[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S956-S958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE HIGHWAY BILL
Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, over one year ago the distinguished Senator
from West Virginia and I got together to talk about a real problem in
America related to highway funding. It is a problem of priorities and
it is a problem of basic honesty in Government. The problem of
priorities is that we have a crumbling transportation infrastructure in
America.
My State has 31,000 miles of highways that are substandard. We built
our farm-to-market system in the 1930s, and those roads had a life of
about 30 years. That life basically ended in 1960, yet we are still
using those roads today. Our newest highways in Texas, our Interstate
System, were built in the 1950s and 1960s, and it is approaching the
end of its life. This is not just a problem in Texas; it is a problem
all over America. That is the priority problem that Senator Byrd and I
are concerned about.
The fairness problem, the honesty problem, is that when Americans all
over the country go to the filling station and stick that nozzle in the
tank of their car or truck, and pump gas, they read right on the sign
on the gas pump, that about a third of the cost of a gallon of gasoline
is taxes, but the tax goes to build highways. The problem that Senator
Byrd and I started working on a year ago, was that that statement is
not true. In fact, since the late 1980s, we have been collecting money
in gasoline taxes and spending the money on other things. Then starting
in 1993, the diversion got as big as about 30 cents on the dollar.
Senator Byrd and I worked together last year on the tax bill where I
offered an amendment in committee to guarantee that every penny of the
gasoline tax went into the highway trust fund. We offered a sense-of-
the-Senate resolution last year on the budget saying that it is the
sense of the Senate that the money ought to go into the trust fund and
it should be spent on highways. Eighty-three Members of the Senate
voted for that amendment, and it is now the law of the land that all
gasoline taxes go into the trust fund.
What Senator Byrd and I have been working to do is guarantee that the
money is spent on highways. We are in the process now of looking at the
highway bill coming up perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Senator Byrd and I
have
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been pushing to deal with the highway bill since this session started,
so we rejoice at that, and we want to thank the majority leader for
moving ahead on this issue before current highway funds expire on May
1.
Our position in principle is simple, straightforward, and is not
going to change. And that is, we are not asking that the money that has
been diverted out of the trust fund in the past be given back to us.
While we have every right to ask for that, we are not asking for it. We
are not even asking that interest on the trust fund be spent, though it
should be. We are asking for something much less demanding. If the
American people had a vote on this, our amendment would receive an
overwhelming majority.
All we are saying is, from this day forward, the amount of new money
coming into the trust fund ought to be spent on highways. Not that it
be promised to be spent, not that there be obligations that it be spent
in the sweet by-and-by, some time between now and the second coming,
but that it actually be spent where the dollars actually go to the
States and where the States actually pour the concrete and lay the
asphalt. That is our position, and we are in the process now of trying
to work out an agreement. That is how the democratic process works.
But today we want to thank the 53 cosponsors we have. We would like
to have more. If Members have not signed on, we could be on this bill
tomorrow and you have one more opportunity to have your name on this
list. When you get to the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter will look down at
this bill and see your name on it as a cosponsor if you sign on today.
As of tomorrow, it will be too late.
I think if the Lord struck Ananias dead, in the Book of Acts, for
claiming he was selling his worldly goods and giving them to the
church--not only struck him dead but also struck Sapphira, his wife,
dead, too--then maybe there are Members who will want their names on
this list. We are going to tell the American people the truth, that if
they pay gasoline taxes, that those gasoline taxes are going to be used
for the purpose of building highways, and only to build highways.
So we are grateful for the 53 cosponsors we have, but we would like
to have more. We have one more day. We hope there will be an agreement.
But if there is not an agreement, we are going to be fighting for this
principle. I believe we are going to be fighting successfully. The
principle is, when you tell people the money is going into the trust
fund to be spent on highways, do not spend it on anything else; spend
it on highways. It is a simple principle and one we think people
understand. The most important principles are simple principles.
So I thank Senator Byrd for his leadership. I thank him for giving me
this opportunity to speak before he did. Thank you.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Texas.
Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia, of the
original 20-minute grant, has 15 minutes remaining.
Mr. BYRD. I had 20 minutes originally out of the order that was
previously entered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
Mr. BYRD. But I also asked that 10 minutes I will have on the veto
override be included. And so that will be 10 minutes off my time in
that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has up to 25 minutes.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, let me echo the sentiments that have been expressed by
my friend from Texas. We want to see this 4.3-cent gas tax that the
American people are paying every time they drive up to the pump--they
pay 4.3 cents, which, added to the previous taxes, amounts to 18.3
cents on the gallon.
Now, of course, some of that goes for mass transit, but of the 4.3
cents, 3.45 cents on each gallon goes to the highway trust fund for
highways, and .85 cents goes to the trust fund for mass transit, am I
correct on that? My colleague nods in the affirmative.
Now, Mr. President, I have been on this floor each day urging that
the leadership take up the highway bill. I compliment the majority
leader on his indications that he intends to take up the highway bill,
perhaps as early as tomorrow. That would still be his judgment to make.
I also compliment the distinguished majority leader for having some of
the principals in his office this morning to discuss this matter so
that, hopefully, we can arrive at some conclusions and agreements which
will pave the way for expeditious action on the floor in connection
with the highway bill when it is taken up. The majority leader did a
worthwhile service when he did that.
The majority leader also stressed that this was nonpartisan, and it
is. This is not a Republican bill. It is not a Democratic bill.
So for the first time, this morning we sat down to discuss this
matter and we had the chairman of the Environment and Public Works
Committee, Mr. Chafee, the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr.
Domenici, the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works
Committee, Mr. Baucus, we had Senators Gramm, D'Amato, Warner, and
myself. We had these Senators together in the room.
Now, Mr. President, I have been reading almost daily--and even this
morning before I went to that meeting--that there is a deal. There is
no deal. I have been reading little headlines and statements in various
publications to the effect that a deal is near. Well, we don't know
about that. This is the first time that I have sat down with the
principals to discuss this matter. I have talked about it with my
friend from Texas, Mr. Gramm, and with the other two cosponsors of the
amendment, Mr. Baucus and Mr. Warner, but there is no deal, not yet. We
all hope that we will reach a point where we can hold each other's hand
and say we, as principals in this effort, have agreed to thus and so,
and then we will come to the floor and see where we go from there.
I should state at the very beginning, again, that the Byrd-Gramm-
Baucus-Warner amendment provides for every State in the United States
to have an increase in their highway contract authority--every State,
am I not correct on that?
Mr. GRAMM. Yes.
Mr. BYRD. So as far as our amendment is concerned, all States
benefit--not just West Virginia, not just Texas, not just Montana, not
just Virginia--but that will be discussed at another point. I just want
to stress that again.
Mr. GRAMM. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. BYRD. I am happy to yield to the Senator.
Mr. GRAMM. Not only does our amendment provide that every State would
have an increase, but the amount is roughly 25 percent. By requiring
the Government to live up to the commitment it makes when it collects
the tax, to spend the appropriate share on highways, what our amendment
would do in essence is guarantee that every State in the Union relative
to the bill as it now is written would get approximately 25 percent
more.
Mr. BYRD. Exactly.
Mr. GRAMM. That is the difference it makes if you don't divert the
gasoline tax to other uses; but you, instead, spend it for the purpose
that it is collected.
Mr. BYRD. Absolutely.
Mr. GRAMM. I thank the Senator.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the distinguished Senator.
Until we brought out our amendment there was no other game in town,
no game in town, for increasing highway spending in the States over
what was in the reported bill. I had various Senators come to me and
say, ``We need more money.'' I'm not the chairman of any committee at
this point, but I said why not spend this money that the American
people are putting into the highway trust fund? So I came forward with
the amendment to do that, together with Senators Gramm, Baucus, and
Warner.
Each time citizens go to the gas tank, as gasoline comes out of that
nozzle and goes into the tank, the American people see a little
cylinder that turns round and round. They should also, in their mind's
eye, not only see the gasoline coming out of that nozzle into their
tank, they should also see the money which they are paying as an
additional tax on gasoline go into that trust fund. As they watch that
cylinder, let them think in those terms--there is money going into that
trust fund, and they have been told,
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there are some who don't like to admit this, but they have been told
that this money will be spent on highways. Now, that can be discussed
because there was a period when they were not told about a particular
portion of that money, the 4.3 cents, there was a brief period when
that was not going into the trust fund for highways.
Because of the action by the distinguished Senator from Texas, Mr.
Gramm, and the Finance Committee, that money, the 4.3 cent tax, is not
going into the highway trust fund but it is just sitting there. We are
saying in our amendment, let's spend it, because the American people
think that is what they are getting when they go to the gas tank. Don't
let anybody tell you they don't think that.
I was in this Congress in 1956--I was in Congress before that--but in
1956 we created a highway trust fund. That was during the Eisenhower
administration. It was during his administration that his great and
good idea concerning an interstate highway system came into being. In
order to fund that highway system, Congress created a trust fund. The
people were told that the moneys that they were putting into that trust
fund in 1956 would go for highways, and they have been under that
impression for 42 years, except for a couple of years, perhaps,
beginning in 1993 or some such.
Mr. President, the people ought to have faith in their Government and
that is what this amendment is all about, a faith-in-Government
amendment. Build highways. And the Department of Transportation tells
us that only 39 percent of the highway systems throughout this great
country stretching from the Atlantic to the western waters and from the
border of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico can be considered in good
condition.
The highways are rapidly deteriorating. So are the bridges. We have
over 580,000 bridges and 180,000 of them are either structurally
deficient or functionally obsolete. The American people want to see
their highways and their bridges built back up. We talk a lot about
child care. We see people spending their time in the long lines because
of congestion. They ought to be home taking care of the children who
have just come in from school. They have to have good highways in order
to do that. It took me an hour and 15 minutes to get from my house, 10
miles away, to my office yesterday morning. What are we talking about?
What are we kidding the people about? That is our purpose.
Now, I hope, as do my colleagues, that we can reach an agreement
among the principals. I am encouraged by this morning's meeting, very
much encouraged, by the attitudes and presentations of all who were
there. I want to express my compliments and my thanks, again, to the
majority leader and to the chairmen of the committees who were there,
Mr. Domenici, Mr. Chafee, and to the ranking members who were there.
Everyone participated.
Mr. President, I hope we will be able to continue these discussions.
The majority leader is going to ask us to come back tomorrow, and in
the meantime we will be talking. But there is no deal, and I hope
people will debunk some of such wishful thinking from their minds. We
have yet to see where we are going to go and how we are going to get
there. We are making progress but we are not there yet.
Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 13 minutes and 50 seconds
remaining.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I see Mr. Warner has come on the floor.
Would he like any time at this point? Our friend, Mr. Gramm, and I have
been discussing this highway bill. I think the Senator who has just
walked on the floor would be pleased with what we said.
Mr. WARNER. I was not able to be here when our distinguished
colleague from West Virginia spoke, but I am sure the Senator got the
assurance of our colleagues to work this problem out, together with the
Republican leader, and I am sure, shortly, the Democrat leader, will
likewise join. I think it is in the interests of the Senate that this
legislation move. That was very definitely Senator Lott's principal
motivation to try and assemble this meeting today. We would not have
reached this meeting today had it not been for the leadership shown by
the distinguished Senator from West Virginia and the senior Senator
from Texas.
Here we go. Let's hope for the best.
Mr. BYRD. I thank my friend from Virginia, Mr. Warner, who has been a
participant in this matter from the beginning. I am sure he will agree
that until he and Senator Gramm and Senator Baucus and I came up with
this amendment, the Byrd-Gramm-Baucus-Warner amendment, until we came
up with that amendment, there wasn't any idea as to how we were going
to get more money above the reported bill for the States. It is only
because our amendment was prepared and 53 cosponsors are on it today,
that any of the States have real prospects for getting more money for
highways.
Is that an accurate statement?
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I say to my distinguished colleague, you
will recall Senator Baucus and I had an amendment early on in this
procedure. It failed, by my recollection, by one single vote. I believe
the distinguished Senator from West Virginia joined in our amendment
urging the Senate for a greater allocation of spending.
I do believe, however, there is considerable momentum not only within
the 53 Senators who have joined in this Byrd amendment but other
Senators who are hearing from their respective highway constituencies,
and that is not just the road builders, that is the citizens that use
the highways.
As the distinguished Senator from West Virginia pointed out in our
meeting with the majority leader this morning, there is one-third
growth in the use of highway structure, which in and of itself is
perhaps only one-third to 40 percent in top shape. So it is essential
for America that this is truly a bipartisan effort, for America to move
ahead to improve its infrastructure transportation.
I thank the distinguished Senator.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I just close by thanking the people out in
the country who have shown great interest in this amendment, who have
discussed it, Senators in their home States with the people, and people
who are in the construction business, people who are in the highway
construction business, people who are in the cement-asphalt business,
other related industries that see the imperativeness of having this
highway bill called up, acted on, in time, that it can be acted on in
the House, in time, that both Houses can go to conference, in time,
that we hopefully can get a signature on the bill by May 1. I thank
those groups, as well.
How much time do I have remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 9 minutes and 35 seconds
remaining.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I will yield back that time. Before I do, I
thank all Senators for listening. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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