[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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