That is why we sent you to grow america act last year and why we will send you a new and improved grow america act this year. We certainly know that the grow america act is not the only approach to solving the infrastructure and mobility challenges of the future. We look forward to fully engaging this committee and with others on both sides of the aisle to chart this path together. But we believe there are some essential principles that any bill must have. First were going to need a substantially greater investment. Were also going to need a greater level of investment over time. Not just six months, or even two years. If we want communities to build big projects they can take in some cases five years or more. We need to ensure funding for roughly that same amount of time. I think senator boxers analogy of trying to buy a house with a fivemonth loan is a great analogy. There are processes that neat to be dealt with. We believe we can do that while ensuring better outcome for the enviro
Great big mansion if we have the resources to build a hut. And i think that our system right now really needs a substantial injection of a longterm bill but also substantial growth to counteract the cumulative effect of the shortterm measures in the recent past. And one followup real quickly on that specific point. Is there a version of that proposal you are talking about that doesnt have the big tax increase on successful folks as part of it . Because going back to the spirit of my comments, im suggesting that, you know, we get real and we cut to the chase so we actually solve this in a meaningful way by may. So if were just talking about that version, in all due respect, i dont think that is meeting my test. Well, you know, the green book last year published three specific ideas about pro Growth Business tax reform that i think potentially would meet your test. One was eliminating lifo. Another was eliminating accelerated depreciation. And a third one was pulling some of the untaxed
Theres much that we can learn from this 13year experience in how to take a more comprehensive approach, and to recognize while kinetic actions have a value all of their own certainly and thats blatantly obvious, nonkinetic actions do as well. We can do much better at that than what we have done. Thank you. General matt is my time is up, but do you have any you want to add . Very quickly senator i would point out we have to improve the process assuming there is a process. Ive been unable to identify one recently. I think it starts with the assumption we must develop a sound strategy or were going to waste lives and our treasury and our countrys future. I think, too, we need to move thor back to the senate, and not concentrated in a small but mushrooming it at the same time natural security staff that does not have the Foreign Service officers and the trained military officers who can actually develop what you are looking for here. I dont think we can adopt one preclusive form of war far
It captures the imagination of Real Estate Developers and they start to build dense developments and bring amenities into communities that traditionally may not have them. I think the challenge for us is that right now if we look at the amount of money were putting into transit, i think the demand for it is going to increase substantially over the next several years because of shear population movements. Thats why i would urge a more robust investment in transit, first of all. And secondly urge that we do more to partner with local communities, whether its mpos, or mayors or even governors in some cases to help them develop the tools to utilize the land use opportunities that come about as a result. Yeah, boston had 800,000 people who lived there in 1950s. And it drifted all the way down to about 600,000. But now, with increasing Transit Oriented Development boston has gone back up to 640,000, and the arrow is straight up in terms of the number of people who now want to move back use p
Department of Homeland Security into rain in a executive overreach. That is it. It is simple. There is no reason for democrats to block it. Politico reports that Senate Democrats intend to to block the homeland spending bill. One democrat who has spoken out against it is Senate Minority whip dick durbin. He called for a clean appropriation bill while speaking for the american advocates group, americas voice. You can watch tuesday at 2 30 eastern. As always, we will have coverage on cspan3. Next, transportation secretary anthony foxx talks to a committee about the future of the Highway Trust Fund and live at 7 00 a. M. Your questions and comments live on washington journal. Transportation director anthony foxx told the environment and public works that the looming transportation sequestration possibility is looming. This is about two hours and 15 minutes. The meeting will come to order. I say to my friend, the Ranking Member, that the whole right side back there is oklahoma. I came in l