[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12301]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE HIGHWAY BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, there are a lot of tired cliches about 
not giving up after an initial setback. I won't subject our colleagues 
to any of those this morning, but I will say that last night's vote 
represents an important first step toward passing a multiyear, 
bipartisan highway bill. It is the first step on a much longer road 
but, in my view, a worthwhile one.
  This bipartisan bill will fund our roads, highways, and bridges for 
longer than any transportation bill considered by Congress in a decade, 
and the highway proposal will do so without increasing taxes or adding 
to the deficit. That is no small achievement.
  Just consider what the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget had 
to say about the bill we voted to move forward on last night. It is 
``refreshing,'' they said, to see Congress focusing ``on a multi-year 
solution instead of just another short-term patch.'' In general, their 
overall view was that this is ``a fiscally responsible bill that relies 
on some pretty solid offsets.'' That is from the Committee for a 
Responsible Federal Budget. They called it ``a fiscally responsible 
bill that relies on some pretty solid offsets.'' Positive comments such 
as those echo the kinds of things I continue to hear from Members of 
both parties.
  I would like to thank the Senator from California and the other 
Members on her side who worked with us to help prepare this bill and 
then voted with us to advance it last night. I hope we will continue to 
work together to finally deliver a fiscally responsible, long-term 
highway bill for the American people.

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