Oberstar Rails Against Obama on Transportation Policy
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.
In a speech entitled, “Getting America to Work: Opportunities and Challenges in Transportation Policy,” Oberstar was unrelenting in both his vision to create a new, strategic transportation plan, and his timeline for which this vision should be implemented.
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.
As a result, the 18-term Representative from the Iron Range is not backing down.
After presenting his vision for transformations in federal transportation policy, including a reconstructed Department of Transportation that would include a Council on Intermodalism, Oberstar said the hard part was, naturally, deciding how to pay for the new programs.
The Congressman was not impressed with Obama’s leadership when faced with this policy question: “The yes-we-can, change-you-can-believe-in White House ran for cover.”
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.”
Oberstar later referred to the administration’s proposal to spend up to $70 billion from general revenues to pay for transportation policy programs as “A terrible mistake.”
Representative Oberstar says he has “put his foot down” against Obama’s proposal of an 18-month delay. The Congressman says if the House can get consensus on a funding package, “I expect the administration to come around, join hands, and join with us. I am not going to support an 18-month extension.”
In his final remarks, Oberstar recalled how his predecessor, former Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK), took the recommendations of the Bush Department of Transportation for a $375 billion program back in November 2003.
“Young went to White House, had an audience with President Bush, advocated for the 375 and was told ‘No – and don’t ever come back here and talk transportation again.'”
Oberstar said former House Speaker Denny Hastert had a similar run-in with the Bush White House, and, as a result, the legislation ended up with $90 billion less than it needed.
With this precedent, what does the future hold for transportation policy in 2009 and Oberstar’s own dealings with the President?
“And so we got a change of administration. Change we can believe in? Yes we can – except no, we can’t? We’re going to make them believe in it.”
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I’m not sure if it’s the way you presented the article, but Mr. Oberstar sounds like a baby throwing a tantrum because he isn’t getting the attention he wants, when he wants it. I understand that it may be frustrating to believe you have a worthwhile bill you’d like to see pushed through, but last time I checked Obama had a quite a few other items on his agenda: A couple of wars in the middle east, North Korea shooting missiles to and fro, the sour economy and unemployment, not to mention the health care reform situation. Congressman Oberstar needs to take a number and wait his turn in line like a grown-up.
There is no reason to postpone transportation reform. In fact now is the time to do it, at the beginning of a Presidential administration. The fact that the economy, health care, climate change, and international problems are top priorities is no reason to delay the transportation reform Oberstar proposes. One of the most successful economic stimulus efforts has been “cash for clunkers.” A new transportation bill as Oberstar has proposed would stimulate innovation and new technologies in transportation, which would enhance economic productivity, creating not just short-term but long-term jobs — a sort of cash for clunkers on steroids. Transportation reform would also speed up transportation changes necessary to address climate change and livability issues, and tackle one of the nations most serious health problems — traffic deaths. Over 40,000 people are killed on U.S. roads each year and many more are injured, adding significant costs to our health care system. The bill has a major focus on safety, making investments to achieve significant reductions in traffic deaths and serious injuries. It makes no sense to delay on transportation reform.
Lee,
While clearly I am not Obama himself and can’t speak for him by any means, I reckon he just wants to clear a few things off his plate in order to give his full attention to this new transportation plan in hopes he could actually get something passed. He’s spreading himself thin already, and pretty soon his pleas for fixing a zillion things at once will start falling on deaf ears. He’s already pushing so much as it is.
As I understand the bill. There will be a request for a gas/fuel tax to pay for it. If indeed that is the case, it is understandable why the administration might not want to get on board at this very moment. Not that I personally have a problem with a higher federal tax on fuels. I think that the list of priorities will include a transportation bill, but not until the white house can frame it on its own terms.
I suspect that more than anything, Oberstar is thinking more about his personal legacy than the bill itself.