Hire More Heroes Act of 2015- Motion to Proceed- Continued

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the DRIVE Act. I commend Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Boxer for their bipartisan work on this bill that passed out of the Environment and Public Works Committee with a unanimous vote.

A long-term highway solution such as the DRIVE Act will provide our States with the certainty they need to advance major road and bridge projects. Passing a 6-year bill would be a great achievement for this Congress, especially in the context of our recent history, and I am hopeful we will seize this opportunity.

Several years ago, as a member of the House Transportation Committee, I strongly supported the last long-term highway bill that helped support major roads in West Virginia and around the country.

The 2005 highway bill was extended 10 separate times--10 times--between 2009 and 2012. During that period, States were only assured Federal funding for a period of weeks or months, making lasting improvements to our highway infrastructure difficult, and it shows.

As we saw between 2009 and 2012, several short-term extensions resulted in fewer and more costly fixes. In 2012, we passed MAP-21 to reauthorize the highway program for 2 years. I served as a conferee on that legislation.

MAP-21 was a strong bipartisan achievement that included a number of important reforms to streamline project delivery and help States complete their projects more efficiently and economically, but ultimately MAP-21 was a 2-year bill.

Since MAP-21, we have had more of the same: short-term extension after short-term extension. The recent history shows how significant this opportunity we have is. We have before us a bipartisan, fiscally responsible bill that will provide the certainty our States need to improve the Nation's highway system for several years.

I am encouraged by the bipartisan vote we saw last night to move to debate, and I hope my colleagues will continue to work together to drive that DRIVE Act into law.

West Virginians rely heavily, as do most people around the country, on roads, bridges, and highways to fuel our economy, to access hard-to-reach places in our State, to get to and from work, and to transport goods and services. West Virginians understand the need for a long-term highway bill. Nearly one-third of our State's major roads are currently in poor condition.

The Federal Highway Administration has listed 960 West Virginia bridges as structurally deficient. We have quite a few bridges in our State because of our beautiful mountains.

The DRIVE Act will increase funding for maintaining and repairing these bridges. The bill prioritizes maintenance of our major roads, helping to address the current state of disrepair on highways across this country.

This is a statistic of which, quite frankly, I was jarred by the number. Each West Virginia motorist pays an average of $575 a year in extra maintenance costs due to the poor road conditions. The DRIVE Act will help our States address maintenance and repair, meaning safer and less costly trips for our drivers, but the biggest thing is the certainty that comes from a long-term highway bill. It is important for not only the maintenance aspect, but it is most important to advance new projects. Large highway projects are expensive multiyear endeavors.

States can't plan for the future based on funding commitments for a week or a month. Whether the issue is relieving congestion and improving access to rural communities to fuel economic development or moving freight across the country, the DRIVE Act will help the most important projects move forward.

In West Virginia, U.S. Route 35 in Putnam and Mason Counties is one of our most critical projects. It is an important freight link for the goods moving from the Southeast to the Midwest, but it has been two lanes for a very long time. It was one of the most dangerous roads that interstate truck traffic shared.

Thanks in part to the 2005 bill I talked about, the majority of Route 35 is now a four-lane highway, and our State efforts to complete the remaining 14 miles are well underway, but the DRIVE Act will aid efforts to get that project across the finish line. It will also help us build Corridor H for residents in Central and Eastern West Virginia, an important part of the Appalachian Development Highway System. When this road is completed, it will link counties in Central West Virginia with the Interstate 81 corridor, improving safety and providing economic development opportunities for our communities.

Whether it is Route 35, Corridor H, the King Coal Highway, Coal Fields Expressway or other high-priority projects across our State, States need that certainty that is going to come from a dedicated Federal investment to move forward. That is what a long-term highway bill does while creating jobs for our construction workers.

According to the Contractors Association of West Virginia, construction and employment in my State fell by 11.3 percent between November of 2013 and November of 2014. That is 1 year.

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Passing a highway bill that supports investment in our roads and bridges will put these men and women back to work.
Reauthorizing our highway program for 6 years would be reason enough, in my opinion, to strongly support the DRIVE Act. I want to highlight another part of this bill that is important to my State. It reauthorizes the Appalachian Regional Commission through 2021. West Virginia is the only State whose boundaries fall entirely within the commission's boundaries.

Earlier this year, the commission marked its 50th anniversary of leading efforts to fight poverty and improve the quality of life in the Appalachian region. Over that period, poverty in the Appalachian region has been cut in half, and the percentage of residents over 25 with college degrees has nearly tripled, but there is much more work to be done.

The DRIVE Act authorizes a broadband deployment initiative through the ARC to help increase access to high-speed internet--a problem in rural America--in support of distance learning, telemedicine, and business development.

Reauthorizing the ARC and bringing broadband to small, economically distressed communities will help bring jobs to West Virginia. The ARC provides important support for health care, education, and infrastructure programs, and I am pleased the DRIVE Act will allow the commission to continue its efforts for the next 6 years.

Now is the time to move our transportation system forward and meet the needs of our growing population, ensure safety for travelers, and promote growth in areas that struggle economically. The Senate has the opportunity to make a real and positive difference for all Americans by passing the DRIVE Act.

I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation.

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