STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN ON S. 1789, DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008
September 12, 2007
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) submitted the following statement for the Congressional Record on the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008:
"Mr. President, the bill before us is a budget buster. It is over $3 billion above the President’s budget request and contains numerous earmarked projects, worth over $2 billion. It should be soundly rejected.
"Mr. President, funding for transportation infrastructure and transportation safety is of enormous importance and I know all of us support doing what we can to improve our nation’s transportation system, from our roads and bridges to our air service. The tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota in August was a harsh reminder of just how critical our responsibilities are to balance competing transportation funding needs. But we simply must do so in a fiscally responsible manner. The Senate’s action Monday to increase the obligation limitation for the highway trust fund by $1 billion is not the answer nor was it responsible. It might have been politically expedient, but it is not the answer.
"We cannot afford to simply spend more and more of taxpayers’ hard earned dollars without consequences. It is time for Congress to start making choices among competing priorities, just as American families do each month with their family budgets. In this bill, we are not underfunding transportation, Mr. President, we are misdirecting infrastructure funding to earmarked projects that are questionable and certainly not urgently needed.
"According to the Reason Foundation’s 16th Annual Highway Performance Report, 24 percent of our nation’s bridges were deficient or obsolete in 2005. Minnesota actually ranked 5th best in the nation, yet we watched with horror as one of the state’s major thoroughfares crumbled from disrepair. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 22, 2007, that a week before the bridge collapse, a Congressman from Minnesota inserted over $10 million in earmarks for rail transit, bike trails and the “Kids Peace Mesabi Academy,” but not a penny for bridge or infrastructure repair.
"In addition to our aging bridges, our interstate highway system is over 50 years old and not equipped to handle today’s traffic levels. So what has Congress done in response to this reality? We have increased earmarking of our highway program funding by a staggering level:
· The 1982 highway bill included 10 demonstration projects totaling $386 million;
· The 1987 highway bill included 152 demonstration projects totaling $1.4 billion;
· The 1991 highway bill included 538 location-specific projects totaling $6.1 billion;
· The 1998 highway bill included 1,850 earmarked projects totaling $9.3 billion; and
· The 2005 highway bill included over 5,634 earmarked projects totaling $21.6 billion.
"So instead of allowing states the ability to allocate their highway dollars to their most pressing needs, like deficient bridges, we are funding a significantly higher level of bike paths and highway beautification projects and sidewalk improvements. When will we learn, Mr. President? When will we learn that this is not what the American people want or deserve from their elected representatives. How many more infrastructure tragedies will occur before we change our earmarking ways?
"Instead of raising the gas taxes, as some members of Congress have suggested, for the millions of Americans who are already paying more for gas than ever before, the Federal and state governments must prioritize transportation spending to focus on projects with the most need rather than building “bridges to nowhere.” If Congress fails to recover from its addiction to earmarks, then crumbling bridges, congested highways, and crowded airports will continue much to the determent of all Americans.
"Congress recently passed an ethics reform bill that requires the disclosure of the authorship of earmarks. Ninety-one members of this body requested transportation earmarks in this appropriations bill. For example, this bill contains $4 million for a bridge in Arkansas that does not appear in the Arkansas state transportation improvement plan, thereby questioning its necessity. The bill also includes almost $2 million for a study on the effects of dust suppressant chemicals on federal highways, $2 million above the Administration’s request for volcano monitoring in Alaska, and $2 million to prevent the frequent U turns at the gates of the Los Alamos labs in New Mexico.
"Of course, the bill includes a wide range of transportation earmarks. The bill also contains $8 million for airport improvements to Cape Cod and Nantucket, $2.5M for improvements at the Niagara Falls International Airport, and $1.5 million for improvements at the airport in Palm Springs, CA. No doubt these popular tourist destinations could have helped to pay for these improvements themselves rather then requiring all taxpayers to subsidize such marvelous destinations that many taxpayers may never be able to afford to visit.
"The bill also provides $3.5 million to construct an airport in Akutan, AK (pop. 767) when an alternative airport is less than 55 miles away and $1 million for airport improvements at Lewis University, IL, for its 1,000 students. There are also earmarks for ferry service, such as $1 million for Nassau County, NY, which is the sixth richest county in the nation. Again, taxpayers nationwide must support and sustain these projects despite their use by a few.
"Mr. President, the underlying bill provides funding for the Department of Transportation’s one year pilot program that would allow a maximum of 100 Mexican trucks to enter and travel to a single destination in the United States this year. This pilot program is the result of planning and preparation over the past 14 years. NAFTA, passed by Congress in 1993 and signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, mandated the opening of our southern border to Mexican trucking operations. Congress set forth stringent pre-conditions for opening the border in Sec. 350 of the FY02 transportation appropriations bill, and DOT complied with all 22 of those requirements. The Inspector General has reported five times that the Department has substantially met those safety requirements. It is now time to allow these two countries to move forward with this one year pilot program that will have numerous economic benefits for the two nations. Unfortunately, the Senate has voted 74 to 24 to prevent the pilot from going forward. As such, we continue to fall short of abiding by the obligations we committed to when we approved NAFTA.
"In addition to my concerns with the transportation title, this bill provides more than $3 billion above the President’s budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Like previous years, the accompanying report contains an enormous number of earmarks in the Economic Development Initiative and Neighborhood Initiative Accounts to the tune of more than 300 earmarks totaling nearly $300 million.
"Mr. President, again, I would like to express my disappointment that Senate leadership has brought to the floor a bill that is $3 billion over the Administration’s request containing hundreds of earmarks. Rightly, the Administration has announced that the President will veto this bill unless its price tag is reduced. That is the correct action.
"During my recent travels around the nation, I hear again and again from citizens who are fed up with pork barrel spending and yet, Congress fails to listen. It is a shame, Mr. President, and I can only hope that the American people will join me in expressing their displeasure with this bill."
