Young Oak Kim: “Mr. Chairman, I was a civil engineer prior to becoming a Congressman. I understand how important the transportation…”

“Mr. Chairman, I was a civil engineer prior to becoming a Congressman. I understand how important the transportation system is to our economy. I know that without a strong transportation system we cannot sustain a prosperous economy. That is why our Congress approved a gas tax over 40 years ago. The idea was simple: Collect a gas tax and spend that money to build and maintain our infrastructure. The system worked fine in the past because all the money went to transportation projects. But now what happens? Highway projects get 12 cents out of 18½ cents of the Federal gas tax; the rest goes to social programs. It has been gutted. The highway trust fund money has been gutted all this time. We need this infrastructure badly, I will tell the Members. Remember, these are not taxes, these are user fees. These are not taxes. The money should not be spent on social programs, it should be spent on the highway system. that is why our bridges are in bad shape. Twenty-five percent of our bridges are in bad shape and are not safe. No wonder why.”