The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE HIGHWAY BILL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S12436-S12437 on Nov. 10, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE HIGHWAY BILL
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask the leader his intentions when we return, what the first order of business would be. The leader and I had had a chance to have a conversation last Friday, and he had indicated to me his intention was at that time that we would go to the highway bill when we return. Is that still the Senator's intention.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it would be my intention. Of course, we would need to confer on that with the committee leaders. But I believe that Senator Chafee and Senator Baucus would like to take it up early. I talked with Senator Daschle about it. That is something I would like to maybe begin on the next day after the State of the Union but right at that first part. So we can go ahead and do our work and, hopefully, the House will follow our leadership.
One other issue that could come up early next year would be the juvenile justice bill reported out of the Judiciary Committee. I believe there is some language in the omnibus bill that we passed that would provide funds for it, but those funds are fenced until we do authorization. So that is something that could come up. And before we go out for the President's Day recess, we would also take up the Morrow nomination for a judicial position.
Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator. If I could just conclude the thought, a number of our States are very concerned about the highway legislation because, although we are going to have a 6-month extension here, they are concerned about having a short construction season and about our completing work on a highway bill in a timely way.
Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield so I can bring him up to date on that?
Mr. CONRAD. Yes.
Mr. LOTT. Throughout the day yesterday, meetings were occurring between the House and Senate leadership on the highway bill. We had passed in the Senate, as the Senator will recall, a fix which allowed flexibility so that some funds could be moved between accounts, if necessary, to keep the Department of Transportation employees working. I think there was a transit accommodation. So I think it had about four parts.
During the day yesterday, they were meeting with their counterparts in the House. I was led to believe last night that they had come to an agreement and that agreement, whatever it is--I just can't give you the total outlines of it now--would be attached to either the omnibus appropriations bill or one of the appropriations bills that would be going to the President for his signature.
Mr. CONRAD. So we will have a 6-month extension.
Mr. LOTT. I am not sure. As I said, I don't know what they came up with, but necessary actions to provide for safety, transit funds, and flexibility over some additional funds depending on what they agreed to, which I assume would take us to May 1.
But I do think, again, it is very important we have some deadline on this. Otherwise, we will never bring this very important but very difficult issue to a conclusion.
Mr. CONRAD. As one of the first orders of business when we turn to the 6-year bill.
Mr. LOTT. Right.
Mr. CONRAD. Which is what most of us would like to see, at least in this Chamber. We have a problem on the House side; they only want a 6-
month bill, but we want a 6-year bill.
Mr. LOTT. Absolutely.
Do I have time?
If the Senator will allow me to respond--and I will yield the floor if you would like me to--the Senate, I believe, has acted very responsibly on this in terms of the package we had before us, the 6-
year package within the budget. Obviously, there will be some important amendments to be offered.
As the Senator is aware, it got tangled up on an unrelated issue, but that issue will not be hanging over us on this bill when we come back.
What has me worried is I believe there are people really kind of interested in dragging this out because they want to keep the formula as it now is. I think the existing formula is fundamentally unfair to States like my own, and so I am very anxious for the Senate to keep the pressure on to move a 6-year bill that comes up with a fairer formula but also lives within budget constraints.
Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield just for a moment on that point?
Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield.
Mr. DORGAN. The Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Conrad] raised a question about the highway issue. I just wanted to follow up briefly.
The Senator from Mississippi will recall that the chairman of the transportation committee of the other side some many weeks ago indicated he would not even go to conference on a 6-year bill, and so we got tangled up for a lot of reasons, including I think the desire of some on the other side only to consider a 6-month bill. That pole vaults this into next year at some point when the Senator talks about May 1. I understand and share with him the need to be some end date that applies the pressure to say now we need to get the 6-year bill and get it done, because we cannot continue this approach of incremental funding without some understanding by the States of what they have to work with in the long run.
I have not had an opportunity to make contact or have discussions with folks in the other body, but when they indicated an unwillingness even to go to conference if we come up with a 6-year bill, it suggests an approach radically different than most of us in the Senate would have wanted.
Mr. LOTT. That is absolutely the case. But the problem they had in the House--we both served in the House; we know what it is like--
highway infrastructure and transportation funds are very, very important in every State. This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue that divides us, some not really even by regions; States side by side can have a different view of the formula. And I think they pushed the 6-month proposal because they could not get the votes for anything else right then. But I think if the Senate does not show leadership and keep the pressure on them, we will never get this issue resolved.
That is why I had not wanted to do anything akin to 6 months. I wanted us to have some basic flexibility so States could reprogram, move funds around and make sure we had the safety fund but keep the heat on.
But I think the best thing that we could do on that right now is to make sure there is not a short-term problem with availability of funds, realizing that in the colder States you need to do contracting in December and perhaps early January to have those programs underway in the spring.
But again, it is my intent for the Senate to go ahead and take up this issue and address it early to put pressure on the House and also so that whenever they do get their act together and vote, we will be ready for conference. But I do think it is irresponsible for a Member on either side of the aisle, whether he or she be a chairman or not, to say they are not going to go to conference with the other body if the other body doesn't pass a bill that they like. We have feifdoms around here, but I believe we should not have that type of attitude or we will never bring this important issue to a reasonable conclusion.
That is all I am pushing for. That is why I have tried to push this bill all this year. Frankly, in our own body I think our colleagues made a mistake by letting it drag out to this fall. I thought it should have been done last spring. I had a tentative schedule for the Senate to take it up in April of this year, last April. I know they had a hard time working it out in committee, but to their credit they worked it out and brought out a good, broadly bipartisan bill.
It will be a focus that we need to work on and we need to do it earlier in the year, because if we wait until next September right before elections, there will be no way we can do it.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I understand the comments of the Senator from Mississippi. I really share his desire to move on this early next year. I think the committee has done an exceptional job. I like the highway bill they brought to the floor, the 6-year bill. If we can move something like that early next year, I think we will have provided some significant leadership. So I appreciate very much the leadership of the Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor, Mr. President.
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