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Washington, DC - The recent opinion piece by Senator Joe Scarnati, titled “The truth about transportation,” was anything but the truth. As one of the authors and supporters of Act 44, which mandates the tolling of I-80, it appears that Sen. Scarnati has decided to deflect the public debate over I-80 to a personal attack on me because of my efforts to prevent his ill conceived tolling plan from receiving the necessary federal approval.
Despite his recent statements that he did not want to toll I-80, as Senate Pro Tempore he helped craft and shepherd Act 44 through the legislature and declared victory upon its passage in conjunction with the budget negotiation. Though this was an immediate ‘win’ for Mr. Scarnati, he overlooked the devastating economic affects of placing the country’s highest toll rates along I-80.
Sen. Scarnati starts his piece by intimating that the horrific bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a catalyst for Act 44 and the tolling of I-80 to pay for it. The Senator must have forgotten that the bridge collapsed on August 2, weeks after Act 44 was passed.
He then proclaims that “One of the main causes of the transportation crisis facing us [Pennsylvania] today can be traced back to the last federal transportation plan, supported by Congressman John Peterson.” He goes further by declaring that the federal government, specifically Congress, under funded Pennsylvania’s transportation needs, and in doing so, Congressman Peterson “failed our motoring public and job creators” which “exhibits his lack of clout in Washington.”
I suspect that Sen. Scarnati is referring to the bi-partisan transportation bill we passed in 2005. Had Sen. Scarnati done even minimal fact finding, he would have discovered that under the original legislation, Pennsylvania was set to become a ‘donor state’ for the first time, meaning it would contribute more to the Highway Trust Fund, than it would receive. Because of my work, Senator Santorum’s and other members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation, we not only defeated the effort, but were also successful in seeing that Pennsylvania receives $1.15 for every dollar it contributes. A great deal for Pennsylvania. But don’t take my word for it. Governor Rendell recently told the House Transportation Committee in Washington: “I want to close...by not pointing the finger at the federal government. The federal government has been very good to Pennsylvania in highway funding.” This is hardly a “lack of clout” on my part or that of the delegation.
In fact, the “transportation funding crisis” Sen. Scarnati would like to blame on the federal government was created by the state and apparently his lack of clout. The reason there is a funding shortfall to fix Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges is because the state has diverted federal bridge and road money to fund such things as the State Police, Division of Weights and Measures, Tourist Programs and mass transit for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Governor even transferred over $412 million of federal bridge and road money with the tacit approval of the state legislature. One has to wonder why as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Mr. Scarnati, chose not “to act” while all the plundering occurred.
Even worse, to fill the coffers raided by the Governor, Sen. Scarnati sponsored Act 44 and offered the tolling of I-80 as the solution, condemning rural Pennsylvania, “the motoring public and job creators” to economic disaster. All this without a single hearing, any public input, economic impact or diversion studies, consultation with the business community, me, the other three I-80 congressmen, or the seven members of the delegation who sit on the House Transportation panel.
He and the legislative leaders in Harrisburg also completely ignored the advice of a February, 2005 tolling study conducted by PennDOT with help of the Turnpike Commission that stated I-80 should not be tolled.
Ironically, Act 44 was also the number of the notorious pay raise bill which Sen. Scarnati not only adamantly supported, but defended. Act 44 of 2007 should suffer the same fate as the pay raise and be repealed.
I take issue with Sen. Scarnati’s claim that the alternative funding proposal to “sell” the Turnpike (actually it is a lease proposal) to a foreign country was not acceptable to the PA General Assembly. As President Pro Tempore, Sen. Scarnati could have easily agreed to a lease of the Turnpike – eliminating a patronage and scandal riddled bureaucracy, thereby saving the economy of his own district and the state – by specifying that any lessee would have to be a U.S. company.
It is common knowledge that Sen. Scarnati and his Democrat counterparts did not support the Governor’s proposal to lease the Turnpike. Nor did they present any alternatives but tolling of I-80, despite the fact that the Turnpike lease would have generated an estimated $1.7 billion a year – debt free – versus Act 44, which comes with a $21 billion price tag. Almost half of that price tag is interest payments with no positive cash flow projected for over 30 years.
Since the Senator would finally “welcome dialogue” with me, and in order to shed more sunlight on the I-80 issue among our constituents and all residents of Pennsylvania, I ask Sen. Scarnati to join me in a public forum on either December 3, or December 10, in Brookville.
The people of Pennsylvania, and those who live and work in the I-80 corridor, deserve as much.
Congressman John E. Peterson represents the fifth congressional district of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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