Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 24, 2004)

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5025) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation and Treasury, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes:

Ms. DEGETTE. Mr. Chairman, I voted in strong support of the Motion to Recommit sponsored by Representative DAVID OBEY and in reluctant support for final passage of H.R. 5025, the Transportation and Treasury Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005.

Politics and a deplorable abuse of the legislative process are holding critical transportation projects across this country hostage. This includes the T-REX project in my district-which has introduced light rail to metro Denver and expanded a vital corridor along I-25. Every federal highway and transit project in this country must be authorized to receive federal funds before the appropriators can release them. Unfortunately, the wheels have fallen off the authorization train this time around.

We in Congress are facing an incredible situation where a Republican-controlled House, a Republican-controlled Senate and a Republican-controlled White House cannot reach an agreement on funding levels for our nation's transportation system. This showdown occurs against a background of ever increasing traffic congestion, as our transportation needs continue to outstrip our will to address them.

As if there weren't enough to raise concern about the authorization process alone, the folly extended to the House's consideration of the transportation funding bill as well. My Republican colleagues from Colorado subjected the appropriations bill itself to numerous points of order that stripped the legislation of funding for transit projects, Amtrak, and even T-REX.

My hometown paper, the Rocky Mountain News, recently described the situation we face today, "Imagine a major transportation bill that pays for very few roads or transit programs." Well, that's what we're stuck with. Do you know why my colleagues decided to strip this much-needed money out of the bill? Because the authorization bill hasn't passed. Well, whose fault is that?

So I support Mr. OBEY's efforts to restore the transit funding to the transportation bill before us here today. I'll vote for final passage, because I hope that all of this absurdity will be remedied in the conference report because, frankly, my constituents don't care about this political wrangling. They care about the transportation crunch across our country, they care about congestion in Denver and they care about real solutions. I will continue to fight against this political posturing and for the real solutions that will get traffic flowing again in my district and across this nation.