Thomas E. Petri: “I would like to say that here we go again, another transportation reauthorization bill before the House of…”

“I would like to say that here we go again, another transportation reauthorization bill before the House of Representatives. Every Member of this body knows that this bill is long overdue, and I want to assure my colleagues that we struggled mightily during the last Congress to get a long-term reauthorization bill in place, but came up a bit short. There is some good news in that the guaranteed funding in this bill is a bit higher than the bill authorized last year, and it is in line with the President's budget proposal. This $4 billion increase is largely due to the positive ethanol gas tax changes that were included in last year's corporate tax bill. That being said, however, the fact remains that many of the challenges we faced during the 108th Congress we continue to face today. The simple fact is that we do not have the resources needed to meet our Nation's transportation needs, both infrastructure needs of our Nation as documented by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the needs of the Members as communicated to our committee, representing needs of areas all across our Nation. I believe that this is very shortsighted and that all of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, can and should support a strong infrastructure program that pays back so much in terms of economic development, international competitiveness, safety, mobility, and improved quality of life.”