Understanding that we are doing our kids and grandchildren a great disservice if we dont own up to the infrastructure problems we have right now and we work with the governors around the country to move forward on this issue. So mr. Chairman thank you very much. Snack thank you senator. Let me make this comment. We are very proud to have all of you here. We had some al masai think so the full panel was not here but i appreciate very much your coming. Its important i believe when i look at this politically is going to be necessary to have a lot of pressure a lot of pressure from the states in order to get the support necessary to get this through. Its going to be heavy lifting. We know you guys are available and are able to do that. Lets start with opening statements. Thank you sir and good morning everyone. Its a pleasure for me to be with you senator inhofe and senator boxer and i appreciate senator sessions great introduction of may a good friend of my appreciate all the members of t
And local governments have the tools they need. This is a very important topic. We learn a lot when we got involved with Hurricane Center recovery and we are taking the larynx that we derive from that and trying to build into more of our programs routine resilient construction. For instance we found that stoplights needed to be waged in the ground deeper to be more resilient. And when that local leaders in my state are working hard to address whether its new york city or projects to improve sidewalks and crosswalks in upstate new york. Yielding pedestrian infrastructure and how we design our streets safe slice. As this Committee Works to revise map21 we should invest in critical safety programs that protect the safety of pedestrians including the children and the elderly and people with disabilities. What would be the implications of failing to adequately address the safety at the federal level . Its an incredibly important question senator. Between 2009 and 2013 and actually saw an up
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