway trust fund to improve safety at railroad crossings in Centralia. They plan to replace anchor cables on bridges in Seattle, and they plan to repave roads across the State to fix potholes and to make roads smoother for our drivers. But here in DC, the Department of Transportation and many of us in Congress have been warning for months that the highway trust fund needs more revenue to pay for these critical projects in my home State and across the country. Without that revenue, the trust fund is going to reach critically low levels next month.

This is coming now just a few months after Republicans pushed us into a government shutdown. If Congress fails to act soon, families and businesses and States would see another shutdown, this time with highway projects around the country.

I had hoped we would be able to get this done by now. The last thing, I can tell my colleagues, the American people want to see right now is another countdown clock on the evening news. But we still have a chance to get this done before it is too late. Instead of lurching to yet another crisis and putting our construction projects at risk, let's work together and do the right thing for our families and our workers and the economy.

The clock is ticking for Congress to find the much-needed revenue. Starting August 1, the Department of Transportation said it will start delaying payments to our States for projects that ease traffic on clogged highways and make important repairs to our bridges. On average, States will lose 28 percent of their Federal funding. Without that money, many States are going to have to delay or stop work on their construction sites. Officials in my home State have said up to 43 highway projects could be threatened, and across the country more than 1,000 construction projects could be at risk, according to the Department of Transportation.

If there is one thing Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on, and usually do, is that we should be investing in and improving our transportation infrastructure, not letting it crumble. A construction shutdown would threaten jobs and businesses. If States have to scale back their plans, companies are going to hire fewer workers to repair and improve roads and bridges across the country. Without a fix, nearly 700,000 jobs will be at

risk next year, according to the Department of Transportation. And let's remember, the construction industry was one of the hardest hit sectors after the economic downturn and has not yet fully bounced back. In fact, weakness in the U.S. labor market is actually due to the lack of growth in the construction sector, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Allowing our highway trust fund to dip to critically low levels would deliver another blow to the construction sector as it is struggling to recover.

Last fall, families and communities across our country were forced to endure a completely unnecessary government shutdown. That shutdown, we all know, hurt our people and threatened a very fragile economic recovery and shook the confidence of the American people who expect their elected officials to come together and avoid such an unnecessary crisis. I was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans at the end of last year to pass a bipartisan budget deal that prevented another government shutdown. It restored critical investments in families and the economy and it put a halt to the constant budget crises.

I was proud to build on that bipartisan momentum and work with my friend Senator Isakson and others on a workforce investment deal that passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support.

We hope, by the way, that will pass the House tomorrow and get signed into law.

We know bipartisanship work is possible. We know the country is better for it when it happens. We know it is what families we represent expect from all of us. So today I am calling on Republicans to work with us in good faith to do the right thing and help us avoid this construction shutdown. I know Republican leaders once again are worried about their tea party fringe pushing them into another unnecessary crisis, but I hope they are able to push them aside and work with us to get this done. Republicans saw how devastating it was for them--and their constituents--when they hurt the country with the government shutdown. I am hopeful that gives them any additional incentive they may need to work with us this time.

State and local governments, workers, businesses, and drivers are looking to us to resolve this crisis and avoid another shutdown. States cannot afford important highway construction projects without this important highway trust fund. Families cannot afford to have a few Members of Congress putting jobs at risk again. With the clock winding down fast, we cannot afford to put this off any longer. So let's resolve this looming crisis. Let's work together and prevent a construction shutdown this summer for our economy, for our businesses, and for our families across the country.

Thank you.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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