However, today I will focus on transportation.
Welcome Secretary Mineta. There are few people better qualified than you to lead the Department of Transportation and I am pleased that President Bush made such an excellent choice in your appointment.
That said, you have a tough job ahead of you. The importance of transportation issues is increasing thanks to growing public frustration over delayed flights, congested roads, and overcrowded mass transit facilities. Our transportation system is bursting at the seams as demand overwhelms our infrastructure's limited supply.
Just this week, a new study by the Texas Transportation Institute estimated that in 1999 traffic congestion cost $78 billion dollars in wasted fuel and lost productivity. And to no one's surprise, the study confirmed that traffic congestion has tripled since 1982, with the average person now spending 36 hours a year stuck in traffic. I have experienced this trend firsthand in my home state of Nevada. Las Vegas, the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country, has seen the average traffic delay per person quadruple since 1982. In fact, one related study showed Las Vegas to have the second worst "congestion burden" in the nation. And with continuing growth, this problem is only going to get worse.
As the new Ranking Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee I take my leadership responsibilities on this issue seriously, Mr . Secretary, and I look forward to working closely with you throughout the TEA-21 reauthorization process.
I would like to take this opportunity to raise one issue of particular concern. Our needs in transportation are enormous and we will have to find ways to address these needs while reauthorizing surface transportation programs in 2003. A critical piece of the solution will be more funding. We cannot solve our traffic problems without more and better roads. We also cannot solve our problems without substantially increasing our investment in mass transit to give commuters another transportation option. And we desperately need to invest billions of dollars in high-speed rail corridors across the nation, not to mention magnetic levitation. And this does not even begin to touch on our aviation and coast guard needs. The bottom line, Mr. Secretary, is that more budgetary resources are going to be necessary to address our transportation problems, and I am concerned that the budget proposal this Administration put forth does not leave room for these needs in future years. I am concerned that once we pass giant tax cuts, there just won't be anything left for our other priorities.
Mr. Secretary, we cannot ignore out transportation infrastructure problems. You know that better than anyone and I hope that you will be a voice of reason within the Bush Administration, sounding the alarm on this issue. We cannot close our eyes and hope this problem goes away. We need to meet it head on.
Again, thank you for coming and I look forward to working with you very closely on transportation issues over the next few years.