Hire More Heroes Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, this particular amendment really is in the jurisdiction of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. They are in favor of the amendment, so we are going to urge our colleagues to support it. We are not going to oppose it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, this amendment literally just guts some very crucial reforms to this bill. What this amendment does is strikes a section in the bill that requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to remove from its Web site those compliance and safety accountability program scores.

What we found is that the CSA is a flawed system. It treats safe carriers unfairly, and it has done very little to improve motor carrier safety records.

The Government Accountability Office and the motor carrier stakeholders, they have been very critical of the CSA program. They have called for the reform. So what this does is make sure that those reforms are going to happen quickly. It doesn't hide anything. Once the reforms are in place, the scores are going to go back up on the Web site.

In the meantime, that raw data concerning accidents, violations, out-of-service rates, it will remain publicly available; and it is also going to be available to law enforcement if they need to investigate or prosecute an unsafe carrier. So nothing is being hidden, but what this does is require that these reforms are going to take place and they are going to take place very, very quickly.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would strike a limited pilot program that is authorizing drivers over the age of 19 1/2 to enter into a graduated program to obtain a commercial driver's license. The program is very limited to a number of States and a number of carriers that can participate. It also includes a number of safety requirements and a GAO report to Congress examining its safety impacts.

Mr. Chairman, what is interesting about the way present law is is that a driver of the age that is being addressed here could drive all the way across the State of Missouri, for instance, but they can't drive 10 miles in the city of Kansas City, across town, because it is over a State line.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it actually hampers a whole lot of businesses out there that operate in communities like Kansas City, St. Louis, and St. Joseph that are actually split by a State line.

The trucking industry is facing a severe shortage in the number of drivers. With freight expected to increase 30 percent over the next 10 years, the driver shortage is only going to worsen. We need to get more young people interested in careers in the transportation industry. It is as simple as that.

This is a limited pilot program. It represents a delicate compromise that would accomplish a very important goal.

I urge Members to oppose the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, again, what we are trying to do with this program is just allow those drivers to be able to cross the State line. Again, they are already allowed to go an entire State's length within the State.

I would ask my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is it strikes some very commonsense regulatory reforms in the bill.

The underlying bill requires the Department of Transportation to study whether an increase in minimum insurance levels for intercity buses is needed before pursuing a rulemaking to change the levels. I don't understand why we would strike language that simply tells the Department to determine whether a problem exists before it regulates.

The amendment also strikes language in the bill that requires the Secretary to consider the impact of an ongoing rulemaking on small trucking companies and safety.

These considerations, Mr. Chairman, are not going to delay the rulemaking, but it is going to add transparency and accountability to the process.

I would urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Chairman, I just want to make note of an important provision that is included in the en bloc amendment package.

As you know, the transportation bill includes a new program that addresses significant roadways. It addresses some of the more expensive projects, and it establishes a competitive grant program in excess of about $740 million a year.

One of the important things we have to do is we have to provide guidance to the Department of the Transportation in regard to the criteria they use, the metrics they use, in this competitive process.

An amendment in this bill includes the importance of strategic energy assets to ensure that roadways like LA 1 in south Louisiana are included.

After Hurricane Katrina, gasoline prices nationwide spiked about 75 cents a gallon. Following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, gasoline prices spiked about $1.40 a gallon, which was the largest price spike since the Arab oil embargo. So it is important that, as they go through and allocate these grants, that they are looking at factors that are very important and have national consequences.

I want to thank the ranking member and the chairman and all the big four for helping us on this.

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