[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 13 (Monday, February 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S802-S803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE HIGHWAY BILL

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to reiterate 
the pressing need for early Senate action on S.1173, the highway bill, 
commonly referred to as ISTEA II. The federal-aid highway program 
expired on September 30, last year. In November, Congress passed a 
short-term extension of the program, but we included in that stop-gap 
measure a deadline for enacting a new highway bill this year. And I 
remind my colleagues, the deadline of May 1 is fast approaching. The 
clock is ticking; the calendar is running. After May 1, 1998, no state 
will be able to obligate any federal highway funds unless a new highway 
bill has been signed into law by that time.
  So, Mr. President, at this point, there are exactly 40 session-days 
remaining--including today--until the clock strikes midnight on May 1 
and every state's ability to obligate federal highway funds is suddenly 
and indefinitely cut off. The longer the Senate waits to take up the 
legislation, the more likely it is that the federal-aid highway program 
will lapse and road work in many states will slow to a trickle or come 
to an abrupt halt. Unlike past delays in reauthorizing the highway 
program, the obligation of highway funds will not go forward after that 
date, if there is not new authorizing legislation enacted by Congress 
in the meantime. Mr. President, that means that unlike those past 
reauthorizations of the highway program, this year it will come at the 
height of the construction season. As a result, construction workers 
are likely to be laid off, at a time of the year that many of them 
depend upon their largest paychecks to come in to help them and their 
families.
  And these lay-offs will not be mere statistics, Mr. President. We are 
talking about the loss of real jobs for real people who have real 
families. There are thousands of road construction workers around the 
country whose jobs are in greater and greater risk each day that we 
delay action on the highway bill. We in the Congress have an obligation 
to those workers and their families, our constituents, to beat the May 
1 deadline and prevent those lay-offs and work stoppages from 
occurring.
  Let me describe just how important this highway legislation is for 
the construction industry. According to the most recent biennial report 
of the U.S. Department of Transportation on the condition and 
performance of the nation's highways, federal, state, and local 
governments combined invest approximately $39 billion annually in 
capital improvements to our roads and bridges. That is a lot of money. 
That is $39 for every minute since Jesus Christ was born. Federal funds 
account for 44% of that investment. That means, in little more than two 
months, almost half of all the funds spent on road construction in this 
country will dry up--disappear--and the results will be unfortunate for 
many who work in road construction and related industries. Construction 
laborers and employers, those who supply construction materials and 
equipment, thousands employed at engineering and design companies--
these people and their families face an uncertain future because of the 
Congress' failure to act promptly on this very important highway bill.
  Even now, the approaching May 1 deadline is having a disruptive 
impact on road construction in some states, and the disruptions will 
grow exponentially if the deadline comes and passes without enactment 
of a new highway bill. For instance, the state of Missouri has 
announced it will stop bid-lettings in April, Illinois and Ohio will 
follow suit on May 1, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation 
has told contractors that the state will delay all federally-funded 
highway projects beginning in March, when they will run out of 
available intrastate maintenance money. They will run out of resources 
from other Federal programs soon thereafter.
  So the State of Missouri will let its last Federal contract in March. 
As I have already indicated, the State of Ohio will stop bid-letting on 
or around May 1, and the State of Illinois has reported that in the 
April-to-June timeframe it will be required to defer over one-quarter 
of a billion dollars in planned Federal projects.
  As states announce delays in project bid-lettings, contractors know 
they will have more difficulty in finding work for their employees and 
making payments on their machinery and facilities. If Congress has not 
enacted a new highway bill by May 1, contractors across the country 
will have to begin laying off their employees as projects are 
completed. According to officials at the Associated General 
Contractors, most companies will not begin rehiring construction 
workers until at least a month after new legislation is enacted. 
Furthermore, companies will stop using their concrete, pipe, steel, 
cement, asphalt and guardrail suppliers and won't use them again until 
45-60 days after new legislation becomes law.

  In addition, if the federal highway program is left unfunded for a 
number of months, the employees of the construction companies will 
attempt to find employment elsewhere, I should think. They have to 
continue to put bread on that table for a wife and for children. If 
they are successful in gaining other employment, the construction 
companies will have to hire new employees, often requiring expensive 
and time-consuming job training.
  If new federal highway funds are not available after May 1, much of 
the summer construction season will be gone. If there is no new highway 
bill until September, the entire fall construction season will be lost, 
and since winter road construction is nearly impossible in many of our 
northern tier states, construction and related industries in those 
states may be out of

[[Page S803]]

work until spring, 1999. How many companies will survive the loss of 
income for that lengthy period of time, Mr. President? What effect will 
it have on the families of construction workers left unemployed because 
of our inaction, our delay on the highway bill?
  Remember, construction does not operate like an assembly line that 
can be stopped and started again on short notice. The design and 
construction of highway projects are carefully planned months in 
advance. Projects to be constructed in September generally must be 
planned early on and funded by May.
  And if our inaction on the highway bill cripples the construction 
industry, what effect will it have on the national economy?
  Mr. President, the last Census of the Construction Industry tallied 
572,851 construction companies with a total employment of 4.6 million 
persons. The industry's annual estimated payroll is $118 billion, and 
construction companies work on projects valued at approximately $528 
billion a year in the United States. Clearly, crippling the 
construction industry will have a ripple effect on our overall economy.
  The U.S. Department of Transportation has estimated that every one 
billion dollars invested in highway construction creates 42,100 jobs. 
Passing the highway legislation by May 1 will release to the states 
billions of federal highway dollars, creating and preserving hundreds 
of thousands of jobs across the country. But the clock, Mr. President, 
is ticking, and those jobs are put at greater risk with each passing 
day.
  Already, uncertainty about future highway funding is affecting the 
economy. I am told by people in the construction industry that 
contractors are putting off hiring and purchasing decisions until they 
have a clearer idea of how much federal highway funding there will be 
and when it will become available. And if highway contractors aren't 
hiring or buying, other firms aren't selling. Therefore, jobs are 
threatened in construction-related industries, too.
  With so much at stake, the Senate should delay no longer. I implore 
the leadership to call up the highway bill now. The deadline is looming 
and a lot of work lies ahead before we can send a bill to the 
President's desk for his consideration and signature. We should be 
debating the bill today while the Senate is not preoccupied with other 
matters. With only 40 session-days remaining, every day counts for 
those thousands of Americans whose livelihood depends on the 
uninterrupted flow of federal highway funds.
  Let us fulfill our responsibilities, and our obligation to those 
working Americans, without further delay. We should begin debating 
ISTEA now.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I applaud the Senator from West Virginia 
for his comments on ISTEA. I note--he may have noted this before I came 
on the floor--that the Washington Post today had an article by Eric 
Pianin speaking of the problems specifically, in the State of Vermont 
in getting this ISTEA money through. In our State--this also occurs in 
Maine and, obviously, in parts of the beautiful State of West 
Virginia--we have a very early fall and extremely late spring and heavy 
snows in between. We have a fairly short construction season.
  I hope that the majority leadership of both bodies will get this bill 
up, get it voted on, take the amendments up, vote them up, and vote 
them down to get it over with so that States--whether it is West 
Virginia, or North Dakota, or Vermont, or Arizona, or any other State 
represented by Senators now on the floor--could get on with this.
  I hate to think of the amount of money that would be wasted if this 
is delayed much longer, and then we have to scramble to get the 
contracts out. It is taxpayer dollars that get wasted where interests 
are not taken care of.
  The Senator from West Virginia has been on the floor several times 
already on this. He has certainly been diligent in meetings with other 
Senators off the floor. And I commend him for doing this. He is doing a 
service to the country.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield.
  Mr. LEAHY. Certainly.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the very distinguished senior 
Senator from Vermont for his remarks. They are both timely and 
appropriate. I deeply appreciate his contribution to this colloquy.
  Vermont, like West Virginia--and like many other States, as he has 
pointed out--has a short construction seasons, especially when we think 
of winter, and spring, fall, and winter again.
  So the time is now. And I feel greatly emboldened and encouraged by 
the comments of the distinguished Senator from Vermont. He is a 
stalwart supporter of all things that benefit his State, and the other 
States of the country.
  I thank him very much.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank my good friend from West Virginia. 
I have had the privilege of serving with him for nearly a quarter of a 
century. He, of course, has served much longer than I. I appreciate it.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to use my 
full morning business time normally allotted.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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