Let's take a short trip down memory lane, to last summer. That's when it was possible to pass in Congress, with White House support, a 500 billion dollar transportation bill for mass transit, roads, bridges and high speed rail. The only problem was that Congressman Oberstar's bill was opposed by the White House! And now, 14 months later, the White House is proposing a 50 billion dollar plan to rebuild the nations transportation infrastructure!!! It doesn't amount to a piss in the ocean compared to what needs to be done and could have been done with all out White House support last year. Below is an excerpt from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure report in support of Oberstar's plan. BBIVIEWS AND ESTIMATES
OF THE
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011
Infrastructure Investment Needs
To alleviate congestion and reap the economic benefits of an efficient transportation system, our transportation infrastructure needs must be met. These needs, which are discussed in more detail later in this document, are significant:
$105.6 billion a year just to maintain highways and bridges at their current conditions, or $174.6 billion a year to improve conditions.
$15.1 billion a year just to maintain transit systems at the current condition and performance, or $21.1 billion a year to improve conditions and performance.
$18.9 billion a year in airport capital needs.
Over $3 billion per year to meet the capital needs of the Federal Aviation Administration, including modernization of the air traffic control system.
Between $11-12 billion over the next nine years to bring the Northeast Corridor to a state-of-good-repair (including backlog, growth, and trip time improvements) and for other improvements to the national rail passenger transportation system, including equipment replacement.
$162 billion over the next 20 years to re-establish the national intercity passenger rail and high-speed rail network.
$39 billion over the next 26 years to expand capacity on our nation's Class I freight railroads.
$13 billion over the next 26 years to upgrade shortline and regional railroads to accommodate heavier rail cars and meet demand.
$35 billion over the next ten years to fund cumulative capital improvement needs at the nation’s largest public ports.
$7.5 billion to finish currently authorized inland waterway construction needs.
Highways and Transit
The most recent long-term authorization of the Federal surface transportation program, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (P.L. 109-59), expired at the end of FY 2009. Since that time, Federal highway, highway safety, and public transportation programs have been operating under a series of short-term extensions, the most recent of which expired on February 28, 2010.
In its FY 2011 budget request, the administration has called for further extension of the program through March 31, 2011. The Committee continues to reject an extension of this duration, which would unacceptably postpone a much-needed infusion of Federal surface transportation investment, the creation of millions of new jobs, and comprehensive reforms to the Federal surface transportation program.
Despite the administration’s continued call for an 18-month extension of surface transportation programs, the budget request contains a number of significant programmatic and policy proposals. The Committee believes that restructuring of and changes to the highway, highway safety and transit programs should be addressed in a comprehensive long-term authorization bill, not in a piecemeal fashion.
In June 2009, the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit unanimously reported to the Full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure a comprehensive surface transportation authorization proposal: the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 (STAA). STAA would invest $450 billion in the nation’s surface transportation network and $50 billion in high-speed rail, and would significantly transform the surface transportation programs and policies, many of which were crafted more than a half-century ago.
The current programs are no longer well-suited to address today’s challenges of improving the condition, performance, and safety of our system. STAA establishes programs and policies designed to achieve specific national objectives: reduce fatalities and injuries on our nation’s highways; unlock the congestion that cripples major cities and the freight transportation network; provide transportation choices for commuters and travelers; limit the adverse effects of transportation on the environment; and promote public health and the livability of the nation’s communities.
The increased investment called for in STAA is accompanied by greater transparency, accountability, oversight, and performance measures to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent effectively and in a manner that provides the maximum return on that investment. Under current Federal surface transportation programs, recipients of funding have significant flexibility in the use of funds, and tracking the benefits derived from these investments is difficult. STAA will establish programs that are outcome-based and include mechanisms to allow Congress and the American public to see the benefits achieved from the investments made.
Read the full congressional report in PDF format at:
http://transportation.house.gov/pdf/ViewsEstimates.pdf Oberstar Rails Against Obama on Transportation Policy by Eric Ostermeier
August 5, 2009
Interspersed between his erudite historical recounting of transportation policy over the last 50 years, colorful inside-the-beltway jokes and jabs, and a vision for transportation policy for the next generation, Minnesota DFL Congressman Jim Oberstar offered some particularly harsh language for his party's leader, President Barack Obama, Wednesday afternoon at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
The White House - bottled up in a fierce battle over health care reform in the coming months - has stated that Capitol Hill should take a time out from Oberstar's six-year $450 billion bill, revisit it in 18 months, and simply extend existing laws in the meantime.
Oberstar is not persuaded: "An eighteen month delay in Washington means four years. Inertia is the enemy of progress," he said.
Oberstar says he has heard from a variety of business groups who would support user fees (i.e. gas taxes) as a method to pay for new transportation policy programs, including the Chamber of Commerce, the American Trucking Association, and the Associated General Contractors of America.
The Congressman has requested these and other business leaders to develop a consensus around an approach. He added: "I told the groups that they have to lead, because the White House isn't."
Please read the full article at:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2009/08/oberstar_rails_against_obama_o.php--------------------------------------------
$500 billion plan to upgrade U.S. transportation hits federal potholeBy SCOTT SMITH
Scott Smith is director of strategic initiatives for HNTB Corporation
KansasCity.com
July 13, 2009
Our roads, highways and bridges are crumbling under the strain of overuse and old age.
U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, addressed these huge needs by introducing the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009. Oberstar proposes spending $500 billion over the next six years to transform our antiquated system into the reliable, sophisticated network we need to safely and efficiently move people and goods.
The legislation would provide approximately:
•$337 billion for highway construction, including at least $100 billion to begin long-awaited repairs to our national highway system and bridges.
•$100 billion for mass transit, including $12 billion for repairs.
•$50 billion to fund 11 high-speed rail corridors linking major metropolitan areas.
The total investment would create or sustain about 6 million family-wage jobs, many here in the Midwest as our region continues to grow in importance as a transportation hub.
Unfortunately, Oberstar’s bill has collided with a proposal put forth by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The secretary wants Congress to pass an 18-month highway authorization bill that would put off a comprehensive, long-term solution and instead perpetuate a piecemeal mix of half-measures and temporary remedies for our nation’s transportation woes.
Please read the complete article at:
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1322647.html--------------------------------------------
Will Oberstar’s Grand Highway Plan Stall?By Colby Itkowitz, CQ Staff
June 27, 2009
The approximately 800-page draft measure that Oberstar has been refining for months envisions an ambitious overhaul, consolidating more than 100 individual federal programs into four broad categories, while pumping billions of dollars into new highway and high-speed rail projects. Most significant, it would require that federal money be spent to achieve specific goals and measures — cutting congestion in a city by a particular amount, for example — rather than distributing it only by formula among states or through congressional earmarks.
In fact, no sooner had Oberstar arranged to release an outline of his proposal than Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood went to Capitol Hill to reveal the administration’s own plan: an 18-month extension of current programs combined with a few of Obama’s favorite ideas — nothing like the full-blown overhaul of which Oberstar dreams.
“They cut the legs out from under him,” said the top Republican on Oberstar’s committee, John L. Mica of Florida.
It’s not that Oberstar wasn’t warned about how difficult it would be. At the very outset of this Congress, his party’s leaders sharply limited his role in assembling the economic stimulus bill (PL 111-5), which Oberstar and others thought was tailor-made for financing transportation projects that could quickly put people to work. He had written his own proposal and held hearings, gathering testimony from economists and from state and local leaders who vowed that investments in transportation infrastructure were the greatest short-term stimulus. But as the measure grew, Oberstar was edged out, and transportation became just a sliver in the overall package.
Please read the complete article at:
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1322647.html--------------------------------------------
Oberstar bucks Obama on transportation visionThe veteran Minnesota congressman is ready to take on the administration over a delay in policy makeover.
By KEVIN DIAZ, Star Tribune
July 16, 2009 - 7:54 PM
WASHINGTON - Moments before Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar planned to roll out his $450 billion transportation makeover last month, he was called to an adjoining room in the Rayburn House Office Building. There, he was confronted by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who told him that the Obama administration wanted him to hold off on his bill for 18 months.
Floored by the news, Oberstar pressed forward with the legislation anyway -- setting him on a collision course with the White House over his plan to transform the nation's transportation policies in the next six years by improving infrastructure and speeding up investments in trains and mass transit.
Though it appears to be an uphill climb in the Senate, where some key Democrats have acquiesced to the president, Oberstar has become increasingly critical of the White House. He continued the drumbeat Thursday. "We don't need an 18-month learning curve," he told members of the House Transportation Committee, which he chairs.
He also made clear his intention to pass the bill in the House with support from Republicans, some of whom have expressed sympathy for his predicament. "I've never seen a chairman undermined by an administration in the 30 years I've been around this place like they hosed our chairman," said Rep. John Mica of Florida, the ranking Republican on the committee.
Please real the complete article at:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/50981057.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O%20<img%20src=Postscript:
President Obama's 50 billion dollars will be used for:
"ROADS: Rebuild 150,000 miles of roads – renewing our commitment to the backbone of our transportation system;
RAILWAYS: Construct and maintain 4,000 miles of rail – enough to go coast-to-coast."
Amtrak goes coast to coast now .... in about a week and a half.
How about highspeed rail? What about mass transit systems? Not even worthy of a mention.
Oh .... billions will be spent for airport runways! That's nice.
And what about Congressman Oberstar? Has he had a change of heart? Well, I'm sure that Rahm Emmanuel didn't do anything to pressure him with his "sharp elbows". Oberstar probably believes 50 billion for transportation is better than nothing and perhaps he hopes that a new Congress in 2011 or 2013 might go along with his much more ambitious transportation plan.
Here's Oberstar's short statement probably solicited by brother Rahm:Oberstar Statement on Obama Infrastructure Plan
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 at 4:05 PM
Washington DC – Congressman Jim Oberstar today released the following statement on President Obama’s national transportation infrastructure plan:
“I am very pleased that the President wants to build on the success of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with further investment in our national transportation infrastructure. I am also pleased that the President shares the Committee’s objectives of restoring our surface and air transportation systems to a state of good repair, increasing energy efficiency, and relieving the road and rail congestion that is crippling our economy. The principles outlined by the President are consistent with those put forward by the Committee in the Blueprint for Investment and Reform and the Surface Transportation Authorization Act.
“I applaud the goals of this initiative and look forward to working with President Obama and Secretary LaHood in further developing this proposal and moving it through Congress.”
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