Earl Blumenauer

But it just seems to me that one of the things that ought to be examined, if you are going to be subsidizing second homes, for instance, with a mortgage interest deduction, at a minimum, the reduction for people that are in extreme--and it…

Please share research showing that [state and] local governments are going to be interested in making substantial investments to facilitate freight movements for the nation as opposed to problems that people have locally.

With record transit ridership, now is not the time to eliminate guaranteed funding for our nation's public transportation systems.

During the L.A. transit strike in 2003, congestion increased 89 percent. It has a huge impact, not just in communities like L.A., and Chicago, and New York, but in Oklahoma City, Salt Lake

I think there is, in fact, a national priority surrounding things like safe cycling, safe pedestrian activity, and having transit available to people.

You may not think State Routes to School is a high national priority. I invite you to come with me in North Carolina, in Nevada, in Iowa.

What happens in terms of our looking at the connections in terms of intermodalism.

Thank you very much, Mr. Huffman. I appreciate your courtesy.

I would hope that you could share with us any research you have that indicates that local governments are going to be interested in making substantial investments to facilitate freight movements for the nation.

Ronald Reagan established the Highway Trust Fund portion that dealt with transit.

I appreciate your referencing that. Indeed, as we get out of the metropolitan areas, mobility for the disabled, for elderly people, for young becomes even more critical.

We need a transportation system that speaks to them.

We need to transition from per gallon taxes to per mile charges, as Congressman Blumenauer rightly said

Americans are interested in more choices.

Obviously people traveling on the highway do get a benefit from people who decide to use other forms of transportation through lower congestion.

A rational government would be borrowing and investing using other peoples' money for free to make our system stronger.

I hope that we will be able to expand our hearings and our analysis to hear from the amazing array of people.

One of the most important trends in America is that people are driving less per capita.

Infrastructure investment would put millions of people to work while it strengthens local economy, the environment, and our national competitiveness.

We need a national system that speaks to the transportation challenges of today.

We are on a path for significant reduction in infrastructure investment.

The federal government has largely failed to maintain a system of aviation facilities, the electrical grid, sewer and water systems, and interstate highways that once was the envy of the world.

I hope that it is the first of several hearings that we have on the Budget Committee dealing with infrastructure finance.

America had a 50 year experiment with devolution, local control over infrastructure.

The majority witnesses focus time their time and energy arguing for devolution--the concept that we don't need a strong federal presence and support in infrastructure development.