Thomas E. Petri: “Mr. Speaker, because of the severe financial crisis of the District of Columbia and its inability to provide a…”

“Mr. Speaker, because of the severe financial crisis of the District of Columbia and its inability to provide a 20-percent local match share, no Federal-aid highway funds have been obligated in the District for all of 1995. The highway program is at a virtual standstill, highway contractors are being forced to lay off workers, and there are concerns regarding the conditions of several of the major routes traveled each day by 300,000 commuters and visitors to the Nation's Capital. H.R. 2017 would waive for 2 years the District's local cost share necessary to access roughly $82 million in Federal highway funds in 1995 and a similar amount next year. However, because of the serious concerns on the part of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee regarding this unprecedented waiver, other very substantial requirements and safeguards have been included in H.R. 2017. The annual gas taxes and other vehicle use taxes collected by the District each year are currently earmarked for the Metro account of the general fund. H.R. 2017 will require that the District establish a dedicated highway fund by the end of this year which must maintain, at a minimum, amounts necessary to meet the District's cost-sharing requirements beginning in fiscal year 1997.”