Nick Rahall: “Mr. Chairman, trust. An interesting term, that word. Trust. Webster defines it as an assured reliance on the character…”

“Mr. Chairman, trust. An interesting term, that word. Trust. Webster defines it as an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something. That is why we call it the highway trust fund. Not the highway fund, but we call it the highway trust fund. To the American people, we have said, pay your motor fuel taxes. In return, you will receive those funds back in the form of better roads, highways, and bridges. That is a sacred trust that we entered into with the American people 41 years ago when the Congress established the highway trust fund. Yet today we find that that trust has been broken. It lays shattered at our feet. Over $24 billion in unspent funds has accumulated in the highway trust fund. There is no trust in that. At the same time, 4.3 cents per gallon in Federal motor fuel taxes is not even being deposited into the highway trust fund. There is no trust in that, either. Crumbs for a crumbling infrastructure. That is all this current budget resolution gives us, is crumbs for a crumbling infrastructure.”