Mr. Secretary, I was privileged to be chairman of this subcommittee for five years, during which time we enacted the National Highway System Designation Act in 1995 and TEA-21 in 1998.
One of the most significant achievements of TEA- 21 was fulfilling the promise that gas taxes consumers pay at the gap pump will be used to maintain and expand our network of highways.
At this time, with two years remaining on the authorization of TEA-21, our first priority must be to ensure that this important legislation is implemented. While there may be many good ideas out there for new spending programs, they must be considered during the comprehensive reauthorization of TEA-21.
So, Mr. Secretary, as I have strongly stated during past appearances by your predecessors, the President's budget is contrary to TEA-21, and I don't believe this is a wise course of action.
The President's budget proposes to spending Highway Trust Fund dollars on programs not authorized by this Committee. It proposes to spending Highway Trust Fund dollars on special programs, that may have value, but they have not been considered during the authorization process.
The overall result of your budget proposal will be to reduce critically needed transportation dollars to our states to fund these new programs.
If we begin opening up TEA-21 now, in a piecemeal fashion, I am concerned that the traveling public will suffer, that safety on our highways will suffer, and that our states struggling to come to grips with severe traffic congestion will suffer by changing the rules in the middle of the game.
Mr. Secretary, I share these views with you and want you to know that I am looking forward to working with you to develop the new authorization bill in 2003. We should not, however, make major changes now without consideration to all of the needs of our transportation network.
Mr. Secretary, traffic congestion remains a complex problem for most urban communities resulting in lost time and productivity in the workplace, increased air pollution, and less time for people to spend with their families.
The metropolitan Washington region, regrettably, is well-known for the many problems resulting from this gridlock.
There are many important transportation projects on the drawing board that will make a difference in reducing congestion - the new Wilson Bridge, Metrorail to Tysons and rail to Dulles, extension of the HOV network, and others.
The problem is that these projects won't happen overnight while our congestion is worsening. The only thing we can do now is to provide incentives to increase transit ridership and telecommuting.