[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4450-S4451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE HIGHWAY BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, tomorrow, in the White House, it is my 
understanding from press accounts--and I have talked to various 
Senators and one House Member who will attend the meeting--there is 
going to be a meeting with the President to talk about the highway 
bill. I think it is important, therefore, that I, who have worked on 
this most important bill--and I have worked on several others in years 
past--make some observations about what I think should take place at 
that meeting.
  Of course, it is a typical meeting that takes place in this 
administration. It is done in secret, with no Democrats present, which 
is unusual; but that is in keeping with what this administration has 
done now for 3\1/2\ years. Let me say, though, that I believe Senator 
Jim Inhofe, the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, 
has been an exemplary legislator on the highway bill. He has been 
someone that has been very fixed in his ideas. He is someone, however, 
who is willing to work and, as legislators have to do, compromise. I 
have had to do the same thing. Senator Jeffords had to do the same 
thing. Senator Bond has had to do the same thing. The four of us have 
put this bill together. I think it is a good bill.
  I appreciate the tireless efforts of Jim Inhofe on this most 
important legislation. He has always understood the importance of a 
highway bill. No one in this country can question the conservative 
credentials of Jim Inhofe. No one could ever accuse him of trying to 
give things away. That is why it is a mystery to most of us what the 
administration is doing on this bill.
  Mr. President, first of all, understand that the chairman of the 
Transportation Committee in the House, Congressman Young from Alaska, 
believed

[[Page S4451]]

a bill of $300 billion just for highways alone--he was unable to do 
this because he could not get a proper rule in the House. The 
administration was opposed to him, and my understanding is that several 
other leaders in the House were opposed to him.

  Finally, they came with a bill of $275 billion, which included 
transit. The legislation that we have passed in the Senate takes into 
consideration the needs of this country. We have $318 billion over six 
years. This is a bill that includes transit. We have worked very hard 
on this. Keep in mind, there are no new taxes. The bill is paid for in 
a number of different ways, not the least of which is highway trust 
fund moneys, which are supposed to be used for highways. We have been 
told by all outside organizations, by our own experts within the 
Federal Government--and the outside organizations can be exemplified 
and illustrated by the American Association of State Highway 
Transportation Officials, AASHTO. They say, as we all say, simply to 
maintain our roads and bridges--not to have some Cadillac version, but 
simply to maintain our roads and bridges--the Federal Government must 
invest at least $40 billion a year.
  Unfortunately, a 6-year bill at $275 billion that includes all the 
needs of this country simply doesn't do the trick when we talk about 
highways and transit. This means, then, more congestion, less safety, 
and increased maintenance and replacement costs.
  The Senate bill is a good bill. It passed by 76 Members voting for 
it. It would create a $42.7 billion average annual highway investment. 
This is a good bill. It would generate real improvements in condition 
and performance. Let's not forget, it would create more than a million 
high-paying jobs. The spinoff from those direct jobs would be many 
thousands more.
  I cannot understand the President. He is the first President since 
Herbert Hoover who has not had a net increase of private sector jobs. 
It doesn't matter how many jobs are created in the next 6 months, he 
will be the first President since Hoover to have a net loss of private 
sector jobs. Yet he is threatening to veto this. It is wrong.
  Not only is the bill good for the reasons I have mentioned. That will 
allow us to at least keep even with the programs that we need in this 
country--highways, bridges--but it also consolidates all safety 
programs. It creates a very new program, with safe routes to school, 
which will allow children to walk and ride bicycles to school. It 
creates a good program at our ports, called a gateway program, which 
will not only be one that will create a more safe network of ports in 
our country, but will be more efficient, and it will save lots of time. 
There will be a new equity bonus program.
  We have tried in this legislation to have a fair bill, not just to 
add up the number of Senators who are for the bill and run over those 
who don't get treated as well. By the end of our bill, every State will 
get at least 95 cents for every dollar they pay in. This is a 
tremendous improvement.
  Mr. President, I hope at this meeting tomorrow the Republicans who 
are meeting in secret to discuss this matter will follow the lead of 
the Senate, and especially Senator Inhofe. This is a bill that we need 
to pass for the good of every State in the Union.
  Mr. President, I am going to yield the remaining time I have to the 
Senator from New Jersey, with this preface. I say to my friend from New 
Jersey, who is going to discuss chicken hawk, I want the Senator to 
understand that when the President held his last press conference and 
said he could not think of a mistake he made--when I was at home during 
the last break, I reminded the people of Nevada that I could think of 
at least 2 mistakes he made. One is when he climbed on the USS Lincoln, 
the big aircraft carrier, and had the big sign in celebration of the 
``mission accomplished.'' I think the second mistake was when he was 
asked the question whether there are some people in Iraq who, maybe, 
are going to cause some trouble, as you will remember, the President 
said, ``bring them on.'' I think those are two mistakes--``mission 
accomplished'' and ``bring them on.''
  Since his statement, ``bring them on,'' we have lost more than 600 
American soldiers. That is only the number of those who were killed; 
that doesn't take into consideration the thousands who are missing 
limbs, eyes, who are paralyzed, and in bad shape physically. So I think 
those are two mistakes, I remind the President. No. 1, the mission was 
not accomplished when he flew on the aircraft carrier in his borrowed 
jumpsuit; or, No. 2, when he said ``bring them on,'' I think that was 
an intemperate remark, and I think he made a mistake.

  I yield the remaining time to the Senator from New Jersey.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.

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