“Having just read the news release of my dear friend of 18 years, I have concluded that he has not read the Senate Highway Reauthorization Bill. In his five paragraph release, not one of the statements is true, not one,” said Senator Inhofe Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee. “There are no ‘tax increases’ in the senate bill. There is no ‘fuzzy math’ in the Senate bill. No other programs are ‘being robbed’ in the Senate bill. The Senate Highway bill contains no ‘pork’. That is unprecedented in the history of transportation reauthorization bills. Lastly, this is the only highway bill that sticks to a formula.”
Senator Jim Jeffords, the Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee said, “Seventy-six Senators voted for a highway bill that was not only funded at the right level, but funded in a fair and legitimate manner. There has to be a sufficient level of investment to meet our transportation needs, make our roads and bridges safer and reduce congestion. It is time to tone down the rhetoric and get to work.”
Senator Kit Bond, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure said, “This bill is the most important economic development and job-creating bill in this session of Congress. The Senate bill does not increase the federal deficit one penny and is a strong bipartisan effort to provide for our nation's transportation needs. We need to get the job done now.”
“This bill is a bipartisan legislative opportunity. It is not about election year politics,” said Senator Harry Reid, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “It is about our job as legislators to produce a bill that meets the growing transportation needs of this country. I believe the Senate bill achieves this goal.”