A Nation On The Move Commerce is the lifeblood of our economy, and the transportation infrastructure is its circulatory system. Without safe and efficient transport, the
economy withers away. Maintaining that
vital infrastructure has always been, in part, a federal responsibility, and
Republicans have historically been the party of builders. From the era of the transcontinental railroad
and the Panama Canal to President Eisenhower’s establishment of the Interstate
Highway System, we have championed investment in transportation assets as a
cornerstone of the economy and, indeed, our national way of life.
More recently, the Republican-led
Congress has enacted two historic pieces of legislation: the 1998 Transportation
Equity Act for the Twenty-First Century and this year’s Aviation Investment and
Reform Act. These landmark laws
represent an unprecedented federal investment in roads, bridges, transit
systems, airports and air traffic control systems — without additional
taxes. They simply unlock the
transportation trust funds to invest the dollars motorists and the traveling
public have already paid. Those funds
had been subject to years of abuse under Democrat-controlled Congresses but are
now statutorily dedicated to building and maintaining the transportation system
for which our citizens pay. The same
budgetary protections should be extended to other transportation trust
funds.
Our national railroad network is a
crucial component of our public transportation system. Railroads helped build our country, and our
national passenger railroad network remains a precious resource that can play a
key role in transportation and economic growth. Republicans support a healthy
intercity
passenger rail
system, and where economically viable, the development of a national high-speed
passenger railroad system as an instrument of economic development, and enhanced
mobility. We also support a multi-modal
approach to our transportation needs.
By reducing mandates, cutting red
tape, and promoting regulatory common sense, congressional Republicans have
given state and local officials unprecedented flexibility to set their own
transportation priorities, from highways to bike trails. That will improve communities throughout the
nation, and will also strengthen travel and tourism, a vital force for job
creation with a positive annual trade balance to boot. But transportation policy remains inseparable
from energy policy. The trucking
industry, for example, is hard hit by current gas prices and would be crippled
by the administration’s new "hours of service" regulation. Consumers everywhere are literally paying the
price both for what the administration has done and for what it has failed to
do.
Republicans are going to get
transportation policy back on track, both here at home through a sound,
long-term energy policy, and internationally as well, by pursuing the "Open
Skies" agreements, first proposed by President George Bush, to open foreign
markets for American aviation services.
In short, we will keep Americans moving safely and keep our country, in the
words of the song, "a thoroughfare for freedom."
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