On the recordJuly 21, 2014
as the Senate begins debate on transportation funding this week, it is clear to me that all sides-- Democrats and Republicans--agree that what is needed most is a long- term plan for rebuilding our country's infrastructure. The reality is we simply cannot have big league economic growth with little league infrastructure. Unfortunately, all over our country, we have potholes and sinkholes, and one of the reasons we are not seeing them filled is because there is no long-term plan or a plan that provides certainty and predictability for all sides--local government and businesses and developers and others--to know the funding will be there. As we start the discussion that is going to go through the week about a bipartisan plan to go forward on transportation funding--as Senator Hatch and I and the Finance Committee have brought before the Senate today--I want all sides to know it is our view that to get to the long- term road, you have to have a short-term path, and that short-term path is what Senator Hatch and I have pulled together on a bipartisan basis which we hope our colleagues will support before the week is out. I think all of the Senators understand what is at stake here. Allowing the highway trust fund to run dry would slam the brakes on critical infrastructure projects across the land. Let's be clear: It is nonnegotiable that Congress will prevent that from happening.…
