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Transportation balance

The transportation bill before the House endorsed by House Republican leadership is wrong-headed. In diverting all funds to highways, providing no mandatory allocation for public transportation, and attaching unrelated provisions related to the oil and gas industry it illustrates two fundamental mistakes in substance and process, and why my Republican opponent Pete Session, who holds a leadership position in that process needs to be fired.

First, we need a balanced transportation policy. As a native Texan, I like roads and the freedom and access they provide. But a quick tour of the 32nd District of Texas during rush hour, which includes LBJ and North Central, shows the futility and impossibility of simply relying on building more highways to meet urban and inter-urban transportation needs. When was the last time you drove either of these highways during rush hour? Each of these corridors illustrates the "No matter how much more we build, by the time it is finished it will be too little" problem. The quicker than expected growth in use of DART rail also illustrates the pent up demand for alternatives to transit by car. The proposed legislation will be detrimental to the long-term livability and success of District 32.

Second, including unrelated items in legislation leads to poor solutions to problems, particularly when there is an attempt to make those unrelated problems somehow connected. What does our policy regarding offshore drilling have to do with transportation policy (other than being related by the energy policy nexus, which is not the focus of this legislation)? Nothing. I am not opposed to off-shore drilling with appropriate safeguards, but that determination should be made on its merits, not as a secondary implication of a transportation bill.

If elected, I would work to assure a fair balance in transportation policy, adequate funding of transportation infrastructure, and that our fair share of federal transportation fund revenue returns to District 32.

For further commentary, see A Terrible Transportation Bill.