Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. I want to thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall for bringing this bill to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, more than 700,000 jobs and 6,000 road and bridge projects could be in jeopardy if payments from the Federal highway trust fund are delayed. I rise today in support of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, which would prevent this catastrophic scenario.

In my home State of West Virginia, more than 200 projects are currently receiving Federal funding. If we fail to act now, we risk layoffs at the height of the summer construction season. Inaction would cripple the efforts of our State highway department to maintain our roads and bridges after a particularly harsh winter and to build new projects like U.S. Route 35, Corridor H, and the King Coal Highway in West Virginia.

American motorists, construction workers, and small businesses deserve certainty that the Federal Government will continue to invest in our Nation's infrastructure. Today's bill provides that certainty for the remainder of this construction season, but I wait, as most of us do, to complete the work on the longer term bill. I ask my colleagues to join me in passing the Highway and Transportation Funding Act.

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