[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               SAFETEA-LU

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, on August 10 of this year the President 
signed into law the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, known as SAFETEA-LU. 
This new multi-year reauthorization of our Nation's surface 
transportation programs represents a carefully balanced package 
intended to address the needs of our roadways and transit systems. The 
Chairman of the Transportation-Treasury-HUD Appropriations 
Subcommittee, in his role as Chairman of the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Subcommittee on the Environment and Public Works 
Committee, was instrumental in striking that balance. As the Chairman 
has recognized, the Transportation-Treasury-HUD Appropriations bill for 
fiscal year 2006 was reported by the Appropriations Committee prior to 
passage of SAFETEA-LU, and therefore does not fully reflect the 
agreements reached in that piece of legislation. To take one specific 
example, it does not fund the Federal transit program at the level 
authorized by SAFETEA-LU for fiscal year 2006, falling $400 million 
short. The funding levels in SAFETEA-LU were the product of a great 
deal of negotiation, and I greatly appreciate the contributions my 
colleague from Alabama and my colleague from Missouri made to that 
discussion. I hope that in this, the first year of SAFETEA-LU's 
authorization, the agreements reached in SAFETEA-LU will be honored for 
all modes of transportation.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I agree with what my colleague from 
Maryland has said. SAFETEA is the culmination of many years of work by 
the committees of jurisdiction, who held dozens of hearings with 
transportation stakeholders to share ideas on how to respond to our 
nation's transportation needs. I believe that SAFETEA made some very 
important improvements to our previous transportation law and struck a 
good balance between the various modes, and I hope to see those changes 
reflected in this appropriations legislation when it emerges from the 
conference committee.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I agree with my colleagues that SAFETEA-LU 
is a carefully crafted approach to meeting our surface transportation 
needs, and will have a historic impact on transportation programs in my 
State of Missouri and across the country. I will make every effort to 
see that the final conference report on this legislation will honor the 
agreements reached in SAFETEA-LU between the various modes of 
transportation.

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