[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HIGHWAY FUNDING FAIRNESS ACT OF 1996

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today I proudly join with the 
distinguished ranking member of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee, Senator Baucus, to correct a serious accounting error that 
will cost my home State of Delaware millions of dollars in badly needed 
Federal highway assistance.
  Federal-aid highway funds are for the creation and maintenance of our 
Nation's interstate highways--literally the lifelines of our economy. 
The east coast's largest, most important interstate, I-95, runs through 
the northernmost part of Delaware, carrying hundreds of millions of 
tons of goods and products from Maine to Florida and beyond. Tens of 
thousands of Delawareans commute daily on I-95.
  In fact, the Delaware Department of Transportation is just now 
beginning a massive, $73 million project to repave and resurface key 
parts of I-95. This undertaking is vitally important not only to the 
people of Delaware, but to commuters and businesses across America.
  Yet, next fiscal year, Delaware--partly because of a 1994 
bureaucratic snafu--is going to receive approximately $8.2 million less 
than it received in 1996. That is an 11-percent cut.
  This will occur even though the Federal Government will spend a 
record $18 billion on Federal highway assistance--roughly $455 million 
more than the current year.
  During consideration of the Transportation Appropriations bill this 
past July, Senator Baucus successfully offered an amendment that I 
supported to correct this miscalculation and restore the needed 
funding. Yet despite the strong vote in support, and the best efforts 
of Senator Lautenberg, conferees dropped the Baucus amendment, thus 
preserving the slip-up and cutting funding to 28 States.
  Because of this fundamental unfairness, and the egregious, short-
sighted cuts in Amtrak funding, I voted against the Transportation 
Appropriations conference report.
  The legislation introduced by Senator Baucus that I am cosponsoring 
today, the Highway Funding Fairness Act of 1996, corrects the 1994 
highway fund credit mistake and gives the 28 affected States their 
rightful allocations.
  This 1994 accounting error skims the surface of the issue, however. 
The root cause of the $8 million cut in funding to Delaware is the 
skewed allocation formula put in place by the 1991 Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Efficiency Act [ISTEA], which fails to accurately 
reflect highway needs. This formula, particularly the so-called 90 
percent of payments guarantee, unfairly rewards selected States at the 
expense of smaller, less populated States, such as Delaware.
  I intend to work hard next year during consideration of the ISTEA 
reauthorization bill to correct this fundamental unfairness, and ensure 
that States, like Delaware, receive their proper share of highway 
funds.
  I hope my colleagues representing the other 27 affected States will 
seriously consider cosponsoring the Highway Funding Fairness Act of 
1996, and I commend and thank Senator Baucus for all of his 
work.

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