House Celebrates Norman Mineta, Ignores His Ideas

Congratulations are in order for former DOT chief Norman Mineta. The House of Representatives just voted, 384 to 0, to honor his accomplishments.

Unfortunately, they still can't muster the votes to follow his urgent recommendations: that the country ramp up our investments in infrastructure, that we switch from a gas tax to a VMT fee, that we think of projects in terms of long-term economic benefit and not just short-term job creation.

We're impressed, too, by Mineta's history, from an incarcerated Japanese-American during World War Two to serving as the first Asian-American Cabinet secretary for a U.S. president (first as Commerce Secretary under Clinton, then Transportation Secretary under George W. Bush.) And now he's an advocate for big changes he says are necessary to keep this country competitive. Where's the unanimous House vote to support that?