five-year, six-year transportation plan. wait until the bridges fall down, then we'll do something about it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. levin: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. pascrell: the estimates of how much we need to repair our ystem run as high as $57 trillion a year, the actual spending was only $103 billion. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from oregon mr. blumenauer: i recognize the gentlelady, ms. schwartz, who

has been a valued member of the committee, we are going to miss her, for one and a half minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one and a half minutes. ms. schwartz: our manufacturers, small business owners and everyday commuters require a modern transportation system. simply put, our daily lives, our safety, and our economy all require a first rate transportation system. but our nation's infrastructure is crumbling, endangering travelers, lengthening commutes and holding back economic growth. in their latest report card, the american society of civil engineers gave my own home state's roads and transit a d-minus. sadly, pennsylvania has the largest number of crumbling bridges in our nation at over 5,000. this is simply unacceptable. with the highway trust fund running out of funds, we must act to ensure that important projects continue that workers

stay on the job and that we do not fall farther behind but the bill before us is a temporary fix. instead this congress should act on a robust transportation bill, not for a few months, but for years. a plan that will not only create jobs now but will help ensure our economic competitiveness and economic growth locally and nationally for years to come. we should do our job and pass a fully funded, six-year federal transportation and infrastructure bill this year. putting this off does not make it easier. it does not build a stronger economy. while necessary, this bill is another missed opportunity by house republicans who are short on vision, too willing to rely on fiscal and unable to find common ground to get the bill done and done right. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from oregon.

mr. blumenauer: may i inquire as to the remaining time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon has 5 1/4 minutes, and the gentleman from michigan has 11 minutes. mr. blumenauer: i recognize for one and a half minutes the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis a valued member of our ways and means committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. davis: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the gentleman for yielding. i had hoped that we would be here passing a long-term transportation plan. unfortunately, that is not the case. however, i support h.r. 5021 as an initial step in strengthening the american infrastructure. this bill provides immediate help to prevent the default of

the highway trust fund and prevents impend degree lays in transportation. 30,000 people will continue to work in my state as a result of this bill and its passage, so i commend us for at least reaching this agreement. keeping things moving and i urge passage and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: again i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record an a letter from the associated general contractors of america in support of h.r. 5021 and urging its passage. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: i yield at this moment two minutes to mr. doggett of texas, an eloquent

spokesperson for rebuilding and renewing america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: i thank the gentleman. today demonstrates the house republican fear of even trying. their guiding, strootiegic principle in this congress is to do nothing and be sure no one else can do anything and when they are eventually overwhelmed by a self-created crisis, as they have done with our transportation system, then to do next to nothing. bridges can literally fall down, highways crumble, public transportation systems are hobbled, but house republicans continue to reject a normal re-authorization of the transportation act of the type that for decades there was broad, bipartisan support in this house. the only thing bipartisan about this last gasp, desperate effort to prevent a stoppage of transportation projects and the

various groups that have endorsed it is that after having had presented as a purported serious proposal by house republicans that the way to stop the traffic slow down was to have a mail or postal slowdown to finance it, they see this as a chance finally to at least prevent temporarily a total shutdown of our transportation project system and so they're going along with it. i'm not. i realize that to have a sound transportation system, you can't do it week to week or month to month. there has to be some long-term planning. these bridges cannot rere-pair themselves. these potholes don't fill themselves. we often hear that freedom is not free. neither are freeways. we have to have the revenue to have the kind of responsible national transportation system of the type that dwight eisenhower once provided the lead on when there was

bipartisan support for reasonable public investment. our competitors understand this. they're out there designing a 21st century transportation system that will be competitive and we're being left in the potholes. it's essential that we have a long-term bill not this type of stopgap measure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman reserve? -- amp: i yield mr. blumenauer: i yield myself the remainder of the time. i appreciate my friend from michigan putting into the record what can only be regarded as reluctant letters of support. i wish some of my colleagues had had time to look at it. it's not a ringing endorsement of what is before us, it's a reluctant acknowledgment that that's all we have time for. i've worked with those groups work the road builders, with

the chamber, with the afl-cio work the contractors. with elements large and small lork call governments, transit, they are unanimous in their effort, in their regard that we should deal with this in the big picture. a number of them had letters before the ways and means committee that it should be done this year, not tick forward. that's why i ask the republicans to, in the person of our chairman, to allow taos hear from these people. f we would have heard from pete reune of the road builders in person, rich trumka, from leader of the workers, they wouldn't endorse this approach. they would be talking about hour getting down to business. but the republicans would not allow us a hearing. not for 43 months.

so they're reduced to offering tepid letters of support so the whole system doesn't fall apart. mr. speaker, i'd respectfully suggest that those are not a reason to move forward with this legislation and be happy. it's a sad commentary that this is the best that the republicans think they can give us. those road groups who depend on moving freight, maintaining roads, who care about the health and well being of our communities deserve better. our families deserve better. the economy deserves better. i hope that we will in a moment, have a motion to recommit that will shorten the amount of time that we let this congress off the hook and make sure that we don't adjourn this congress without doing our job. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan is

recognized. mr. camp: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the celt is recognized. mr. camp: i yield to the gentleman from alaska. mr. young: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd like to go through history. the former chairman of the infrastructure committee and the last large highway bill was passed, i had a dear friend named jim oberstar that served beside me and worked with me to write that piece of legislation. and finally became the chairman. and what's impressive about that, this gentleman had more knowledge about transportation probably than anyone in this house has ever had, including myself. but i will tell you what was the biggest disappointment of his life is he wanted to write a transportation bill, a long-term transportation bill and fund it. and guess who said no. our president.

mr. obama. his secretary a dear friend of mine, came down and said there's no way we're going to pass a long-term bill with full funding. did not support jim oberstar. if they had done so, had even done what i wanted to do, fully fund it and i was opposed then by president george w. bush, if he was in fact, mr. oberstar had the opportunity, with the senate being in control of the president's party, and the house being in the control of the president's party, we would not be here today. we would have infrastructure bar none. we wouldn't be discussing what we're doing today. this measure today is a short stop measure but this congress has to wake up and the president should have woke up then when he had control to pass legislation for the

infrastructure of this country. when we get accused on this side of not doing anything, making a short stop measure, go back in history this president has failed to recognize the importance and for those interest groups, they should have been on it at that time and supported mr. oberstar. so mr. speaker, i say respectfully, this is a two-way street. that we have to understand this is a really important piece of legislation, to keep us going. but then we have to solve it permanently and let's be leaders which we do not have down on pennsylvania avenue right now in infrastructure. with that, i yield back to the chairman. mr. camp: thank you. i would add to those remarks by saying, the ways and means committee proposed a tax reform discussion draft that funded the highway trust fund for eight years. my friends on the other side would like to shorten this

temporary measure which goes to the end of may, to just go through the end of december. and that's wrong for a couple of reasons. first, the senate bill that's being considered has the same length of time as the current house bill. so that would be out of step with the direction that the senate is trying to go. and we're obviously trying to form a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation here. and the second is that if we only were to pass this along for a few months, all they have -- all of the problems that the members on the other side talked about would only be made worse. that is, there would not be the ability to plan over the winter, for example, for spring construction projects and to just give a few months, again, makes it so temporary and so short that you would immediately have companies, dates, hedging their bets on whether funding is going to continue after that time. construction season isn't just in the good months of the year,

it also goes through the winter and that's why it's so important that we get through the end of may, to june 1, give the congress time to really come up with a long-term solution which clearly everyone prefers on both sides of the aisle. with that, i urge support for the legislation and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. pursuant to clause -- to house resolution 669, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to provide an extension of federal aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit and other programs funded out of the highway trust fund and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? blumenauer blair i have a motion to -- mr. blumenauer: i have a motion

to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies and the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. blumenauer of oregon moves to recommit the bill, h.r. 5021, to the committee on transportation and infrastructure with instructions to report the same back to the house for thewith, with the following -- forthwith, with the following amendment. at the end of title 1, add the following. mr. blumenauer: i would ask unanimous consent that we suspend the reading. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? objection is heard. >> i raise a point of order against the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman reserve a point of order? >> i reserve a point of order. the speaker pro tempore: point of order is reserved. the clerk will read. the clerk: subtitle e, modification of extension period, section 1401, extension of programs through december 31, 2014. in this title, including the amendments made by the title, any reference to may 31, 2015, shall be treated as a reference

to december 31, 2014. add at the end of the bill the following, title 3, sense of house of representatives. section 3001, sense of house of representatives regarding need to pass long-term transportation funding bill. a, findings, the house of representatives finds the following, 1, the highway trust fund is projected to become insolvent before the end of the fiscal year. 2, the user fee principle upon which the highway trust fund was established is eroded. 3, since 2008, congress has transferred $54 billion from the general fund to the highway trust fund. 4, the primary funding mechanisms for the highway trust fund have not been fundamentally addressed since 1993. five, due to a decline in per capita miles driven, a decline in the purchasing power of highway excise taxes and increased fuel efficiency, highway trust fund revenues

have not kept pace with the needs of united states infrastructure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? no objection, so ordered. pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. this may be the last chance congress has to honor our commitments to provide answers about transportation funding and develop a framework that will guide the federal partnership that's meant so much. the motion won't kill the bill, it won't delay the bill, it simply reduces the funding to the amount necessary for congress to do its job before we adjourn for the year. it's not so that we cannot duck our responsibilities and hand this off not to the next congress but to the congress after that. make no mistake, in may of next year, there will be no transportation bill, there will be no funding. congress will be even more nervous and confused with the transportation problem that

will be more complex it. will be more expensive and the politics i'd sad to say will be harder not easier. my good friend, the chair of the ways and means committee, does have a proposal. he's never had a hearing on it. and it was dismissed when it was announced by his own speaker, if i quote, blah, blah, blah. this is a sad moment for me. but it's not too late for us to do something about it. we need to move forward, have a tighter timetable, let's finally have a hearing in ways and means, let's have a proposal going forward. i'm perfectly willing to work in august to do this. i'd be happy for us to add days in september. we shouldn't recess in october to campaign and leave a big question mark. it's true that it takes time to put these things together. but we won't be putting it together next spring. mark my words. the republicans need to enable us to find out where they stand

. will they finally have a hearing on my friend, mr. camp's, proposal? will they slash the highway trust fund and abandon the responsibilities? or will they just use the ryan budget and reduce transportation 30% over the next 10 years and no new projects for 15 months? those are all legitimate issues. they deserve to have a day in court and if we get down to work, we could resolve it. i'm confident we could do it. and it will be just as easy if not easier to do now than waiting until next year when the clock will be ticking, when half the united states senate will be running for president, and we'll have a new lineup. other than the speaker who may be happy to have avoided it, it's not going to be any easier. i respectfully suggest that we honor those 62 groups that want us to move.

they would much rather us have do it this year -- have us do it this year. we have infrastructure that was once the envy of the world. now it's a source of embarrassment. we are 27th in the world and sinking. our problems are getting more expensive, they're getting harder. i know how hard the job that the chair of the t.n.i. committee has. i respect him, i respect the committee. but they need to know exactly how much money they've got so they can fashion a bill. and if they did that, they'd be able to crank one out, i'm confident in a month or two. but right now, after an entire congress, they don't have a bill. we don't have a bill. those 62 groups and organizations don't have a path. what they have is a great big question mark next may when we start this all over again. this shouldn't be a partisan argument. i disagreed when president bush shut it down. i disagreed that president

obama didn't move forward. but it's not republicans versus democrats. it's not house versus senate. it's time for us to all come together and work as those stakeholders would have us do. in fact, we don't even have to have any courage. we can just follow what those experts who represent truckers and triple-a and local government and contractors -- a.a.a. and local government and contractors, what they have offered as guidance. read the special commissions that have reported to president bush. this is not rocket science. it's will, it's action, it's deciding exactly how much we're going to spend and when. mr. speaker, i would respectfully request that the house approve this motion to recommit, give us enough time and money to avoid the summer shutdown, but not enough to let this congress off the hook and

hand it off to the 115th or the 120th congress. but we do our job so america can do its. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> mr. speaker, i withdraw my point of order and seek time in opposition to the motion. the speaker pro tempore: the reservation is withdrawn and the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i do rise in opposition to the motion to recommit and i just want to say i have high regard and great respect for the gentleman from oregon and his passion for infrastructure. as long as i've been here, he's certainly been a strong advocate, leaving the committee to go to ways and means. mr. shuster: i know his passion was on the transportation committee but now he's on a committee that certainly can help the process and move it forward. but i strongly oppose this motion to recommit. it shortens the length of the time of the extension. and i'm afraid that putting all

your eggs in the lame duck basket will cause us great problems and i don't believe it will be successful. and then what do we do then? we're going to be doing another short-term and another short-term extension. so shortening the length is not appropriate, i believe. i think this is the best strategy. it cuts funding. i don't believe that that's in our interest. if we don't get this into next year year, we're going to lose that funding because somebody will take it for something else and if we're not successful in a lame duck, then we're going to be going into the next construction season and we'll have trouble working out a solution to that when you cut the funding. it also increases taxes and that's something right now i don't believe this country can accept. we have immediate critical need to address the solvency of the trust fund and extend the surface transportation law so we can get through this construction season and we can continue with the planning season to move us into next year. i'm confident that we're going to be able to do something next

year. because i believe we have to do something. not on just this issue but on many issues that we've kicked the can down the road. as the distinguished chairman of the -- former chairman of the transportation committee pointed out, my colleagues, not mr. blumenauer, but many of my colleagues on the other side went and kicked the can down the road and passed a massive stimulus bill that did not put -- it put about 5%, 6%, 7% of that into highway funding when we all know that was where the need was. former chairman oberstar wanted to do a bill but again his own party left him. his only party was irresponsible on that. again, passing a stimulus bill, which i believe hasn't worked and if it would have been directed to transportation, to infrastructure, we'd see a very, very different economy today. i also add, extending these programs through may in no way precludes congress from continuing to work on addressing a long-term funding solution, which i believe we have to do. it in no way precludes us from

moving on a long-term authorization bill which we continue to work on in the committee, which is a top priority for the transportation and infrastructure committee. however, i believe this legislation is the responsible solution and we don't play politics with these programs. it enables us to continue making improvements to our surface transportation program. i urge my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the motion is not agreed to. mr. shuster: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: on that i would ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device.

pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of passage of the bill. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 193 and the nays are 227. the motion is not adopted. the question is on pass and of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. mr. blumenauer: mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: mr. speaker, i would respectfully ask a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] fdic any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] fdic

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives.

any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 367 and the nays are 55. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.