n and trends in the coming years. everything from competitiveness to technology and all its implications. let's be ready to respond to them or better yet lead the discussion and help move transportation and infrastructure policy forward. thank you very much. i look forward to our discussion. thank you. [applause] host: go ahead and sit in the middle. richard, if you could join us on the end. he will chat a little bit. then it is time to open it up to questions from the audience. thank you for being here. a whole host of issues where the chamber and afl-cio do not see eye to eye. i just saw mr. trumka and mr. donahue talking about trade. but on this issue, there is so

much overlap. in organized labor and the largest business lobbying group are on the same page, why can't this get done? what is standing in the way? you have battled over this for years. what is in the way? panelist: it is pure politics right now. in the past, it is a bipartisan issue. never bickering. everyone knew you had to keep the country running. it is like your household. if something leaks, you have to fix it. if it needs painting, you have to fix it. the country needs to be replenished so we can stay competitive. everyone knows that. yet, they cannot figure out a way to get it done. it is just politics. no other reason for. they agree it needs to be done. that is what frustrates the american people, frustrates

business, working people. this is an issue that needs to get done now. host: from the chamber's perspective? panelist: i completely agree on this. one thing that congress fails to make a distinction on is investment of infrastructure is a capital investment, not an expense. it needs long-term funding, not month-to-month funding. it is like running a business. you cannot make investments for growth if all you can do is look forward 90 days. it is a capital investment we need to make in the country. panelist: it really does need to be five or six years so the project can be planned, get done. we have had 30 extensions in the last several years. host: looks like were about to get another one. panelist: it will either be june or december. how do you plan? panelist: it is much more

expensive when you do it that way. so different from building your house and doing change orders instead of scoping it out creating a budget, and utilizing it over the long-term. some reports have shown expenses have increased -- extensions have increased the cost by 30% to do the little that has been done to date. host: would you agree that we are looking at most likely the end of the year or another two-month patch? do you have a preference? panelist: the length of the patch from our perspective should be long enough to allow congress to create and pass a long-term bill. host: what is your take? panelist: i agree. the more we keep kicking the can down the road, the more it hurts the country. we are looking out over $3

trillion that needs to be invested to make the country healthy again, make it competitive again. the longer we kick the can down the road, the bigger the bill gets. and the more individual pay. also losing salary down the line. business becomes less competitive. when they become less competitive, workers get laid off or do not get raises they would otherwise get. we are paying the price for their inaction. every businesses paying the price for their inaction. host: do you get any sense there has been any change in the conversation, the tone in washington, about where this is headed? you hear senator hatch, the ways and means committee, talking about progress. secretary foxx talked about it again, the funding stream that

gets this off the block. do you see something different today than a year ago? panelist: there has been conversation about repatriation as the solution. does not really make sense. they are talking about a holiday, a short-term gap. we need comprehensive tax reform, not corporate tax reform. we need comprehensive tax reform. but we should be looking for, as rich pointed out funding through public-private partnerships, funding from federal and state programs. you should be looking at transportation-related revenues that are sustainable and have growth potential. panelist: i do not disagree. there is a number of things that can and should be done. we need to use the user tax look at the vehicle miles traveled, a program being tried out in the west.

you're coming up with electrical cars. host: some people do not like the idea of a little gps watching where your car goes. panelist: they already do, i hate to tell them that. there is a lot of ways to do it. they need to agree on a target. let's say we need to fix the problem. and be honest about that and defined the problem. the society of civil engineers has already defined the magnitude of the problem. say we are going to fix it and here is what it will take. them come up with funding sources. they can be multiple, but they must be long-term so everyone can plan. so the states can plan, construction companies can plan, so that everybody involved can be planning without wasting money. host: we heard earlier today on

one of the panels there have been ideas about handing money to the state. let the folks at the local level deal with the issue because they understand their transportation problems better than anyone else. why doesn't that make sense? panelist: state involvement is key. but we have a comprehensive national transportation network that it has a huge advantage. you have to have an integrated federal policy. you have to have federal involvement to support a national structure. panelist: she is absolutely right. look, you remember we were going to do high-speed rail. two states said we do not want high-speed rail. if you leave it up to the states, there would be 50 different policies. that is why you need a federal policy.

there cannot be 50 states doing 50 different things. that has to be a federal policy and an integrated system. how would one state to the electrical grid system? how would they do enough reports , inland waterways? it does not make sense to do it on a state-by-state basis. it must be done as a national plan. host: another question you get sometimes is i am a montana cattle rancher paying the gas tax in montana. but some of my taxes help the banker in new york get on the subway. why is that fair? panelist: that montana farmer gets a lot of subsidies. some of the states like texas get more subsidies than anybody else. as well as louisiana and mississippi. it is give-and-take. we have a national system.

we are going to create a transportation network that will benefit everybody. the product that montana cattle rancher could beget -- get could be cheaper if a rail system delivers things they may need. they will benefit by having an efficient system and have the country become competitive. they can get their products to market or export products easier when you have an efficient system. not when one in every nine bridges is about to break down. panelist: right now, there are federal taxes for transportation that have not been raised since 1993. gas prices are at their lowest level, cars are more efficient than ever. and the infrastructure that has been built, a lot of it was not intended to last this long. that farmer in montana, or i

come from oregon, where there is a lot of agricultural commerce, when the supply chains block up, products go to waste. when the ports are not efficient, products cannot get out to 95% of consumers in the world outside of the u.s. what we are saying is upgraded the infrastructure to make it globally competitive, enable people to sell products more efficiently and at less cost. host: is it hard to imagine a final solution that does not include an increase in the gasoline tax? panelist: if you speak to party leaders on both sides of the aisle, they know that in their hearts. it is a question of who wants to put their chips on the table first. panelist: i do not see a solution that does not include a hike in gas tax. is done, available, and we are

30 days away from an expiration. if you are going to do a totally new funding source, it will take a long time, and we have to kick the can down the road another two or three years. i cannot see a way of getting it done. at least with a major part of it with the users. host: both of you mentioned competitiveness, what is happening in china. a lot of americans may not be able to go to china and see what is happening in other parts of the world. you obviously have to travel the world. you have been in china as well. what is really happening out there? where is it you can see america getting its lunch handed to them? panelist: i will begin with infrastructure. the roads, bridges, tunnels, airports ports, run at an efficiency level that far

exceeds ours. it takes us x number of days to get our material to the coast. it takes them less time. if you look at china, china is actually suffering from the same things we are suffering from. they have a slowing economy which means they have pressures on employment. they have oversupply, which we do as well. our country is a place where people want to bring their businesses. there are many companies bringing their businesses back onshore because our electricity is cheaper, our laws are clear and we have an able and ready workforce. it is that workforce that has really suffered and not gone back to work since the global financial crisis. our unemployment rate appears to be improving, but participation

rates have not improved. many of the people who have not been able to participate lost their jobs in the financial crisis. one of the things we agree on over and over again is jobs, jobs jobs. when you improve infrastructure, it attract business. our chamber did a transportation performance index, which showed a huge positive correlation between infrastructure that works and foreign direct investment. people coming on to u.s. shores to make cars, appliances, tools manufacture. that is where we are getting our lunch handed to us. we have the platform to become a platform manufacture, and we have to take it vantage. panelist: each year, our rails our ports, our roads fall

further behind. we become less competitive. china needed a deep water port. they did not have one. in four years, they built a six lane highway, 21 kilometers into the china sea. they created a port that did 14 million containers in four years. in two more years, that same port will be handling 21 million containers i year. that is what they are doing. that is the competition. it would take us two lifetimes to build a six lane highway, 21 kilometers into the sea and build a port that could handle 14 million containers. do we need that? absolutely.

me have a bridge system falling apart. we have water lines, a break every two minutes in this country. for water line breaks somewhere. seems like all of them in dc, but they are everywhere. it is a tremendous loss of resources and efficiency. it does not have to happen. they have figured out that infrastructure create jobs. in the u.s., you do and infrastructure job, for every three construction jobs you put to work, five other jobs are created in other industries. materials, transportation. it is a no-brainer. truly a no-brainer. and we do not do it. host: we have a short amount of time. ? your -- a question right here. there should be a microphone.

>> leslie blake, we work on infrastructure policy. i know you have been trying to get something going. besides needing to raise the gas tax the gas tax really needs to be for highways. we are talking big projects, infrastructure and prioritizing infrastructure. i would like to ask the business community about needing funding for infrastructure and draw on a designated source of funding possibly from a business.

any possibility the business community could support that? a fee that would support infrastructure. host: any thoughts on the? panelist: with respect to the comments i made before, there are multiple sources of federal state, private, and user fee taxes that need to be looked at to address the whole chain of transportation needs. to solve the problem and create capital funds that we need, we need to look across the board at a variety of funding. panelist: i agree it needs to be permanent. i agree it needs to be dedicated. i would be willing to look at the feet an -- fee and other

things as well so no one sector of the economy picks up all of it. so we can create jobs, invest, and get a return. you will get the money back. every person out there will get the money back. host: i know there are more questions, but we have a tight timetable with the vice president coming up. also, i have a message. we ask you not to get up the coast the vice president is arriving. we will be serving lunch in a moment. you are not glued to the chairs, but you are glued to the chairs. if you leave, you may not be able to get back in. lunch will be served in a moment. the vice president will be speaking shortly. [applause]

>> reoffend a great discussion so far. infrastructure is unique. it influences where we live, where we work, how we get around, literally impacts everyone and everyone has an opinion. professor kanter mentioned planes versus trains. i cannot tell you how much time we spend at bloomberg debating the merits of planes versus trains. my personal opinion is that planes win the vast majority of the time. i think we have a difference of opinion.

as josh mentioned earlier, the vice president occasionally takes a 75 minute, 108 mile ride from washington to wilmington, delaware. according to the american society of civil engineers, the bridges in washington, maryland, and delaware, 20% of them are functionally obsolete. more than 6% are structurally deficient. and in washington, 95% of the roads are considered in poor condition. i am not a civil engineer, but i can give anecdotal evidence that the roads on my commute from arlington to d.c. are not in great shape. this is an important subject and we at bloomberg government are very proud to have convened an esteemed group of panelists. we are grateful the vice president has taken time to share his unique perspective on the subject. please join me in welcoming vice president joe biden. [applause]

vice president biden: how you doing? good to see you. it is an honor to be part of bloomberg government. you are supposed to laugh at that. [laughter] vice president biden: i spent last weekend with mike, the only man i know who has a government. he is doing great things. you all are as well. don, thank you for having me. and, rich, it is great to be with you, pal. this has been a song we have been seeing a long time together. governor rendell, the president who is made some significant investments in north america that make a difference to a whole lot of people. tamara, chair of the chamber of commerce. can you all hear me?

ok. understand that you have heard from or going to hear from anthony foxx and jeff sykes, but i would like to get to the point with you. as i said backstage with don the idea that there is actually a debate in washington on capitol hill as to whether or not we need to invest in infrastructure is mind blowing. i have been here a long time. i understand the need for debate as to how to pay for what we need to do. i do not get the debate about whether or not we need to significantly invest in our infrastructure. 6.5 years ago, the economy was in recession. just short of depression. and even before then, the middle class was getting clobbered.

the operative word that everyone heard constantly was "outsourcing." and top-down economics governed our policy. when we entered office, we knew there had to be drastic changes, and we made them. very unpopular changes. the recovery act, almost $840 billion. every outside expert looked at it, less than .4% of waste or abuse in application of the legislation. tarp -- if you want to talk about the hardest vote any member had to take, it is to bail out the same guys who put us in a mess. that was a difficult vote. but we did it and were told it was a dangerous thing to do. the end result was every penny

was paid back. the american banking system was sound. the american taxpayers made $15 billion in the process. dodd-frank, old horror stories. there was confidence in wall street, little confidence. now there is transparency. i can promise that is true. things are functioning. the stock market has bounced up between 18,000 and 17,900. when we took office, the question was would it get above x thousand. the automobile rescue. 21.6 million automobiles last year and we are moving. as well as the affordable care

act. it is the slowest rate of growth in health care cost in recent history. but mostly because so the determination of the american people our economy has gone from crisis to recovery, on the verge of resurgence. if we act with foresight. 12 million jobs, 52 straight months with growth, more jobs created in the entire industrial world combined. unemployment down to 5.4%. the deficit cut by 2 /3. it was because of what all of you did. people began to realize what was wrong. and now instead of my grandchildren to hear about outsourcing, they will hear about in sourcing. that is the operative word right now. a survey, asking the 300 largest

industrialist in the world the best place in the world to invest. by a large margin, they said the united states of america in every single solitary category. manufacturing, i.t. to service. boston consulting, they survey every american company that has investment in china and a position in china. they ask what are your plans for next year? 54% said they are coming home. talk to siemens and what they have done. there is a reason for this. we have now and will have the cheapest energy in the world.

the epicenter of energy for the 21st century is not the saudi arabian peninsula or nigeria and is not venezuela. it is north america. number two. we have the best research universities in the world. we basically have the only stable research university in the world. instead of investing in government entities, invested in our research universities. we have the most adverse venture capital system in the world and a rule of law to protect intellectual property. and i might add we also have the most productive workers in the world. three times as productive as the workers in china, and i want

china to be productive and grow. look, to keep our age and to make this a permanent resurgence , which it has the possibility of being, for real. you've told us how much china is going to eat our lunch. come on, man. i am being deadly earnest. we want them to do well. as they say in my own neighborhood, they are not patching our jeans if we act with a little bit of foresight and less rank partisanship in this town. but there is two things we need to do. we need to have the most skilled workforce to keep this going and we have to have the most modern infrastructure in the world. the president asked me to head up a study on how we can make

sure we have the most skilled workforce in the world. that warrants another speech. we come up with a number of things and they are beginning to work. we need the most modern infrastructure in the world. let's get it straight. there is two things we need to get to this modern infrastructure. it needs to be modern, because it is not now. it is not now. we ranked 28th in the world in transportation infrastructure. the united states of america ranks 28th in the world in terms of a modern infrastructure. we need to invest $3.6 trillion to get our interest rate -- infrastructure up to snuff.

the second thing we have to focus on, because of the age complexity and changing nature of our energy -- that is euphemism for climate change. we still have guys in this town -- i got criticized for saying one senator denied climate change, he also probably denies gravity. it is about as likely. whatever you want to call it, there are severe weather occurrences putting our energy infrastructure at risk. there is a need for major repairs, major reorganization, and major investment in infrastructure. this is important, not only for the economy, but for our national security. it is desperately needed. i can understand why my

republican colleagues, by the way -- have you noticed every time there is a problem i get sent to the hill, because i am viewed as the least partisan guy. i have great respect for the members of the house and senate. something is going on. something different is going on and all of the 36 years i served as a senator cheering to major committees for half of that time. something different is happening here. that old expression from another context, the tail is biting the dog in both parties. it has to change. one example is, i can understand republicans debate about how to pay for these investments, but i do not understand the debate about whether or not we need to invest in our infrastructure. that is the debate. that is the debate. you are here to talk about how

to pay for it and what to prioritize. there is a debate in the health about whether or not it is even needed. you know as well as i do, in order to attract investment in the united states, companies have to know they can get the raw materials and a product to market cheaply and efficiently in order to be competitive. get in on shore, offshore. otherwise, they will relocate where the costs or cheap -- cars are cheaper. businesses want to know what is the access to freight rail in the interstate highway system. can ports reliably and quickly move my product, how fast and reliable is the broadband network. is it affordable and accessible transportation to attract talent for the jobs we need to fill? how is the water supply? sewers? are they available to handle our

needs? how reliable is the energy grid -- especially during extreme weather? these are the requirements of the 21st century. we need twice for century infrastructure. -- 21st century infrastructure. i got trouble from a newspaper referring to an airport in new york as the third world airport they wrote an editorial saying close that airport. i think the governor is on the right track on how to modernize it. everybody knows it affects everything from attracting talent reliable, certain access to markets. it does not exist and we are moving behind. repeat myself, american society of engineers says we need $3.6

trillion in additional investment. nearly one in four bridges, 7000 are structurally obsolete. more expensive defects and when they become undrivable, costly or the conduct of business and commerce. cities like detroit and many others are replacing wooden water pipelines installed in the 19th century. a number of your cities have wooden pipelines that are transporting your water and your storm water runoff. sitting in your car, stuck in traffic cost americans over $100 billion a year. loss of productivity at work, loss of time with family, less time spending money in the community at movies, restaurants, and much higher energy costs. by the way, many of you live on

the east coast, you know how much it cost to take one linear mile to expand i-95 in the northeast corridor? $20 million to $49, minimum. -- $40 million. more people get on an amtrak coast in the east coast than every single person that gets on and off on a graph from maine to florida every day -- on and off an aircraft. where are they going to go? the population is expected to increase over the next 50 years by 35%. what do these guys expect? maybe by that time we will have teleporting -- and we might. maybe they know something i do not know. i do not get it. americans lose $22 billion a

year stuck at congested airports waiting for their flights to leave. $22 billion a year. when our economy is growing any middle-class was prospering from 1946 to 1973 every economic study showed infrastructure investment represented 4% of our gdp. federal and nonfederal investment in infrastructure during that time. today, the federal government invests less than 1% of its gdp in transportation infrastructure. the government cannot do it alone. it is the indispensable partner to states, communities, and business who need certainty in planning and be able to bring in those projects on time and online. we need to modernize our

transportation infrastructure. you experts here know what it means. most people think it means airports and roads and bridges. it is also our rivers, our locks and dams. there are billions of dollars -- more cargo sitting on top on the back of a ship in the ocean of a port representing 70% of all the commerce in the world as i speak to you right now. i took a group of republican and democrat friends to the panama canal to see what i called the eighth wonder of the world, they are twice as big, can carry twice as much cargo at 40% of the cost and they cannot dock in any port from houston to maine but 2.

what are we thinking? what are we thinking? we can i get the money to dredge those rivers and harbors in the ports? the former mayor and governor of pennsylvania kente, 40% of all the oil that takes care of the northeast rose of that delaware river to the delaware bay under -- up the refineries. just south of philadelphia. what are we talking about? what do they need -- another of tiffany -- another of tiffany?\ we need to modernize water infrastructure sewage, storm water runoff, safe water supplies. go back to the town you live in, ask your local councilman what the biggest problem he or she has.

this enormous cost of the infrastructure work. they do not have a tax base to do it. even if they did, if they do it, nobody sees it. you get a chance to invest in the storm water drainage system, which causes enormous pollution or you build a new park -- not a hard choice for a politician to make. we are getting further behind. absent these improvements, business will not grow and will not relocate, because to be at such a competitive this advantage around the world -- not withstanding all the other advantages we have a new ice age. regarding the energy grid and how rapidly is aging and changing, we will not only suffer in terms of economic growth if we do not make investments, and we do not

modernize, we will face a national security dilemma. we will jeopardize -- 50% of our nations gas transmissions and gathering pipelines were constructed in the 1950's and 1960's, as we build out the interstate pipeline network to meet the increasing and thriving demands of a post-world war ii economy, but 9% of those distribution pipelines in the united states are made of leak prone materials that require replacement. you experts in new england understand the problem you're facing right now in terms of the gets coming out of those types. -- in terms of leakage. and potential for disaster. and how and where we are producing energy is changing rapidly. that is the good news. we used to import most of our oil from the middle east, russia

used to be the number one supplier of natural gas in the world. today, we have more oil and gas pumping in america than ever before, in north dakota, now a major crude oil producer. in 2011, we were the world's number one producer of natural gas. these are big changes on six years ago. implications for infrastructure and how we can handle it and how these homegrown energy sources the country and around the world. our infrastructure must capture the incredible growth. solar power generation has increased 20 fold since 2009 and when power has tripled. the cost of wind power is as cheap as the cost of coal. what a phenomenal horizon a possibility that presents to united states of america and our

environment. we need to ensure new transition lines can carry this solar and wind. to power more homes and businesses throughout the country, including in our rural areas. our energy infrastructure is vulnerable to extreme weather as we see superstorm's, wildfires and droughts. between 2000 and two and 2012, an estimated 679 widespread power outages occurred. due to severe weather. costing the economy between $18 billion a year and $33 billion each year. the president and i started with the recovery act which contain the largest public works project since the eisenhower interstate highway system. we invested $50 billion in transportation infrastructure, improved over 6000 miles of rail, more than 350,000 miles of

road, 20,000 bridges, and to connect the entire infrastructure system. this supported millions of good paying jobs. it was only the first that. our budget has laid out a long-term investment in our entire infrastructure system including transportation and energy. this is what we should be debating. we have put forward a plan to do that, we call it the grow america act. a six year, or hundred $70 billion transportation bill -- $478 billion. so our roads and bridges can move forward with the certainty and see it through to the end saving hundreds of thousands of jobs. continue the tiger grid which brings federal, state, local and private partners together to

get capital off the sideline and connect the different points of our entire infrastructure system . it does not matter if you can get a product to port but you cannot get that product on the road because you do not have a highway system, and access system, a rail system. since 2009 we invested money in these grants. nearly four dollars in private investment for every one dollar in federal investment. to build on the success of cutting red tape and expediting the permit process, a major -- on major infrastructure process. we increased our federal commitment to public transit funding by more than 75% to meet the growing demands of rail and bus in cities, and suburbs and

rural communities. we pay for it through progrowth corporate tax reform that would encourage companies to bring home profits and reinvested in the united states. we would levy a one-time 14% tax on $2 trillion in overseas profits by american companies which is an's some cases less than taxes they rehome. that would generate a one-time surplus of $260 billion dedicated to modernizing our infrastructure. as well as the american middle class because we would begin to grow the economy. and we have a plan for energy infrastructure. last month, we released the energy report which calls on congress to do a few things, helped states and companies cover the cost of digging up and appearing the miles and miles pipeline that have to be retired.

-- that have to be repaired. modernize hubs so that our ports that are connected to freight rail and highways can move our homegrown energy around the world and bring products to the world market. we did something down at the port of baltimore, the problem was that, as much as the progress we made in the port of baltimore, it turns out that he could not get products to the port of baltimore. one reason why manufacturing is still growing in the upper midwest where it used to be thriving and still surviving is through a tiger grant in a place called east baltimore. there is the largest rail connection head anywhere in the country. you go there and see thousands upon thousands of rail cars. they are directly connected to a line where we are allowing them to double stacked containers because we are increasing the

height of all the tunnels a go under from east baltimore to the port of baltimore. if you take the ports of baltimore, the port of philadelphia, the port of savannah, the port of houston they generate, in those days anywhere from 90,000 to 310,000 jobs in each of those states. millions of jobs, directly related to the sports being able to function. we are going to be able to move products, westinghouse can move products to the back of the ship at 40% of the cost. generating an economic growth not only in the midwest, but throughout the country. here we are, provide the federal government more resources, we are asking congress to permit processing quicker so we can get solar and wind energy and

transmission lines running quicker. as they got these agencies, it takes longer to get the permanent done -- as they gut these agencies. etc. it be adoption of smart technologies like smart meters to help utility countries move more efficiently to power outages and the consequences of extreme weather. i spent two hours in an area that looks like a norad command center in philadelphia looking at the largest electric company and how they balance these needs. this is obligated stuff -- complicated stuff and is made easier and better if people have smart meters so they could move quickly. we also asked them to help pay for these investments through what i just described as this grow america act. there are other payoffs in our

budget. if they do not like them, offer something else. tell us what they want done. we will be willing to listen. i will sit there for hours and compromise with them to get this done. look, these kinds of infrastructure jobs create a virtuous cycle. they attract and retain business, these are good middle-class paying jobs, you can raise a family on them. it creates and supports millions of jobs and not just a job on the construction cut -- site, a job at the still, the asphalt plant. -- job at the steel mill. in addition, it creates jobs because these guys and women are able to buy new cars, stop at the diner having lunch while working on the site, able to move and make sure they can take the kid on a vacation.

these -- this is a virtuous cycle generated by this. not just minimum wage jobs, good paying jobs. i will get back to the basic question -- i think there is no reasonable rationale -- no reasonable argument against the need for these investments. i have yet to hear one come from anyone. we can argue about specifics that i have yet to hear that we can be in the same position we are in now with the deteriorating infrastructure. we cannot come up with the funding for a highway bill. you hear me? a highway bill. we will have a patch, hopefully, very soon. folks, you know, we will get through this time of dysfunction. the question is how much pain

and how much loss of opportunity will we suffer as a consequence? we will get through it. we have to get to the point where we understand it is not about compromise, it is about consensus. had you govern a country as big as strong, as powerful, as promising, and as diverse as this one without being able to reach a consensus on every major issue. if the republican congress disagrees, i invite them and the press to propose an alternative. do not just do what they recently did and walk away. they just passed a budget in the house and senate with virtually no opposition support. they locked in sequestration and add another $500 billion in cuts to discretionary spending, slashing infrastructure, education, and medical research.

a really smart thing we need to be doing. insisting, that by 2025 nondefense discretionary spending, infrastructure, will be 35% low, the lowest level in the past half-century. they would/local transit investment by more than 40%. if the budget becomes law. they reduce the capital budget for the faa that is how we repair and modernize airports to the lowest levels in 15 years. what do they expect to happen? i am being serious. i know you can sense my frustration, of what do they expect to happen if we implement a budget like this?

how can we lead in the 21st century not investing in infrastructure? with our economy surging back, we are only spending 1.5% of our gdp on total infrastructure, .5% on transportation infrastructure. these ships that are twice as big, carry three times as much cargo at 40% because where -- what businesses can take advantage? 70% of cargo to and from that canal is carrying a front from the back going from the united states abroad or coming to the united states. how are we going to transport 30 million barrels of crude oil a month from north dakota to the

refineries in the gulf without a dependable, safer, more reliable infrastructure? just turn on the television, there are not enough railcars. you hear me -- there are not enough railcars in the united states of america to meet the need and the danger of the transportation on an antiquated system israel -- is real. it can blow up entire towns. pocket american businesses and the american economy -- how can the american businesses and the market economy lead if we are so low now that the -- now costing $.85 a megawatt, how are we going to get this clean, renewable energy to the cities the towns, the homes, the factory, without more

transmission lines. ? what will happen when a category one hurricane, which is predicted, wipes out 300 to 400 substation in the gulf of mexico, texas, and louisiana because they are below water? what do we do then? what is because -- what is the cost to the economy? the cost to citizens health? let me end where i began, we need a debate, but that is why i am really here, to say thank you, and tell you we need you. i do not ask you to agree with the way we proposed funding this , i think it is the most rational way to do it, because i think it is a win-win for business. at least you all think we have to do it. we need you. we need you to talk to the house

and senate -- we need you to make concrete, real, examples of what it means if you do not get the investment we need here. this is critical. every day, every year, every decade we wait, it gets more expensive. the dangers increase. and the consequences are and that's. -- are immense. my dad used to have an impression, the only war worse than one that is intended is one that is unintended. the only sin a legislator and a president can commit that is worse than coming up with a bad idea is coming up with no idea. in the face of what everyone big knowledge is is a looming crisis.

please, i hope you are all republicans. i mean it. i hope you all have contacts. i hope you all are prepared to go up and make the argument, because, i remember the day and many of you do, when -- there was no fight about infrastructure republicans led the fight. republicans were the ones out front. what happened? what happened? ideology has become the master. there is no public ability -- applicability to this nonpartisan issue. it may be partisan how we pay you may not like it, but, i will

use another of my dad especially, pay me now or pay me later, because the price will be extremely high if we do not step up. thank you for what you're doing. i appreciate it. [applause] >> "washington journal" is next we will look at the news and take your calls. fcc chairman tom wheeler will testify about his agencies budget request. send it appropriate committee is live at 10:30 eastern. the house is in at noon eastern

at 2:00 eastern they will begin work on army corps of engineering interstate water spill. watch live house coverage on c-span. >> the new congressional directorate is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos with every senator and health -- house member. also, district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. order your copy today, it is $13.95 plus shipping and handling through the c-span online store at c-span.org. >> coming up this hour, robert woodson at the center for neighborhood enterprise looks at the effect inner-city poverty has on neighborhoods. after that, then the month of the washington post discusses the controversy about the

training exercising schedule to take place in western states this summer. plus, your facebook comments and tweets. host: good morning, it is tuesday, may 12, 2015. the house returns at noon today and the senate will be back at 10:00 a.m.. beginning a debate on the controversial trade authority bill set for later this afternoon. first, we will focus on the commencement address. that which first lady michelle obama gave at tuskegee university over the weekend. this