[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 23 (Friday, February 27, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1856-S1857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EXTENSION OF TEA-21

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New Hampshire for 
his request.
  Before the distinguished minority assistant leader leaves the 
Chamber, I want to say I appreciate the good work of the majority 
leader and the minority to try to resolve this roadblock.

[[Page S1857]]

  What we have before us is a false choice posited by the Senators from 
Arizona and Connecticut. It does not matter how much they try to hold 
hostage the extension of the highway bill to keep these people working, 
there is no guarantee--and they cannot guarantee--that the House would 
accept whatever they put on.
  They can hold this body hostage, and they have shown their 
willingness and ability to do so, but should they be able to add an 
amendment to the highway extension, or now that we have passed the bill 
on extending the 9/11 Commission, it still has to go to the House.
  The action of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday was not 
unanimous. There are many other issues that should be debated about 
that bill, but I was not here to object and no one objected to passing 
the bill from this body to extend the 9/11 Commission.
  It is important to realize this Commission was set up a long time 
ago. They knew their deadline was May 27, and if one were to ask the 
Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Lott, who appointed members of the 
Commission, I believe he said at the time that the problem with 
commissions is we give them a lot of time and a lot of money and they 
do not always come up with the deadline.
  They have had this time. They have had extensive hearings. Now the 
question is whether the House will accept the proposal that the Senate 
has adopted to extend the 9/11 Commission for 2 more months.

  This body cannot hold hostage the other body. What the Senators from 
Arizona and Connecticut are doing is seeking to hold hostage the whole 
highway program in the United States. If they hold that hostage, there 
is no assurance that even next week there will be agreement by the 
House to take a bill with the 9/11 Commission.
  TEA-21's current extension expires on Sunday. If we fail to extend 
this, there will be a shutdown of any further contract authority for 
Federal aid highway projects and a shutdown of payments for work 
already contracted for by the States and performed by contractors. This 
means no further projects can be approved or awarded. It also means 
that not only the Federal Highway Administration but also the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier 
Administration, as well as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 
will cease operation.
  The Federal Highway Administration said that 2,925 employees will be 
furloughed. These are not just employees in Washington but Federal 
employees in every State office throughout the Nation, including those 
in the States of Arizona and Connecticut. This also does not even 
include the many contractors that will be affected by the shutdown.
  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration employees would 
also be furloughed affecting about 630 Federal employees. The Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Administration would stop operation. This action 
would put out of work 1,078 employees, and that does not even include 
the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
  All told, 4,633 people will not be able to report to work on Monday, 
March 1, if this bill is held hostage to a proposition that may or may 
not be acceptable sometime or any time by the House of Representatives. 
Not only are we talking about people's livelihoods, we are shutting 
down the Federal agencies, which will have an adverse consequence for 
our Nation's highways, motor carrier safety, and consequentially for 
the condition and operation of our Nation's surface transportation 
system.
  The Federal Transit Administration will be affected without passage 
of this extension. This is a time when the States are reaching the most 
intense quarter of the fiscal year for announcing construction 
projects.
  States, particularly those that have seasonal construction award 
periods, and others that have work immediately prepared to go to bid, 
will be effectively stopped from making further awards or bid lettings 
that have not been previously approved. Construction and other 
contractors will suffer economic loss with the potential for smaller 
operators to suffer substantial economic hardship. Many of the 
businesses and many of the operations involved are small businesses 
that would effectively be cut off from their ability to be paid for 
their work if we refuse to do this extension.
  Jobs will be lost in the private sector. Immense harm could happen. 
It is not possible to calculate immediately the actual job impacts for 
shutdown outside the workforce, but there was a survey, AASHTO's August 
2003 survey, which emphasized that perhaps 90,000 jobs could be lost if 
we went to a short-term extension. An extension is bad enough, but a 
complete disruption of the program when there are crucial job needs 
across the country will have an economic impact on the families 
directly, and on the economy.
  Another major problem if we fail to extend it is that further debts 
will not be paid. In the absence of an extension, the Government will 
not have authority to continue to reimburse States for projects for 
which expenditures by States have already been made. This has caused a 
cashflow crisis, since States are obligated to pay contractors with or 
without reimbursement from the Federal Highway Administration. Some 
States depend on Federal aid funds to pay bond debt service, and the 
highway trust fund will be charged interest under the Cash Management 
Improvement Act. We need the extension to stop playing politics with 
people's jobs in this most important legislation.
  I thank my colleague from New Hampshire.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire.

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