[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S12636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT

 Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to express my 
gratitude to the diligent work of our leaders in the Senate Environment 
and Public Works Committee especially the chairman, Senator Chafee and 
ranking member, Senator Baucus along with the chairman of the 
Transportation Subcommittee, Senator Warner in crafting a 
comprehensive, 6 year transportation bill. The bill unanimously passed 
by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee makes progress 
towards building a more equitable formula for distributing Federal 
transportation funds to the States. It is unfortunate Congress did not 
have the opportunity to debate this bill during this session of 
Congress although I look forward to building upon progress made by the 
committee when the Senate reconvenes in January.
  The law which authorizes our Federal transportation program expired 
on September 30 of this year. Thanks to the competent work of Gov. Fob 
James, and Jimmy Butts, the director at the Alabama Department of 
Transportation, and Don Vaughn, Assistant Transportation Director, I 
was alerted early on that if Congress failed to act on passing a 
transportation bill, critical transportation programs such as 
Interstate Maintenance, the National Highway System, and needed bridge 
repair throughout Alabama would cease by December. In addition, the 
Federal Department of Transportation would have been forced to shut its 
doors and transportation contractors would have been forced to lay off 
workers as Alabama and many other States curtailed or ceased awarding 
of transportation maintenance and construction contracts. To avoid this 
crisis, the Senate has enacted a short term solution to allow 
transportation projects to continue by providing additional funding and 
increased flexibility of Federal transportation funds to States.
  The temporary transportation resolution passed by the Senate on 
Tuesday will allow Alabama access to $174,469,000 for critical highway 
programs. This amount represents half the amount of Federal highway 
funds Alabama was able to spend in fiscal year 1997. In addition, the 
Alabama Department of Transportation will have the flexibility to 
transfer funds between various transportation programs so that 
planning, maintenance and expansion can continue as a comprehensive, 
long-term transportation bill is passed by Congress early next year. 
Once a new long-term transportation bill is passed, the Secretary of 
Transportation will offset each State's fiscal year 1998 funding to 
reflect the funds used by each State as a result of this extension.
  Again, I would like to personally thank and congratulate Senator Bond 
for putting this package together with our leaders of the Environment 
and Public Works Committee, Senator Chafee, Warner, and Baucus. While 
many of my colleagues and myself would have preferred a long-term 
solution to our transportation needs, this short-term extension will 
allow Alabama and all States to continue their transportation planning, 
maintenance, and construction until a new, long-term bill is negotiated 
and passed hopefully early next year.

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