Rickety Patchwork

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, work on the Nation's bridges, highways, and transit has all but stopped because of 34 patch extensions that keep everything--except patchwork--on hold.

Today, the House is rushing out of town early, leaving a new 3-month patch. This time, though, the Republican House is scrambling out of the Capitol, literally, to get away from the Republican Senate, which had been trying for a 6-year bill. The Republican House's ``my way or the highway'' was addressed to the Republican Senate, and the public be damned--and it worked. The Republican Senate has given up on the Nation's infrastructure, too. The Republican Senate announced this morning that it will accept the House's 3-month patch. Six months of control of the House and Senate by the Republicans has made Congress even more dysfunctional.

The new House 3-month patch has nothing to do with roads and bridges. Who knows what will get done this time? House Republicans see political goals at the end of their 3-month road, when the must-pass highway bill could serve their purposes, such as the usual, if dangerous, dispute over an extension of the debt ceiling.

Yet, Republican and Democratic States alike keep meeting their obligations under the State-Federal partnership. Eighteen States and the District of Columbia have raised their gas user fees, going as high as 10-cent increases in Iowa and in Wyoming; but the roads, bridges, and transit remain stalled because the Federal partner keeps dropping out. More than half of the funds for a nationwide system that connects our States with one another comes from the Federal trust fund.

During the 34 patch delays, not a lick of work on a final bill has been done except the Senate's current try at a 6-year bill. There have been no serious talks here on alternatives to the gas user fee, although it long ago was swallowed by today's hard-won fuel efficiency that leaves the transit trust fund thirsty for a refill after a year and a half or so.

Democrats, however, have offered four alternatives to the current user fee, which is the legacy of the Eisenhower years. House Republicans have offered none. Congress has refused to raise the Federal user fee since 1992, adding to the woes of the 1950's method we use to pay for our roads.

The Republican House runs out of town today to hide from the Republican Senate. As they run home, I can only hope they run into the arms of their own angry constituents on their own rickety roads. House Republicans can run, but they can't hide from the broken down bridges, roads, and transit they will use back home.

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