Nolan Urges Immediate Action to Save Highway Trust Fund Before July 31st Expiration

“Our infrastructure is facing a crisis of epic proportion. It is imperative for the security of our nation, the safety of our people and the health of our job-creating economy that Congress move ahead with a long-term bipartisan funding plan for the Highway Trust Fund without further delay,” Nolan told the House Ways & Means Committee.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 26, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Declaring that America’s infrastructure is facing a crisis of epic proportion, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan is urging fellow lawmakers to “move ahead with a long-term bipartisan funding plan for the Highway Trust Fund without delay.” Nolan further urged House Speaker John Boehner to “stop impeding the committee process” and allow the House Transportation Committee to write a long-term transportation bill to address the nation’s deteriorating highways, bridges, airports, railroads, ports, harbors and pipelines.

In testimony delivered to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing to explore financing options before the Trust Fund is set to expire on July 31st, Nolan, Minnesota’s only member of the House Transportation Committee, pointed out that “Delay after delay in establishing a clear, long-term path to finance the Highway Trust Fund has moved us beyond national embarrassment to a point just short of national emergency.”

“The good news,” Nolan continued, “is that there is clearly strong bipartisan support for highway and transportation funding here in Congress and throughout our nation. Now we need to get moving. We need creative new solutions and good ideas that come through the committee process, where we discuss and debate and bring in the best experts for advice and counsel, and then reach some common ground.”

If the Highway Trust Fund is allowed to expire next month, the Administration has stated that some 6,000 major summer highway projects and 660,000 construction jobs would be in jeopardy across the nation. “Our highways are falling apart – 65 percent of them are in poor condition, and the Highway Trust Fund is facing a 40 percent shortfall. Our bridges are collapsing. We know all about that in Minnesota, where the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis fell into the Mississippi River in 2007, killing 13 and injuring many more. Today one in four bridges are in need of significant repair,” Nolan told the Committee.

Nolan pointed to an Obama Administration proposal to fund long term transportation improvements by collecting a tax on some $2 trillion in profits that U.S. corporations are holding overseas as an idea that deserves strong consideration – but noted that the President’s $470 billion plan is still not enough to fully address the nation’s needs.

“The experts tell us we should be investing at least one billion dollars . . . an investment that would also create about 13 million new jobs – for one third of what we’ve spent over the past 13 years on the war in Iraq. We have the money and the resources. The question is – do we have the political will to reorder our priorities . . . and use those resources to begin to rebuild America, beginning with our highways and our infrastructure.”

“The answer is, we have no choice but to muster the will, and do what needs to be done. Our safety depends on it. Our jobs depend on it. Our ability to compete in the world depends on it. And our future depends on it.”