Highway And Transportation Funding Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, let me thank Mr. DeFazio for yielding and for the work that he does on this committee.
Let me also say to the chairman of the committee, Mr. Shuster, how pleased I am with the kind of work that he does on the committee. Very frankly, Mr. Shuster is committed to getting things done and to working in a bipartisan fashion. That is good for this House, and it is good for his State, and it is good for the country. I thank him for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this 60-day extension because it is essential that we do this. The consequences of not doing it would be very, very negative. I rise to lament the fact that we have gone 10 months in our having known full well that this date was upon us and that theoretically, we thought, that funding as well as authorization would end on the 31st of this month. We have now found that funding will not end. This bill is necessary to authorize, not to fund, because funding is available for the next 60 days from the 31st.
I also rise to urge this House, under Mr. Shuster's and Mr. DeFazio's leadership, to do the work we were sent here to do--to invest in America, to invest in the growth of our economy, to invest in the creation of jobs--in fact, what the board of directors of the greatest country on the face of the Earth ought to have done many years and, certainly, months ago.
I am absolutely convinced that this House has the capacity, the intellect, and the ability within 60 days to come to this floor with a bill that will invest in our infrastructure and provide sufficient funds to make America competitive and to pay for it, not to pass the expense along to future generations--my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren. They are going to have to buy for themselves the infrastructure of their generations, and they ought not to have to pay the bills of our generation.
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Mr. HOYER. It is a moral responsibility that this generation pays for the investments that it needs to make in the infrastructure that will be used today and tomorrow.
Mr. Shuster, I know, wants to do that. Mr. Shuster and Mr. DeFazio have the courage to do that. The issue is going to be whether this body, on both sides of the aisle, comes forward with a responsible, paid-for infrastructure bill, particularly for highways and roads and bridges, but for other investments as well.
I want to tell Mr. Shuster and Mr. DeFazio that I will work closely with them and that I will urge the Members on my side of the aisle to work closely with the Members on Mr. Shuster's side of the aisle to effect this end. But let us not pretend on July 30 that we can extend until December 31 or until a year from then. Today, let us commit ourselves to using the next 70 days, approximately, to come up with a paid-for, 6-year reauthorization that will make America stronger, grow our economy, and be a pride of the American people, whom we serve.
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