Issue Position: Transportation -- A Vision for a Sustainable Future

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLEAVER. Thank you, Mr. Blumenauer.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here, particularly with Mr. Blumenauer and Mr. Garamendi, who spoke earlier, because they have long histories--longer, in fact, than I have been in the House--of pushing for transportation issues.

I think that this is a rather sad and somewhat tragic moment in our history. The interstate highway system was developed and put in place in 1956, and who would have thought when we entered the 21st century that the Congress of the United States would fail to keep that system in top condition?

The transportation bill affects Americans in every State of this country. A robust Federal investment in transportation is an economic engine, strengthening hundreds of communities. The thing that I have said often in my district and, frankly, in hearings is that the best stimulus for the economy--the very best stimulus--is a transportation bill. The weird thing is that the infrastructure is the backbone of our economy upon which businesses, families, and communities thrive. Everyone is involved in this. Red or blue, urban or rural, we all rely on transportation and infrastructure. Ensuring economic prosperity is of paramount importance. It is not a Republican or a Democratic goal but one that we all share.

One of the things that has troubled me most since being elected to Congress 10 years ago is that we have somehow narrowed everything down to the point at which it is either red or blue--it is either Republican or Democratic. I am not sure how we can look at highway systems in terms of political tribalism. I served as the mayor of Kansas City for 8 years during the 1990s, and I can truthfully say that I had no idea on a day-to-day basis, based on what people said and did, who the Republicans were and who the Democrats were. We were all interested in trying to preserve Kansas City. When there was a pothole in one of the streets in Kansas City--and Kansas City is a huge city. It's 322 square miles. To give you an idea, you can put San Francisco inside our city limits 30 times or St. Louis three times. It is a huge city--what we all were interested in is making sure that it was fixed because there was no Republican way of fixing it, and there was no Democratic way of fixing it. We fixed the pothole. One of my great disappointments when I arrived here was that there was a Republican or a Democratic philosophy on everything, including on transportation and infrastructure.

Every dollar invested in Missouri transportation generates $4 of economic activity. The Federal Highway Administration actually estimates that, for every $1 billion spent on transportation, 34,000 direct and indirect jobs are created. Just think about that. There are 34,000 indirect and direct jobs that are generated. That is why I take every opportunity I can to talk about infrastructure and improvements to our roads and bridges and waterways in my district and in districts around the country.

Investments in transportation and infrastructure generate growth and jobs during initial design, construction, and then postconstruction. I can tell you that, at a time like this when we are still having some healing needed with our economy, this is the time to pump it up. We don't need QE4. We don't need to do another Dodd-Frank. We need to pass a transportation and infrastructure bill. That will begin to help heal this economy because it is a job creator.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 report card--and I hope the people at home get this--3,500 bridges in Missouri alone are considered structurally deficient. There are 3,500 bridges in my State that are considered structurally deficient.

Over 3,300 are considered functionally obsolete. That is 14 percent of the bridges in the State of Missouri are functionally obsolete, and every day, Kansas Cityans and Missourians are driving over those bridges.

That is a tragedy because it is not only bad in Missouri, it is that way all over this country--all over the country, and this body is the only body that can address the problem.

While I agree that States should step up to raise the necessary revenues and make crucial investments themselves, it should be no surprise that interstate commerce is a duty in which this Congress is uniquely poised to fulfill.

We are a nation of red States and blue States, urban communities and rural communities. I represent both. While each State must make investments within the communities, the responsibility to ensure our Nation remains connected and globally competitive falls on this Congress.

Bridge after bridge after bridge is in danger. Highways are crumbling, and we cannot sit by and play partisan politics and argue while our infrastructure continues to deteriorate.

So, Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight, hoping that these words are not falling on the floor and will not be impactful. When we come in here like this, we are hoping that these words matter and that things can change and that they will change.

It is my hope that this Congress will act and act quickly because we cannot wait until the last minute, going into August, when we will end up looking at a highway trust fund becoming insolvent, and that means it will drop below the $4 billion funding level as soon as next month, July. We must do something, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank Mr. Blumenauer for all the work that he has done on this issue over the years, and I hope that the American people will just saturate us with letters telling us: Pass a highway and transportation infrastructure bill.

Thank you, Mr. Blumenauer.

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