[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 18 (Monday, March 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1189-S1193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTERMODAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY ACT OF 1997

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
resume consideration of S. 1173.
  The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1173) to authorize funds for the construction of 
     highways, for highway safety programs, and for mass transit 
     programs, and for other purposes.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the bill with a modified 
committee amendment in the nature of a substitute (Amendment No. 1676).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, this as you know is the so-called surface 
transportation legislation, sometimes called the highway bill, 
sometimes called ISTEA II. We are ready to do business here. Anybody 
who has amendments I hope will come over and present them. We are ready 
to take them up. There is no waiting. There is plenty of opportunity. 
So I hope those within listening distance will heed this very kind 
invitation to please report for duty.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further 
proceedings under the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. GRAMM. Let me ask Senator Chafee a question. Did Senator Chafee 
want to outline the agreement we have reached?
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor this 
afternoon to talk about an agreement that has been reached with regard 
to the highway bill, to talk about where we are and what the highway 
bill is going to look like, and, obviously as each of us will do, I 
want to talk about the impact on my own State of this very important 
agreement.
  Let me give people a little history to sort of define how we came to 
the moment of reaching this agreement. First of all, last year in the 
tax bill I offered an amendment to take the 4.3-cent-per-gallon tax on 
gasoline that had, under the 1991 budget agreement, gone into general 
revenue and been spent. It was the first tax on gasoline since we had 
the Highway Trust Fund that went to general Government. What my 
amendment in the tax bill last year did was it took that 4.3-cent-per-
gallon tax on gasoline and took the money away from general revenue and 
put it back into the trust fund where it belonged.
  All over America, when Americans go to the gas pump and put that 
nozzle into their tank and pump gas, right on the gasoline pump it says 
there is bad news and there is good news. The bad news is that roughly 
a third of the price of a gallon of gasoline is taxes; the good news is 
that the money goes to build roads. The only problem is, prior to today 
the good news was not true. Between 25 cents and 30 cents out of every 
dollar of gasoline taxes was being siphoned off to spend on things 
other than roads. We have reached an agreement today that will, over 
the next 6 years, end that process. We have reached an agreement today 
that will guarantee that over the next 6 years every penny collected in 
the 4.3-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline will go to build roads and only 
to build roads. What that will mean is that we will raise the total 
level of spending in the bill that is before the Senate, in terms of 
committed obligations, by $26 billion.
  For people who are trying to figure out what that means to them and 
their State, let me give you a couple of numbers. That will mean that 
over this 6-year highway bill, we will spend on roads roughly 45 
percent more than we spent in ISTEA, our previous highway bill. For my 
State, because of the leadership of the chairman of this committee, 
Senator Chafee, in trying to eliminate the unfairness to donor States, 
when you combine the new funds that are available with the fact that 
under the Chafee bill donor States will receive a minimum of 91 cents 
out of every dollar they send to Washington in gasoline tax back to 
their States, what it will mean is that my State will, under the new 
bill, receive 54 percent more funding than it received under the last 
bill.
  That, in Texas, will mean an opportunity to rebuild our crumbling 
highway system. We have 31,000 miles of substandard highways. We have 
tens of thousands of substandard bridges. That 54 percent increase in 
funding for Texas will mean our ability to improve our highways. It 
will mean that thousands of people who are dying because of poor roads 
won't die. It will mean an improved infrastructure that will mean more 
jobs, more growth, more opportunity all over the country. It will mean 
that people will spend less time in traffic and, obviously, have the 
opportunity to spend more time at work or more time with their families 
or more time doing what they choose to do.

[[Page S1190]]

  So, I believe that this is a major step forward. It is a step forward 
in terms of building roads. It is a step forward in people seeing the 
Government do what they believed it has committed to do. Now that we 
have all the gasoline taxes going into the highway trust fund, we will, 
under this bill, for the first time, be in a position to say to people 
that every penny we are collecting in gasoline taxes under this bill 
will be spent on highways; that money will not be siphoned off to pay 
for other programs; that we will not use the trust fund as a slush fund 
for other forms of Government spending; and that when Americans pay 
gasoline taxes, the bad news is, a third of the cost of a gallon of 
gasoline in America is taxes, but the good news will be that, for the 
first time in a long time, every penny of those taxes will end up being 
spent on roads. I believe that is a very good piece of news.
  Finally, let me say there is one additional piece of good news that I 
think every Member should understand, and that is this agreement does 
not bust the budget. We have agreed to use the gasoline tax to fund 
highways and only to fund highways for that portion that goes to roads. 
And we have agreed that in writing a budget, we will offset this dollar 
for dollar, so that we will not bust the spending cap.
  I hope that the House will decide to do it this way as well and that 
we will have an opportunity to use gasoline taxes, that portion that 
goes to highway construction in the highway trust fund, for roads and 
only for roads.
  So I thank the majority leader. I thank Senator Chafee, Senator 
Baucus and Senator Warner. I thank Senator Byrd for his leadership. I 
believe that this amendment, which is now scheduled to come up 
tomorrow, will be adopted by an overwhelming vote. I believe, based on 
that vote, that 85 or 90 percent of the pending amendments will go 
away. I believe it will put us on the road to passing a highway bill 
that will benefit everybody in America, and we are doing it the way 
families make decisions about priorities. We are doing it by deciding 
that this is a high priority.
  We collected the tax for the purpose of building roads, and we are 
going to build roads with those taxes, and we are going to pay for it 
by not spending as much on other things. It seems to me that this is a 
rare example of Government really working the way people believe it 
should. I congratulate everyone involved. I yield the floor.
  Mr. CHAFEE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I congratulate the Senator from Texas 
for his hard work in connection with this highway legislation. He was 
right when he said that it was his efforts that brought what was 
considered the 4.3-cent gasoline tax, that then went in the general 
fund, into the highway trust fund.
  I have to confess that I was not an enthusiastic supporter of that 
effort, but I can certainly see the rationale behind it. The Senator 
had the votes and, as I recall, won that vote rather overwhelmingly.
  The Senator has been intensely interested in the situation that not 
only affects his State but a series of States leading to the border, 
the additional traffic that has been generated by a program I was for, 
he was for and that I believe has been a great benefit overall for our 
country but has been very difficult on his State and some of the 
neighboring States, and that is the so-called NAFTA truckloads, where 
these trucks are rumbling down into Mexico and from Mexico up into the 
United States carrying goods, which was the whole objective of what we 
sought when we passed the North American Free Trade Agreement.
  The distinguished senior Senator from Texas has worked very hard to 
provide some extra money to take care of those roads that are taking an 
incredible pounding from the NAFTA trucks. In the agreement that we 
have reached, we have provided, as a result of the pressing of the 
Senator from Texas, some $450 million, which we will be presenting to 
the committee tomorrow, and it is my hope and belief that the committee 
will approve that additional money.
  I tip my hat to the Senator from Texas. He is a veritable bulldog in 
connection with these matters. When he and the senior Senator from West 
Virginia team up, it is a formidable aggregation. I salute both of 
them. As a matter of fact, they came away with everything they sought. 
But in the agreement that we reached, they made some concessions to 
other programs that they might not have been too enthusiastic about. So 
the whole thing was a compromise. All of us had to give, and I think 
the result is a good one for our country.
  What will happen next, Madam President? I and the distinguished 
ranking member of the Environment Committee will take this to our 
committee tomorrow. We are both for it. We will be salesmen for it. We 
are not just messengers; we are salesmen for this program. The staffs 
have met and appear to be enthusiastic about what we are undertaking 
here. We look forward to our meeting tomorrow. If all goes well, we 
could report it out, and then I believe that we cannot bring up 
financial matters until Wednesday, that is, amendments that deal with 
financial matters to this bill. But that can be changed, and we can, 
hopefully, bring up this amendment that the Senator from Texas was 
discussing.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, will the distinguished Senator yield or if I 
may have some time?
  Mr. CHAFEE. Yes. Yes, I yield the floor, Madam President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, we have completed today what I consider to 
be one of the most remarkable group of meetings that I have 
participated in during my nearly 40 years in the Senate. Those meetings 
were called by the distinguished majority leader, Mr. Lott.
  What brought us to the meetings were these circumstances: A 6-year 
highway authorization bill had been reported to the floor. Numerous 
Senators came to me and said to me, ``Senator, we need more money.'' I 
am not on the Environment and Public Works Committee. I am not on the 
Budget Committee. So I suppose I am a player who, in a way, has just 
come in from the outside.
  But working with the distinguished Senator from Texas, Mr. Gramm, 
whose amendment in the Finance Committee last year effected the 
transfer of the 4.3-cent gas tax into the highway trust fund, he and I 
and Senator Baucus and Senator Warner joined together in an amendment 
which would have provided $30.9 billion in additional contract 
authority for highways and bridges. Am I correct?
  It was our desire to see this money that was building up in the 
highway trust fund spent on highways and bridges. Now, of the 4.3-cent 
gas tax that goes into the highway trust fund, 3.45 cents is intended 
to go for highways and bridges and 0.85 cents goes for mass transit.
  Senators Gramm, Baucus, Warner, and I worked hard last fall in an 
effort to get cosponsors of our amendment. As a final result, we got 50 
other cosponsors which, added to the four of us, made a total of 54 
cosponsors of the amendment. And we had a good many Senators who told 
each of us that they would vote for the amendment even though they 
would not cosponsor it, if and when it came to a vote.
  The majority leader then made the highway bill the pending business, 
and called certain Senators to meetings in his office, and we have had 
several such meetings. The participants have been the majority leader, 
Mr. Domenici, Mr. Gramm, Mr. Warner, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Baucus, and 
myself. On at least one occasion, Mr. D'Amato was included.
  In any event, those were difficult meetings. In the final analysis, 
everybody sacrificed something. In the end, we agreed to increase the 
amount in the bill $26 billion for highways. I ask my colleagues, am I 
correct?
  Mr. GRAMM. Twenty-six.
  Mr. BYRD. Twenty-six. All right. I thank from the bottom of my heart 
my friend, that old crusty New Englander who wins our admiration and 
respect, Mr. Chafee. He and I have gone round and round about this, but 
in the final analysis, we have joined hands. So, the people of 
Appalachia, who constitute 22 million people in 399 counties of 13 
States--those people who have been promised these corridors now for 32 
years--can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, because what we 
have agreed to here will be the $300 million that is already in the 
reported highway

[[Page S1191]]

bill, plus $1.89 billion, which will be added according to our 
agreement, thus making a total of $2.19 billion, which conforms to the 
President's request.
  For the entire cycle 1998-2003, then, there will be $2.19 billion for 
Appalachian highways. That is not going to be earmarked money. That 
money is going to those 13 States on the basis of the Appalachian 
highway mileage that remains to be constructed and considering the 
costs of completion. Throughout the region, of the total Appalachian 
development highway system, 78 percent of the system has been completed 
or is under construction.
  Beside and beyond the Appalachian portion, this agreement will 
benefit every State in the Union in terms of additional dollars for 
highways. I believe I am making a correct statement. The distinguished 
Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Chafee, is nodding his head in the 
affirmative.
  Let me close by thanking him again and by thanking the majority 
leader, by thanking Mr. Gramm of Texas, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Warner, and Mr. 
Domenici. It has been a beautiful exercise in give and take and finally 
coming to a consensus and shaking hands and saying, ``We are going to 
stand by this agreement.''
  I thank all Senators, and I thank the Chair.
  Mr. CHAFEE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island is recognized.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I salute the distinguished senior 
Senator from West Virginia for the tremendous work he did in connection 
with this, not only just the Appalachian regional highway portion of 
this bill but the overall bill.
  As the Senator mentioned, he was in on all the negotiations and 
pressed forward to conclusion. He outlined vigorously the needs of, and 
I don't want to say just West Virginia, because West Virginia is just 
part of the Appalachian region, he stressed the needs for all the 
Appalachian regional area and prevailed. I salute him for the work he 
did.
  If he can fit it in, I would like to be asked down to the dedication 
of one of those roads. I have never seen them, to tell you the truth. I 
think I will go down and take a look. I have heard about them.

  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. CHAFEE. Yes.
  Mr. BYRD. He will receive an invitation.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Thank you. Thank you.
  If it is anything like when we used to build roads at home when I was 
Governor, we would have a ribbon-cutting about every 2 miles of road we 
built. In any event, I look forward to it. And I salute the 
distinguished Senator with whom I have had such pleasure serving in the 
Senate ever since I came here. He had been here long before I ever got 
here. It has been one of the real treats of my experience in the Senate 
to have served with Senator Byrd.
  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I thank my friend.
  Mr. BAUCUS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I can only but add to the remarks that have already been 
given, first, on the substance of the agreement and, second, in my 
thanks to all the Senators who have participated so intensely, so 
vigorously in the last week, or so.
  The amendment that has been agreed to, first, is a significant 
amendment. It is an increase of about $26 billion in contract authority 
over 6 years, from $145 billion to about $171 billion for highway 
programs, plus about $2 billion for safety programs. So the agreement 
is very significant. It increases highway spending by roughly 20 
percent over the committee-reported bill.
  Now, the actual spending by the States, that is, the outlays, may be 
a little less than that. I hope not, but that amount is up to the 
Budget Committees and the Appropriations Committees.
  Where did we come up with this money? Well, it started with Senator 
Gramm's amendment last year, which transferred the 4.3-cent gasoline 
tax to the highway trust fund. That solved the first problem, namely 
putting that revenue in the Highway Trust Fund. But the second problem 
was that the Environment and Public Works Committee, which has 
jurisdiction over highways, could not increase the contract authority 
in order to spend that 4.3 cents without an agreement on the budget.
  I am pleased that the agreement we reached today allows most of the 
4.3 cents, namely the 3.45 cents that goes to the highway account, to 
be spent on highways. So the agreement provides for an increase from 
$145 billion in contract authority in the committee bill, to $171 
billion. There is an additional $2 billion that goes to safety programs 
under the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee, for a total increase 
of $173 billion.
  This agreement is fair to all regions of the country. I know a lot of 
Senators were thinking, ``What are those Senators doing in Senator 
Lott's office? What have they agreed to? Aren't they just taking care 
of their own States? And are they being fair to us, too?'' The fact is 
that Senator Chafee and I made an extra effort since the committee 
reported the bill out last fall, to talk to Senators who have had 
specific concerns with the bill--and meritorious concerns, I might add. 
This agreement, which will be incorporated into a committee amendment 
tomorrow, by and large, addresses those concerns.
  Now, I cannot say it totally accommodates everybody. No amendment on 
highways can totally accommodate everybody. In fact, among the group 
that have been working on this agreement--Senator Gramm; myself; 
Senator Byrd; the leader; the chairman of our committee, Senator 
Chafee, certainly; and Senator Warner--each of us would have fashioned 
this agreement a little bit differently if left to our own devices. But 
when the Senators see what is in the amendment and reflect on it and on 
the competing interests of other Senators, I daresay they are going to 
realize that this is fair. I would like to also add what this agreement 
will mean to the economy. It will give it a big boost. The Department 
of Transportation statistics indicate that for every billion dollars in 
additional highway spending, there are 42,000 more jobs in America--a 
billion dollars equal 42,000 jobs. That is in addition to the benefits 
derived from relieving congestion and helping America's competitive 
place in the world with better transportation systems. Furthermore, 
there is investment in intelligent transportation systems, new 
technologies which are going to further improve our transportation 
capabilities.

  Let me add too that this agreement is within the budget. It is very 
important that this increase be within the budget, within budget caps. 
And I say that, Madam President, because this morning one of the 
newspapers had a headline, page 1, saying, in effect, ``Uh-oh, there 
goes Congress again. It is going to bust the budget.''
  I appreciate the concern about busting the budget. I think all of us 
in the Senate do not want to break the budget caps or the provisions 
and the amounts that are in the budget. This amendment is consistent 
with the budget. We do not break the budget. It is true there is an 
increase in highway dollars as a consequence of this amendment, but it 
is also true that we are within the budget.
  Senator Domenici, the very able chairman of the Budget Committee was 
very clear: We have to live within the budget. And we do.
  I have the highest regard for him. He is a tough fighter. He is a 
very intelligent opponent. In fact, I learned a lot, Madam President, 
watching Senator Domenici, Senator Gramm, Senator Byrd, and Senator 
Chafee. And what I learned is not only how tough and intelligent and 
fair-minded they are, but how committed they are to the legislative 
process. At the end of the meeting we all said, ``Hey, this is within 
the ballpark. It may not be perfect. Each of us would probably prefer 
to do it a little differently. But it's a good outcome for all.''
  I am, frankly, very honored to be a part of the process. I will not 
belabor the point, but Winston Churchill once said that--and let me 
paraphrase here, Democracy, with all of its delays and inefficiencies 
and faint starts, is absolutely the worst form of government, except 
there's none better.
  I think that the meetings we have been having over the last week or 
so are a good example of that. And I only hope now that we can get this 
adopted,

[[Page S1192]]

finish with the highway bill, get on to conference, and, most 
importantly, put it on the President's desk so that all of our work 
will come to fruition.
  I thank all Senators.
  Mr. CAMPBELL addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado is recognized.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Did the Senator yield?
  Mr. BAUCUS. Yes.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 7 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DOMENICI. Reserving the right to object, I ask the Senator, could 
I speak for 2 minutes on this bill? I was part of the negotiating.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. I will be glad to yield.
  Mr. DOMENICI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Thank you, Madam President.
  We have reached, to the extent that the budget chairman could have 
some kind of influence, agreement on making sure that we fund this new 
4.3 cents, which Senator Gramm last year had moved from the general 
fund to the trust fund for highways. My role was to make sure that we 
did not spend any more than the 4.3 cents portion of that which goes to 
the highway programs of this country.
  You would be surprised what differing opinions there were about what 
is the right dollar number, because there are different versions of 
what one was trying to do with the Byrd-Gramm bill and what Senator 
Chafee was trying to do with his bill and what I was trying to 
advocate.
  But let me say to the Senators--some of whom have not gone on the 
Byrd-Gramm bill because they were wondering what its impact on the 
budget would be--I cannot say it will not have any impact, because if I 
showed up here and said that, knowing what I know about the budget, I 
would be laughed off the Senate floor, because it is a substantial 
addition to the trust fund, which would not have been there had Senator 
Gramm not moved that 4.3 cents from the general fund, where it was 
being used before for deficit reduction as part of President Clinton's 
first budget, and there would not be this additional money.
  So I had a difficult problem with it. And some Senators were waiting 
for me to suggest that we would not have to break the caps, that is, 
the agreed upon annual expenditure levels written into law for the next 
5 years which, as I will repeat over and over on this floor, are dollar 
numbers. And that is not a process. That means we have written into 
statute, law, how much we can spend in appropriated expenditures--the 
13 bills we do plus the highway bill and a few other things. That is 
the total amount each year. If you spend more than that, then all of 
Government gets an across-the-board sequester cut.
  We did our best to arrive at, what is the number. I think it is fair 
to say that it was somewhere between a total of $171 billion and $174 
billion or $175 billion; and then we settled on $173 billion. That is a 
pretty fair number from the standpoint of asking the Congressional 
Budget Office: How much will it spend? How much contract authority do 
you need to have all of that money obligated? And that is where we are.
  Now, that will be divided over the 6 years. The first 6 years is 
already settled, because we have completed it. But the next 5 will have 
new activity. And I think by the time Senator Chafee's committee 
produces the bill, each State can look and see what it is going to get 
in relation to donor and donee States. And I believe it is going to be 
a very satisfactory bill.
  There are a lot of other things that have to be done besides just 
pour highways in the country. There is some research that has to be 
done. There is some money that has to go to States that have special 
problems because they have an awful lot of public lands in their 
States. There are Indian roads, which in the last 6 years we have 
started funding. They are the poorest, in roads, of any group in 
America, and their reservations are the poorest, in terms of 
transportation, of any. That money has to be in here.
  But I think under Senator Chafee's leadership there will be no donor-
donee disparity exceeding 91 percent. They will get 91 percent of the 
money back. And the other part will go to the various programs that are 
national in scope or specific. I think that is a rather good final 
conclusion. I regret having to have stood in the way of this bill for 
so long. But when it finally comes down to it, I think we all 
understand better what we are going to do.
  Now, to the final observation: Can we fund this bill and not have to 
break the caps? I can tell you that we certainly will be able to in the 
year 1999 in the budget that we are going to write. Now, this money 
spends out more rapidly as years go on. I am just bound to do the best 
I can and to tell it as honestly as I can.
  I believe we will be able to meet the caps and do this, but it may 
very well be that in a few years we will not be able to do that. I do 
not think it is going to be a big disparity. And I think that everybody 
understands that the people of this country deserve that highway trust 
fund moneys be spent on highways. That is why it has been very 
difficult to say, we should not have this program. Because that money 
is there, what can it be used for? Since we voted overwhelmingly to put 
it in that trust fund, we ought to spend it for highways. There is 
nothing by way of infrastructure in our Nation--to use the word as 
generously as you want--there is nothing more wanting in the country 
than the highway infrastructures of our respective sovereign States. 
And we will make a pretty big dent in catching up with this bill.
  So I am pleased to be a part of it. I didn't write the bill, but it 
was a good experience. And I want to close by saying in particular, 
when you have a leader who wants to get things done--Trent Lott, our 
leader, wants to get things done. We could have gone on for I don't 
know how many more days, but we finished in about 3 or 4 days of rather 
lengthy sessions getting as much input as we could.

  Now the Senate will speak. We will look at this bill that Senator 
Chafee will produce, a substitute that reaches the conclusions that 
this negotiating team had, and then the Senate will decide what it is 
going to do. I, for one, have committed that I am going to support the 
product that is forthcoming. Not every bit of it is what I would do, 
but I think overall it is probably the best we could do for our 
country. I hope it leaves the Senate with a very large majority. The 
House still has to do theirs. We have to go to conference. And States, 
by May 1, ought to be getting some additional obligational authority.
  I thank the Senators for their participation, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I want to salute the Senator from New 
Mexico for his part in this. He had responsibilities. He had 
responsibilities to guard the budget. And he carried out those 
responsibilities. I felt very strongly allied with him in connection 
with those efforts, and I think what we came out with was a 
satisfactory solution. Are all of us totally satisfied? Of course not. 
But we are totally satisfied that the end result was as good as we 
could get under the pressing problems we are faced with. So I am going 
away happy and hope that the Senator from New Mexico is likewise.
  I also want to join his tribute to the majority leader. The majority 
leader was the one who got us in there and actually proposed the final 
compromise that we agreed to. So he deserves a lot of credit for moving 
us along.
  I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator from Colorado for his 
patience.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. It is good to be of service.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning 
business for 7 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Colorado is 
recognized for 7 minutes.
  (The remarks of Mr. Campbell and Mrs. Hutchison pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 1695 are located in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I also want to say I was here on the 
floor during the recent agreement that was made on the highway bill. I 
commend my fellow Senator, my colleague from Texas, Senator Gramm, for 
working with Senator Byrd in what I think

[[Page S1193]]

is a very important accomplishment not just for my State but for all 
Americans.
  Many of us feel that our transportation infrastructure is the key to 
our continued economic viability in this country. Many of us have been 
very concerned that we have shortchanged that infrastructure by putting 
money in other areas.
  What Senator Gramm and what Senator Byrd did today was to assure that 
we are going to have the money that people pay in their gasoline taxes 
each day when they go to work, assure that it comes back in the form of 
a user fee to help ease the transportation congestion in our urban 
areas and to make it easier to access our rural areas in this country.
  I commend Senator Chafee and Senator Baucus for working with Senator 
Gramm and Senator Byrd to come out with a very fair agreement that will 
benefit everyone. I especially thank also Senator Domenici, the 
chairman of the Budget Committee, for helping to make sure that would 
happen without busting the budget caps because that is also our 
responsibility as stewards of our Nation.
  I think we had a very important agreement, and I look forward to 
voting for this agreement tomorrow on the floor. I think everyone will 
be pleased that we are going to have the money that is paid every day 
by Americans, that 4.3-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax, go right where it 
should go, and that is to ease our transportation byways and highways 
and the transit systems that keep us from having congestion and 
environmental pollution in our cities.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Texas for her very kind comments. We appreciate those remarks.
  She is absolutely right. The senior Senator did do a splendid job not 
just for his State but all the trucks coming and going in connection 
with the NAFTA agreement, particularly the border crossings down in her 
State. We are pleased things came out the way they did. We look forward 
to her support when we bring the bill up on the floor.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. If the Senator from Rhode Island would yield, I am 
happy he mentioned the corridors, the trade corridors, that were also 
included in the recent agreement.
  As we have opened our trade with Mexico, it has caused a huge 
congestion on the NAFTA corridors that come through my State but also 
through other States that are on the border and also up into the rest 
of our country.
  I am very pleased you have allocated an extra amount for wear and 
tear because it will ease the congestion and stop some of the long 
delays that we are seeing at the border because we don't have enough 
bridges and gateways. This will help alleviate that and make it even 
easier to trade with our neighbor to the south.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I have seen those jams down there. I 
have seen them in California by Tijuana. The trucks were all lined up. 
It is incredible. I saw a little bit of it in Texas, but that was just 
a sampling of what later has occurred as the NAFTA agreement has come 
into full flower with the jam-ups on both sides of the border, trucks 
trying to come across, customs inspectors trying to do their job. It 
truly is tremendously congested.

  Both Senators from Texas are absolutely right in addressing this 
problem.

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