Janice Hahn: “Our Nation suffers from an infrastructure crisis, but if we want to remain globally competitive, goods movement is the…”

“Our Nation suffers from an infrastructure crisis, but if we want to remain globally competitive, goods movement is the ticket to our Nation's economic success. Although I understand we are going to do a short-term fix for the highway trust fund, I have come up with an idea for a long-term fix that creates a dedicated funding source to better serve our roads and railways that connect the freight network to the ports of entry into this country. This dedicated freight network trust fund will help fund critical infrastructure like dedicated truck lanes on the highways, better bridges, and on-dock rail. The trust fund will be made up of existing fees that we already collect at our Nation's ports and will be at no new cost to businesses or taxpayers. This fund will infuse nearly $2 billion back into the economy every year. It will help create good-paying American jobs, keep our Nation's ports strong and globally competitive. I believe this idea is a win-win for our ports, our small businesses, and for our Nation's economy. I urge my colleagues to support the National Freight Network Trust Act. ____________________”