Interview With Transportation Secretary Mary Peters
JOE JOHNS, HOST: It's 11:00 a.m. in Washington, 8:00 a.m. in Los Angeles and 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you are -- you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us for "Late Edition." I'm Joe Johns, in this week in for Wolf Blitzer. Later this hour, we'll go to Utah to get the latest news on the rescue effort to find the six trapped miners. But first, teams investigating the Minnesota bridge collapse are hoping a new aerial image of the structure just before it fell might help them learn what happened. For his part, President Bush is promising the federal government's help in rebuilding the bridge as quickly as possible. But there are still many questions about how safe the U.S. transportation infrastructure really is. Joining us is Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. She's just back from her third trip to Minnesota since the bridge collapse. Welcome. Thanks for coming in.</s>MARY PETERS, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Thank you, Joe.</s>JOHNS: Update us on the investigation, if you will. Where do we stand? What do we know?</s>PETERS: Well, we don't know yet what caused the collapse, Joe. I had the opportunity when I was in Minneapolis on Friday to meet with the NTSB team. And they are still looking at a variety of things, but we just don't know yet what happened, what caused that bridge to collapse.</s>JOHNS: Are there any assumption we can make? Are there things we can rule out, things we can rule in, as far as you know?</s>PETERS: Well, the investigators don't want any of us to jump to conclusions prematurely without really understanding what the cause is. I have issued two advisories since the collapse occurred based on discussions that I've had with the NTSB inspectors. One of those was to inspect similar bridges to this type. And then the second advisory was to look very carefully at the placement of construction materials and equipment when bridges are under construction. Those are the things that we know today. I think as this investigation proceeds, the sympathy that goes out to the families who lost loved ones or those who were injured, and just the incredible team of first responders and Navy divers that are on the scene there, that will all help us find out what happened.</s>JOHNS: So it's really possible then, that one of the things you're looking at is whether there was too much weight on the bridge at the time it collapsed simply from the construction vehicles and equipment?</s>PETERS: That's correct. That's one of the things we are looking at. And that's why the aerial photograph that you mentioned earlier was so important to the NTSB inspectors because that lets them know the placement just shortly before the actual collapse occurred.</s>JOHNS: But my guess is there would be regulations that guide how much equipment you can have on a bridge when you're doing repairs. Yes, no?</s>PETERS: Joe, most definitely, yes. And in fact, before construction projects start, the whole issue of load factors, how much weight is going to be on the bridge, what's the placement, all of those things should be examined before a construction project ever starts.</s>JOHNS: Of course, this has brought up that larger issue of infrastructure across the United States. I can show you a graphic now. It talks about structurally deficient bridges, a fancy way really of saying bridge in need of repair. More than 73,000, almost 74,000 nationwide, 300 million vehicles per day, repair would cost $188 billion with a B -- where do you start to find that kind of money?</s>PETERS: Well, Joe, I think the best way for all of us to start is to look at how and where we're spending money today, and are we spending that money on the right priorities? That's going to be very important. Transportation funding -- surface transportation -- has doubled since 1991. But even with that massive influx of funding, we've seen some moderate improvements in the condition of our infrastructure, but we've seen a big degradation of how that infrastructure operates during that time.</s>JOHNS: The president talked this week about Congress reexamining its priorities when it comes to improving the infrastructure around the country. But the fact is, he did sign the highways bill the last time it came around.</s>PETERS: Oh, he certainly did. We did. But I think we've learned a lot since then about how we need to set our priorities. You know, most Americans, Joe, when they go pump gas in their car would be astonished to know that only about 60 percent of that funding actually goes to construction, maintenance and operation of infrastructure. And some of it is being either earmarked or put into special programs -- for example, to public art programs, to look at building underpasses for animals, restoring lighthouses and museums. I just don't think Americans expect that's where their dollars are going.</s>JOHNS: According to some of the numbers I've seen, right now we are not quite paying enough to properly maintain all the bridges as they are, let alone fix them up. Is that true?</s>PETERS: Well, again, it's not so much how much money are we spending, but are we spending that money in the right places? And I think that's the very important discussion that we have to have with Congress in the ensuing months. Are we prioritizing correctly? Are we putting that money where it best preserves the assets that our national transportation system are?</s>JOHNS: This is one of those issues that has really caught the attention of the public. We have a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll numbers that show -- people were asked if they were worried that a bridge somewhere in the U.S. might collapse. The answer was yes, 52 percent versus no, 47 percent. So the American public is certainly paying attention to this thing. But it's not just bridges. It's also issues of roads and other infrastructure around the country. And the bottom line question some Democrats are even suggesting, "Look, we're going to have to raise taxes." I think Jim Oberstar last week talking about a bridge trust fund. Do you see raising taxes in the stars, perhaps, not even under Mr. Bush who said no?</s>PETERS: You know, in my family if we have a new expense, we look at where we are spending money today and decide if that's the best way to spend it. And I think we owe it to the American people before we ask them to dig into their pockets and businesses to pay more taxes, what are we doing with the money that we're collecting today and are we using that in the best measure possible? Are we prioritizing that correctly? And that's the question that we first have to answer before we talk about putting additional burden on America's families and America's businesses.</s>JOHNS: The unspoken word here, of course, is congressional earmarks.</s>PETERS: Ah.</s>JOHNS: Oftentimes people say the congressional earmarks that each member of Congress gets actually takes away from the money that can go to the states for things like maintenance, not necessarily flashy. But I have to ask you this: We heard so much in the last year, year-and-a-half about the bridges to nowhere in Alaska, to become that's part of the American conversation now. Do you think that the talk about bridges to nowhere in Alaska has sort of put a pall over the issue of infrastructure and government spending money to do these kinds of things?</s>PETERS: Well, certainly, it's caused a lack of confidence in the American public. And I think your poll demonstrates that. Even though they have concerns, they are not in support of increasing gas taxes. You now, the bridge of nowhere is just the tip of the iceberg. There were over 6,000 earmarks valued at $24 billion. Almost 10 percent of the whole program were marked in build some of these things that I talked about -- restoring lighthouses, museums, public art, things that just really don't help protect our infrastructure.</s>JOHNS: And there is the issue, of course, of getting things done in government. We here at CNN have talked a lot about broken government, if you will. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in fact, also addressed that issue earlier this week. Let's roll that sound bite.</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: The fact is there is a real parallel between the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis and the collapse of the levees in New Orleans. Bureaucratic government does not work. It is collapsing all around you.</s>JOHNS: Newt Gingrich has a way of saying things, a real way with words. Do you think that's an overstatement or about right?</s>PETERS: No, I think he's got it about right. I think that when the public has entrusted their funds, as they have, and they have been misspent, as they have, across a broad spectrum, it's a lack of investor confidence, Joe, is what I call it. People aren't at all confident that if they pay more, things will be done differently. And that's why we really have to change the way that we both fund and administer the funds for infrastructure, including giving the private sector more opportunities to come in.</s>JOHNS: It has been a long time though, hasn't it, since the gas tax was increased?</s>PETERS: 1993 was the last time the gas tax was raised.</s>JOHNS: And the president is just adamantly against raising any taxes?</s>PETERS: What the president has said and what I'm saying as well is, before we place an additional burden on American families and businesses, let's very closely examine where we're spending money today and perhaps stop spending it in some ways that really aren't helping resolve infrastructure issues in the</s>U.S. JOHNS: Is this bridge going to sort of change things in America, this bridge in Minnesota? Is this a sort of new day, a time for the entire country to really reexamine the issue of infrastructure? Because it hasn't been that sexy to the American public so far. They ride across the bridges, but they don't think about the bridges until something bad happens.</s>PETERS: Yeah, Joe, I've often said that I've never see a politician getting misty-eyed cutting a ribbon on a maintenance project. Most of them don't want to do those. But I think the bridge collapse, this terrible tragedy -- and our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers continue to be with those in Minnesota -- is keying up a very, very important discussion that we need to have about infrastructure in the United States.</s>JOHNS: Madam Secretary, I want to thank you so much for coming in and talking to us on this Sunday morning.</s>PETERS: Thank you, Joe.</s>JOHNS: Just ahead, Mitt Romney won the Iowa straw poll this weekend. But will it matter to voters when Rudy Giuliani and John McCain weren't even there? We'll talk to top advisers from all three campaigns when we come back. Stay with "Late Edition."