Congressman James Oberstar represents Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. Now in his 17th term, he is the longest serving member of Congress in Minnesota history. In the 34 years he has served in Congress, Jim has become known as the body’s leading expert on transportation policy. From 1989 through 1995, he chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation, passing important legislation that has led to better maintenance and safer aircraft. Later, as the ranking democrat of the full Transportation Committee, he worked in a bipartisan manner to take the Highway Trust Fund off budget to ensure that gas taxes are used to fix roads and bridges and not to make the budget deficit look smaller. In January 2007, Jim was elected chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He is also the first member of Congress to have served both as a committee’s administrator and its chairman.
James Oberstar:
InfrastructureUSA and the need to spread infra awareness
The huge challenge of maintaining and improving our roads
The beginning of highway user fees
Reagan, Bush and Clinton increase the gas tax
The need for another user-fee increase
Preventing infra disaster
The dollar cost of congestion
Download transcript (PDF): James Oberstar on The Infra Blog
Tags: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Congress, House of Representatives, James L. Oberstar, James Oberstar, Jim Oberstar, Minnesota, MN, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
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