Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American Libraries
TV News
Understanding 9/11
tv
Trump
Archive
President Trump Signs Laken Riley Act CSPAN January 29, 2025 2:14pm-3:16pm EST
Archive
2:14 pm
while continuing the task of moving the vast economy. the past 40 years, advancements in engine technology have produced trucks that are 99% cleaner. unfortunately, over the past several years, the epa abandoned a collaborative model that made these achievements possible. the epa and a patchwork of states have imposed mandates that threaten to raise costs and cause significant disruption without delivering the intended environmental benefits. we look forward to working with the due administration and the congress to reduce -- reverse the trend to restore a common sense approach that sets ambitious and achievable standards. my trucking career again nearly four decades ago. seen firsthand incredible opportunities the industry provides individuals to support their families and attain the american dream. it is with my hope that congress
2:15 pm
will continue to partner with us to incentivize workforce development and protect pathways to entrepreneurship to include the independent contractor model. making it easier for more people to find rewarding and good paying jobs in trucking. we look forward to working -- >> we will return to the hearing after president trump signs a bill to detain migrants accused of theft or violent crimes, live on c-span3. ♪ [applause]
2:16 pm
pres. trump: thank you very much. before we begin i want to provide a brief report on the unprecedented success our country has been witnessing in recent weeks, since even before the election we've been making extraordinary progress. the american people gave us a clear mandate to save our country and we won all seven swing states by large margins, historic, and importantly we won the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. also all 50 states shifted toward the republican party and that's never happened before, every single one of them. in our first week in office we set records, taking over 350 executive actions, that has not been done before, and it has reportedly been the single most
2:17 pm
effective opening week of any presidency in history and we want to keep it that way and keep it going. [applause] we want to keep it going. we wrote in from decades of failed washington policies and restored commonsense insanity to our government, we want to unleash american energy and we've already achieved record low illegal immigration. nobody is trying to get in and that's what we've been waiting for for a long time and gotten woke ideologies out of our government and military. the water has begun flowing in california as we continue to increase the flow in coming days, nobody has seen anything like that and i've taken strong action to regain control of the washington bureaucracy. for clarification purposes, because it was incorrectly reported yesterday, we have informed the federal workforce,
2:18 pm
which we've looked to do many years, that if they are working for the federal government, they must show up to the office on time and on schedule. [applause] we don't want them to work from home because as everyone knows, most of the time they are not working, they are not very productive and it is unfair to the millions of people in the united states who are in fact working hard from jobsites and not from their home. as federal employees they must meet a high standard. they are representing our government and our country. if they don't agree by february 6 to show up act to work in their office, they will be terminated and we will be down scaling government, which is something the last 10 presidents have tried very hard to do but failed. most of the people we are talking about have not been
2:19 pm
going to their federal offices in many, many years, even before covid. they have nevertheless been paid. some have worked, some haven't worked, and most of the studies say some have just gone through the motions. we may ask these people to prove they didn't have another job during their so-called employment with the united states of america because if they did, that would be unlawful, as you understand. a lot of people are getting paychecks but they are working other jobs so they have to prove that to us. in any event we are requiring them to show up to work or be terminated. we think a substantial number of people will not show up to work and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient and that's what we've been looking to do for many decades, frankly. [applause] thank you. in addition there was a
2:20 pm
short-term pause or funding freeze on certain discretionary spending payments such as government grants, only for us to quickly look at the scams, dishonesty, waste and abuse in our government for too long. as was explicitly stated, this in no way affected social security, medicare, medicaid or other entitlements americans append on. i made abundantly clear from the very first day that i ran from office, a long time ago now, 2015. i announced in 2015 and we won in 2016 and we did very well in 2020 but we did really well just recently. i am restating right now to correct any confusion that the media has purposely and for whatever reason created social security, medicare and medicaid have not been affected by any action we've taken.
2:21 pm
we are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse. that process we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to gaza to buy condoms for hamas. $50 million. you know what has happened to them? they've used them as a method of making bombs. we stopped an attempt to make an illicit payment for illegal alien resettlement. we canceled $181 million in dei training contracts, just for the training of people in dei, which has been completely terminated, and we paused 1.7 billion dollars in unauthorized payments before foreign organizations, including stopping more than $40 million on its way out the door to the very corrupt world health
2:22 pm
organization, which has not done its job and not done it properly. [applause] we also blocked 45 ilion dollars for our diversity scholarships in burma, that's a lot of money for diversity scholarships in burma, you can imagine where that money went. these were the types of payments and i could stand here all day and tell you things we've found and we have to find them quickly because we want money to flow to proper places. these were the payments and types of payments affected by the temporary freeze and the american people strongly support these efforts, i talked about it during the campaign in they voted for us in record numbers. every day we are now putting america first and fighting to get the most out of every, single tax dollar for our great citizens. we've gathered this afternoon to
2:23 pm
take another historic action, however. in a few moments, the lake and riley act will become the first bill i probably sound -- i proudly sign into law as the 47 the president of the united states. [applause] laken was a brilliant and beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from georgia, the best in her class, she was always the best. they would say how do you do this and what do you do, they were always asking her questions. she was respected by everybody, even her teachers. they respected her so much. from the time she was in first grade she knew she wanted to spend her time caring for others. to her friends and classmates she was a light and one thing --
2:24 pm
she was a light of warmth in every room. to her parents she was every thing in the world and they had a miserable period of time. favorite 22nd, she went out for a jog on the campus and never returned, never came back. her parents are here, her sister. her relatives. on her run, she was attacked, viciously assaulted, beaten, brutalized and murdered by an illegal alien gang member set loose in our country by the last administration. we are deeply honored to be joined today by her parents, allison and john, and her sister lauren. thank you very much. [applause] it is so sad. we were together right after
2:25 pm
that happened and it is a tremendous tribute to your daughter what's taking place today, that's all i can say. so sad we have to be doing it at all. thank you for being here. to the family, we will keep her memory alive and in our hearts forever, everyone's hearts. with today's action, her name will live forever in the laws of our country. this is an important law, this is something that has brought democrats and republicans together and that's not easy to do. laken did it. america will never forget laken hope riley, the vicious committal that murdered her was an illegal alien member of a venezuelan gang. he trespassed across the southern border in 2022 in was apprehended by border patrol but
2:26 pm
under the cruel policies of the last administration, instead of being deported as he should have been, he was released into the united states, as were millions of other people, many of them very dangerous people. you see what we are doing, we are getting them the hell out of here. [applause] he was soon arrested again in new york city on charges of endangering a child, but because of new york city's deadly sanctuary policies, as we've had in california and other places him at which we are ending, he was released again to reoffend and the biden administration provided this illegal alien a free flight to georgia where he was arrested constantly, this time for stealing from a walmart
2:27 pm
along with his game anger -- gang member rather. after he was released a third time this cold-blooded criminal went out that fateful morning, hunting for women on whom to p rey. he was like a hunter and we will show him who the hunter is. this horrific atrocity should never have been allowed to happen and as president i'm fighting every day to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. we don't want this to happen. [applause] under the law -- thank you. under the law i'm signing today for a department of homeland security will be required to detain all illegal aliens who have been arrested for theft, burglary, arson, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, murder, or any crime that results in death or serious
2:28 pm
injury, in addition for the first time ever, it gives state governments the ability to sue the federal government for immediate injunctive relief if any future administration ever again refuses to enforce the immigration laws of the united states like happened for four long years. [applause] that was happening for four long years, frightful years. how can people do this, how can they allow this to happen, how can they allow criminals to pour into our country and then try to defend it, and they can't defend it, that's why i'm here. it's the single biggest reason, many things were horrible during that administration. if you look at what took place in afghanistan, the way they got out -- some of the horrible.
2:29 pm
to me, this was the worst of all . a landmark law we are doing today, it will save countless innocent american lives. i want to thank every house republican, every senate republican as well as the 12 senate democrats and 48 house democrats who voted to pass this vitally important bill and many of them are with us today and i appreciate it. i especially appreciate the bipartisan support. a big percentage of democrats came through and plenty wanted to, they probably felt they couldn't but they really wanted to. they don't understand it would have made them a lot more popular, a lot and better with their people. the ones that didn't, they will be sorry because the people are not going to forget that they wouldn't sign -- this is a perfect, incredible tribute to an unbelievable young lady. we are joined today by many great supporters of our new,
2:30 pm
strong border policies and they are indeed strong, including vice president vance. thank you. secretary scott bessent who just got approved. i'm very impressed. [applause] got a lot of democrat votes. he got a lot of democrat votes. is that a good thing or bad thing? i have to think about that. secretary of homeland security, who will be fantastic. i know her so well and i know is probably not complementary because she is a woman, but she is tough. where is kristi? stand up please. great stand up please, you have such an important job to do. [applause] thank you. don't let that look for you. she is tough. she cannot stand she is having
2:31 pm
to sit here and listen to this. another one who has done a job like no one i have seen in a long time, tom homan, he is my friend but he is something special. [applause] tom and kristi, the numbers are unbelievable. just shut down. they showed an area that one year ago had thousands rushing into our country and today there was nobody. beautiful site. john barrasso, great guy. [applause] sponsors senator katie britt, thank you. [applause] congressman mike collins, you were fantastic from georgia.
2:32 pm
[applause] he loves his state and took this personally. thank you. senate judiciary committee chairman chuck grassley, chuck is here, thank you. [applause] you look great. house judiciary committee chairman jim jordan, special man. mark green, thank you very much. [applause] we have many others but i will not introduce because this is about your daughter, something so important. bert jones is in the room, your lieutenant governor, and he was on this like you would not believe. [applause] thank you very much, i see you sitting there.
2:33 pm
state, local officials, law enforcement organizations, most of them represented in the room, they are incredible people and i have never seen them come together like that you have for this. i have done many of these, not of this kind but different bills having to do with different things from homeland security to enter security to taxes, 50 different items. i have never seen such support as you have today and as her great daughter has today. i have never seen anything like it. we have to think your daughter for that. she is going to save lives and be responsible for saving lives. to the angel families, i have been with them and they have been with me, 2015 when i first got this crazy idea to run for president because we could do
2:34 pm
better as a country, i want to thank so many people here, the angel moms. they are angel families, fathers, sons, daughters. they have suffered tremendously like you have, no reason whatsoever. alexis, the mother of 12-year-old jocelyn, murdered last summer by illegal alien gang members released into the u.s. by joe biden's open border stupid policies. thank you alexis. we had an amazing trip. it was really special to meet you and your family. appreciate it very much. so sad we have to be here. jocelyn is in our hearts as she was then. amazing day. it was a day of celebration of somebody who unfortunately won't be with us but she is with us now. patty moran, mother of rachel
2:35 pm
moran killed two years ago by an illegal alien let into our country by the last administration's ridiculous weak policies. open border, can you imagine? i said that's terrible, they have prisons all over the world, they will release their presence into our country. that's what happened. patty is joined by rachel's brother michael, her daughter clement tina and sister-in-law shannon, thank you for being here. thank you. with us the loving family of kayla hamilton, a 20-year-old girl murdered in july '22 by ms 13 illegal gang member, violent and vicious and they knew it and did not do anything about it. i want to thank you to kayla's mother tammy and her grandmother kathy and her stepfather jeremiah, very much. finally i want to thank others who have also suffered, this
2:36 pm
herbal scourge -- this horrible scourge that goes on with young people being killed, and other people, but largely young people, thank you to scott, the father of sarah, killed at 21. by an illegal alien, would have never been in our country if we were here. what a sad thing. to each of these angel families, we love you and standing awe of your courage and strength, the toughest thing anyone had to go through. many of these families were betrayed by the last administration with this heartless, foolish and arrogant and very down policies -- dumb policies. policies that are not even believable when you talk about common sense. the democrats have plenty of
2:37 pm
common sense. that is why so many are here today and supported what we are doing. the government that was supposed to protect their daughters opened our borders and transported the world's most dangerous criminals straight into their communities. they came from prisons and insane asylums and mental institutions from all over the world, not just south america. they come from all over the world, every continent. they came here by plane and they were loaded onto buses and driven to our border and they drove right through and no one said a word. in those buses and cars were some of the meanest criminals in the world. last september, 425,000 illegal alien criminals were roaming free including 13,099 convicted illegal alien murderers of which 50% killed more than one person and they were roaming all over the country and our farms and
2:38 pm
cities. under the trump administration, we are moving to get these vicious criminals the hell out of our country and restore law and order tour suburbs, cities and towns and we will do it with tom and kristi and all the people working on this. this week compared to a comparable time one year ago, the number of illegal border crossers has fallen before them, more than 100%. because the election was coming, they started getting tougher on the border. they did better. it was still horrible. the numbers were horrible. they only did it because of the election. they knew what they were doing was wrong. those who cross the border, and you see that, turn on your tv or pick up a paper for read any
2:39 pm
form of new media, we have a lot of new media today fortunately letting the word get out, they are watching these people be captured and removed from our country. ice arrests, 15 times in a short period. in the past eight days, the heroes of ice and border patrol, those people i have gotten to know so many, our borders are, never went to the border, she was a borders are, never made one phone call, they went to the heads of border and ice, did you ever get a call? she admitted she never made one call. the heroes of ice have arrested thousands of illegal alien criminals including gang members, traffickers, child predators, terrorists and murderers. we are loading dangerous and lien's into military aircraft and flying them back to the
2:40 pm
places from which they came. you probably read about co lombia, i said you are going to take them and you are going to like it too. [applause] they talked about we are not going to take people in shackles. the people in shackles are murderers, drug lords, rapists, very tough people. they make our criminals look like nice people. that's the only thing that comes out of this. can you imagine you are a pilot and you are sitting there, if you have 150 people know shackles, and they would like to murder people? this would not be a good flight. [laughter] colombia apologized within an hour profusely based on something i said meeting you are going to pay tariffs like nobody
2:41 pm
paid tariffs before but they wanted to terminate his position. essentially congress met and they were angry with him. they said they would send the presidential plane to pick up criminals because they did not want to inconvenience us. that is what they did. i appreciate the people of colombia. wonderful people. the representatives acted well. they took back that tough talk. we may have tough talk from others. it will not mean anything. they will take them back and they are going to like it. today, i'm going to sign an executive order to instruct dod and homeland security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at guantanamo bay. most people don't know about it. we have 30,000 beds in
2:42 pm
guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the american people. some of them are so bad we don't trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. we will send them to guantanamo. this will double capacity immediately. it's a tough place to get out of. today's signings bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities. unforced error we even have to be doing this. we need congress to provide full funding for the total restoration of our sovereign borders as well as financial support to remove record numbers of illegal aliens killers and criminals at levels no one has seen before. you would have known that and you were there when i said it. everybody that is bad will be thrown. venezuela's crime is down 77%
2:43 pm
because they have taken their gang members, prisoners, drug dealers, drug lords and shipped them to the u.s. many other countries, their crime is down and our crime is not doing well. we will have it do really well very soon and we are shipping people back where they came from. before i sign the laken riley act into law, i would like to ask her incredible mother, that very sad day i got to know her, but this is an amazing tribute to amazing young person. allison, thank you very much. [applause] mrs. riley: thank you.
2:44 pm
we would like to thank senator katie britt for her bipartisan work to get this through the senate, also congressman mike collins for his passion and for leading on the act from the start. our family will be grateful for the prayers of the people across the nation, for helping to get this legislation into law. we want to thank president trump for the promises he made us. he said he would secure our borders and never forget about laken. he hasn't. he is a man his word. trust that he will fight for the american people. most important, i want to thank jesus christ because without his sacrifices, laken's story would have ended on that horrific day but because of him we can continue living knowing we will
2:45 pm
see her again. no amount of change will ever bring back our precious laken, hope of moving forward is that her life saves lives. we are thankful her passion for helping others and legacy for doing good in the name of jesus christ will carry on. thank you. [applause] pres. trump: i'm going to sign this in honor of laken riley. some of the people we love who
2:46 pm
have been so instrumental. ok. [applause] >> can you take a quick question the government funding? pres. trump: i don't think this is an appropriate time. we are cutting back but this is not the appropriate time. thank you. [applause]
2:48 pm
>> we will take you back to the hearing on highway infrastructure investment on c-span3. >> how can we keep that moving, the inflation on material costs
2:49 pm
continuing to move down? >> it was not in my testimony but we are aware of construction cost inflation. >> what can we do to keep that downward movement going? >> inflation is a function of different factors. international environment. when russia invaded ukraine, it substantially increased our oil prices, fuel prices. the more stability overall in the system, global, economic system is of importance. we continue to manage inflation as best we can. >> for the record, some comments from your industry, that would be great. >> thank you.
2:50 pm
>> mr. webster. >> thank you chairman. you mentioned in written testimony that you want to ease the assessment, access to the assignment of nepa or states that want to do that but could you elaborate on why or how or what takes place that makes you well-positioned as a state, georgia to take that assignment? >> the pilot program provided for federal level allows states to make those decisions and
2:51 pm
manage that process in lieu of the federal government. a handful of states have taken that opportunity including texas, utah, california that have seen an improvement in the number of months it takes to get through the nepa process. it is effective use of the tools provided at the federal level. not every state will take advantage of that because one of the aspects of that program will require states to waive sovereign immunity and a lot of states are not interested. that's been a big barrier for why other states are not taking on nepa assignments because some governors are reticent.
2:52 pm
>> are you in georgia ready to do that? >> because of the snowstorm, they have three inches of snow in savannah but georgia has not taken on nepa assignment but they have incorporated other tools into what they do. they set up an office to where they were able to bring in personnel to sit together and work on specific projects that have to go through permitting and regulatory process but they have found that putting those federal agencies together working on george's specific processor improved the efficiency of being able to get some of those projects moved
2:53 pm
through the pipeline in a more efficient manner. >> it's like an interagency thing? >> georgia is one of the states that pays for personnel in other federal resource agencies to work specifically on projects so it is strange in that the state is using their dollars to pay for salaries for federal employees but they feel it is a worthwhile investment because it helps them expedite those projects specific to georgia. in an ideal world, they would not have to do that. the people would be there to work on those projects but in george's case they pay for the expenses associated with some of those federal resource agency staff to expedite projects. >> should that model be replicated in other places?
2:54 pm
>> given the current structure it has worked well in georgia and several other state. other states are looking at that as an option so it is a model to help improve the process for states unwilling to waive sovereign immunity and take on nepa assignment. >> yield back. >> mr. johnson. >> thank you for hosting this hearing and thank you to the witnesses for your time and testimony. the title of this hearing, "transportation to move people," is fitting because every day we rely on transportation to live our lives. in fact, all of us took some form of transportation just to be here today. whether we walked on the roads, drove a car, or rode a train.
2:55 pm
we need to build a future where safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation is not a luxury, but a reality for every american regardless of zip code. when we invest in our infrastructure, we create a ripple effect that touches every aspect of our society and economy. the investments from president biden's bipartisan infrastructure law have already contributed to the creation of 1.6 million jobs in construction and manufacturing. our job now is to continue building on that progress, so millions are not left behind. i look forward to hearing your answer to this question, mr. tymon. on monday, president trump issued an executive order titled "unleashing american energy." section 7 of that order states, "all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the inflation reduction act or the infrastructure investment and
2:56 pm
jobs act," the bipartisan infrastructure law, which will impact transportation funding under those two acts. can you explain the impact the pause in federal funding will have, and how is aashto working with the new administration to clarify this order? mr. tymon: well, thank you for that question. i will say that when we saw that executive order on monday and then how it was implemented briefly yesterday, there was a lot of concern within the state dot community because for a short period of time, a federal funding reimbursements for the formula programs was halted, and we worked closely with the new administration and the folks at usd and usdot and at omb to make sure there was clarification
2:57 pm
that the intent of that executive order was not to stop the flow of all federal dollars that were provided for transportation programs through those two bills, and our understanding is that both usdot and omb do not intend for that executive order to impact all of the transportation programs in those two acts, and that they are working together to clarify exactly which programs it should apply to. so there was some panic yesterday initially. we do feel a little bit better about it as of yesterday afternoon and this morning, but there's still some concern. rep. johnson: yeah, it's kind of like, you know, first you're numb. and then you start realizing, ok, well, maybe there's some wiggle room, but then when you go back and read the executive order, there is none.
2:58 pm
so there's a need for clarification amidst the chaos that has ensued from this reckless action in issuing this executive order. mr. dellinger, with the recent record-breaking increase in cargo theft across the country, this issue has become a pressing challenge for the trucking industry. american trucking association member companies have been heavily impacted, facing increased costs, disrupted supply chains, and heightened security risks. could you please elaborate on the impact this issue is having on the industry, and how can stakeholders and the federal government collaborate to enhance prevention efforts and strengthen enforcement against cargo theft? mr. dellinger: cargo threat became rampant, and i think that
2:59 pm
basically the thieves and the rings have have learned a lot of different ways to steal, you know, whether it's stealing loads, whether it's actually going in there and posing as a broker and sending a truck in, knowing that they're not going to take the freight to where it's destined, they're going to take it to a warehouse somewhere, but probably the biggest solution would be that the federal government work that there would be some type of clearinghouse where you could call one location. i mean, we're now involved in situations where you got to go in the jurisdiction that it's in to report the crime. rep. johnson: these are illegal immigrants that are doing that, are they? mr. dellinger: i'm not going to put that on illegal immigrants. i've understood it's maybe even russian gangs -- rep. johnson: did you see an executive order issued yesterday that related to this problem
3:00 pm
that the american trucking association and the industry is experiencing with these cargo thefts? mr. dellinger: i did not. rep. johnson: thank you. chair rouzer: the gentleman's time's expired. mr. bost, you're recognized for five minutes. rep. bost: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. tymon, as you know, i am leading a bipartisan effort in the house to authorize federal funding to expand truck parking capacities. many states have indicated they don't have enough truck parking capacity, which we know affects highway safety, supply chain efficiency, driver recruitment, and retention. as a representative of the state department of transportation, if congress created a grant program exclusively to be used in the truck parking projects, would your members pursue these federal funds for the protection of the states? mr. tymon: if there was a grant program for truck parking, states would be interested in that. i would say that it's not just availability of funding on the state dot side.
3:01 pm
a lot of the right of way that the state dots have control of, there is a restriction as to what they can do within that right of way, including establishing new rest areas, and commercializing them to be able to support truck parking. rep. bost: so that is we need to also work on the regulations that allow you to be freed up to use the properties around there to expand that? that is good to know. if you would reach out to our staff, i'd like to see what we can do there. mr. dellinger, thank you first off for your support of the trucking legislation truck parking legislation. i think it's vitally important, and you mentioned it in your testimony that it is, and i was in the business for several years. but i'm going to switch gears here and i want to ask you about something. you know, as a former trucker myself, one of the biggest concerns with the highway trust fund has been its long-term health and potential changes that have been put on the truckers. in your testimony, you brought
3:02 pm
up something that it was -- on the consult -- it actually bothers me, and here's why, and that was on tolls specifically on trucks. so right now, and for years we have had -- if you travel in the intra or interstate trucking industry, you have apportion plates, and those apportion plates, you basically -- if you own the business, you calculate out what how many miles last year you drove in each state, and then you pay apportionally based on each state. well, back whenever i was doing dispatching and driving myself, we couldn't figure out which one costs the most, but computers today say, ok, i can drive down one interstate in missouri and not have to go into illinois because illinois is too expensive. do you think these tolls added on top of that will then also add to the fact that many of the trucking people that are in the
3:03 pm
trucking industries, they're going to make wise decisions. they're going to say, hey, you know what, we're no longer driving down and through that state. we're going to go around that state because we can to save money. mr. dellinger: i think that does happen. you know, i guess as far as our position on tolls, we just want tolls to be equitable. you know, we want the passenger cars to pay just like the trucks. we're not opposed to paying, but basically, you know, we are against tolling current roads, maybe new roads or bridges, but current roads, and we need alternatives where there are tolls. our company -- you know, our company, 500 trucks, we spend close to approximately $180,000 a month in tolls. rep. bost: ok, well, first off, you said your trucking company has 500 trucks. most i ever had was 45. god bless you.
3:04 pm
but when you say the tolls, because you put tolls on existing roads, we've already paid for those, right? this is -- and the maintenance and upkeep still should be -- the idea and intent of the motor fuel tax was that we would have enough. but we've been dealing since i've been here with the issue of what taxation, what generation of revenue, especially as we start going to more ev's and everything like that, how are we going to get those revenues in, and do you have any suggestions for that? mr. dellinger: well, i guess if i had the answer, i wouldn't be running a trucking company -- rep. bost: that's true, too. mr. dellinger: but i mean, you know, we want to help to be a part of the solution and not the problem. we want to pay our fair share. and you know, we think as well ev's need to be paying for the highway trust fund as well. and i guess -- i know it's kind of a difficult thing to raise taxes, but you know, when you
3:05 pm
look at the tax base, the fuel tax base, basically it hasn't been raised in, what, 30 years? i think back when i started driving in the 1960s and 1970s, the cars got about 8 or 10 miles a gallon. now they get, you know, between 30 and 40. rep. bost: and trucks got 2. mr. dellinger: yeah, i can remember when i first got into the business, 3 miles a gallon. now we're getting 8.2, so, so less dollars there as well. i think there's time that a solution is found. rep. bost: my time's expired and thank you for being here today. chair rouzer: mr. pappas. rep. pappas: well, thank you to the chair and ranking member for holding this session as we begin to prepare for reauthorization of surface transportation and think about how iija has been working and some of the priorities that we have that we're seeing from our district
3:06 pm
level. i really appreciate the testimony of this panel, mr. dellinger, if i could start with you and just sort of building off that conversation, you kind of beat me to the punch in bringing up the fet issue, which is something that i think we've got to take a look at if we want to achieve fairness and sustainability with respect to how we fund surface transportation. you mentioned the fet issue. this was a tax initially introduced during the world war i era to support wartime mobilization. more than 100 years ago, the federal levy is 12%, which is the highest excise tax on any product in the country. tax is only collected when trucks are newly purchased, so there's a disincentive for the procurement of newer, more efficient models. and as you say in your testimony, a single truck manufactured in 1988 emits the same pollution as 60 trucks built today. so that's pretty amazing to consider. along with mr. lamalfa, we've introduced the modern clean safe trucks act, which will repeal
3:07 pm
the world war i era federal excise tax. i wonder if you could just speak a little bit more and underscore for the committee the importance of looking at this 12% fet, which i think sets us back with respect to us procuring newer, safer trucks, easing supply chain challenges, and working to support businesses like yours. and by the way, congratulations on 60 years in business. mr. dellinger: thank you. from the fet, i mean, you could look at it in a lot of different ways. and i spoke earlier about, you know, for every 10 trucks we purchased, we could purchase 11 and create jobs. but other ways are when you're looking at that environmental footprint as well, if we were able to take trucks, incentivize people to buy newer trucks that have better safety systems on, animsome of the 2007, 2010, and earlier trucks, and actually have then a truck that is more energy-efficient and
3:08 pm
produces less emissions would be better for the economy, would be better for the environment. i guess from also from a safety standpoint as well, having the newest and the greatest out there. rep. pappas: appreciate those comments. mr. tymon, thank you for reflecting the state perspective here. and as you know, the total amount of highway trust fund dollars that can be annually committed is capped by congress every year during the appropriations process. state dots receive their portion of the obligation limitation. they must use it before the end of the fiscal year or the funding will permanently lapse every august. to avoid losing those funds, state dots are given access to any anticipated unused obligation limitation beyond their initial share. so this is a kind of a "wait and hurry up" approach. this is always a pain point that i hear about from my state dot places unnecessary pressure on them and puts the needs of our
3:09 pm
constituents and the priorities at risk. so in your experience, can you talk a little bit more about the august reredistribution process, how it worked this past year, what recommendations you would have for us going forward? mr. tymon: well, thank you for that question, and you're absolutely right, the fhwa's august redistribution process is broken. it was originally intended to distribute, you know, just a handful of dollars that were left as they approached the end of the fiscal year, and provided the state dots, because fhwa knew that state dots would be able to put those dollars to use as quickly as possible within that fiscal year. this past year, august redistribution was $8.7 billion, or 14.5% of the total federal highway program. so states were asked to obligate $8.7 billion, close to 15% of the total federal highway program, in just 30 days, in the last month of the fiscal year.
3:10 pm
now, states were able to do that because they have a long -- they had a pipeline of projects that were ready to go, but we have pretty much exhausted that pipeline from state to state, and if it's not addressed legislatively, they will run into problems and obligating that and some of that money will lapse in future years. congress did enact through the warda bill a partial fix to that that will take essentially roughly $2 billion off the table, so hopefully see a reduction in next year's august redistribution. but there's also a fix that's pending in the senate passed or pros bill that would really help address this as well and help even drive that number further down. and we hope that the house can support the senate position in that bill. rep. pappas: well, thanks for your comments. we want to continue to hear from aashto on that issue, and i yield back my time. chair rouzer: mr. babin, you're recognized. rep. babin: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the witnesses for being here as well. we really appreciate your expertise. my first question is for mr.
3:11 pm
dellinger. mr. dellinger, how does the patchwork of state-specific emissions regulations and sales mandates, such as those in california, impact trucking companies in terms of operational efficiency, compliance costs, and long-term planning? mr. dellinger: well, the problem is we run in all 48 states and whenever the group of states, take on different rules, and regulations, it becomes difficult for us to operate. i mean, we are operating on interstate highways for the most part, and we do need the help to have a federal rule, not that, carb or a group decides what we're going to do as a nation. rep. babin: ok, thank you. and my next question is for you
3:12 pm
as well. i understand that cargo theft remains a significant challenge for trucking industry, impacting ata member companies through increased costs, supply chain disruption, safety risks. what do you see as the most pressing gaps in addressing this issue, and how can industry stakeholders and policymakers work together to enhance prevention efforts and strengthen enforcement against this cargo theft? mr. dellinger: and looking at cargo theft for us as an organization, we took it on as a top-tier priority actually last january at a meeting that took place, or actually early february. it's one of those things that in our industry a lot of people did not discuss, did not share, so that's one of the negatives that you just didn't want to talk about. but it has become so prevalent that basically it is an issue that, you know, people are starting to recognize and have discussion. again, it's having -- it's having maybe that central clearinghouse that's looking at
3:13 pm
all these thefts. i mean, we're not talking about a theft of a piece off a trailer, we're talking about the theft of an entire load. you know, this was something that was again prevalent years ago in the tobacco industry for the finished product, or maybe the electronic issue, but it's got to the point -- i mean, they're even still in roll stock paper. i don't know if they don't know what's on the trailer and just load, you know, just pick it up and go with it, but household goods. i mean, when i say goods, i'm not speaking of the household furniture. i'm speaking of toilet paper, paper towels. rep. babin: maybe that's desperation. ok, well, thank you very much. and then my next question is for ms. kavinoky. yes, ma'am. i represent the port of houston where vulcan materials does
3:14 pm
quite a bit of business. and so we're very familiar with your company. congress should be in the business of supporting our industry partners and not stepping on their toes. i'm sure you would agree with that. can you talk a little bit about how congress should be a good partner, a better partner, if you will, in supporting the aggregates industry? ms. kavinoky: we have been very fortunate to have a good partner in congress for the aggregates industry, whether that is access to aggregates, something called the rocs act that of course we have many of you who have supported, assistance at the local level in ensuring that there is support for quarries in the places or distribution yards as in houston and the place that we need them. and of course we have enjoyed the support of many members of this committee as vulcan materials company with our issue with mexico and the illegal shutdown of our operations there. i think the aggregates industry overall knows though that the biggest priority here is that
3:15 pm
long-term, predictable, on-time transportation bill. that's the best way you can support us. rep. babin: yes, ma'am. and then finally, do you have any thoughts on how congress should be streamlining the permitting process? permits are one of the biggest problems across the broad spectrum of our bureaucracy. so would you like to chime in and just have a few words about how maybe we could streamline that process? ms. kavinoky: sure, and understand that this allows me to add on, chairman rouzer, to what i said to you. so our production and delivery is principally affected by state and local laws, but with regard to speeding transportation project delivery, we do, in addition to the full implementation of one federal decision, and the analysis of federal permit agency timelines, i think there are a couple of specifics to look at. one is expanding categorical exclusions, and the second is granting greater flexibility
0 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on
