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.
“SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S12636 on Nov. 13, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EXTENSION ACT
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to express my gratitude to the diligent work of our leaders in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee especially the chairman, Senator Chafee and ranking member, Senator Baucus along with the chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee, Senator Warner in crafting a comprehensive, 6 year transportation bill. The bill unanimously passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee makes progress towards building a more equitable formula for distributing Federal transportation funds to the States. It is unfortunate Congress did not have the opportunity to debate this bill during this session of Congress although I look forward to building upon progress made by the committee when the Senate reconvenes in January.
The law which authorizes our Federal transportation program expired on September 30 of this year. Thanks to the competent work of Gov. Fob James, and Jimmy Butts, the director at the Alabama Department of Transportation, and Don Vaughn, Assistant Transportation Director, I was alerted early on that if Congress failed to act on passing a transportation bill, critical transportation programs such as Interstate Maintenance, the National Highway System, and needed bridge repair throughout Alabama would cease by December. In addition, the Federal Department of Transportation would have been forced to shut its doors and transportation contractors would have been forced to lay off workers as Alabama and many other States curtailed or ceased awarding of transportation maintenance and construction contracts. To avoid this crisis, the Senate has enacted a short term solution to allow transportation projects to continue by providing additional funding and increased flexibility of Federal transportation funds to States.
The temporary transportation resolution passed by the Senate on Tuesday will allow Alabama access to $174,469,000 for critical highway programs. This amount represents half the amount of Federal highway funds Alabama was able to spend in fiscal year 1997. In addition, the Alabama Department of Transportation will have the flexibility to transfer funds between various transportation programs so that planning, maintenance and expansion can continue as a comprehensive, long-term transportation bill is passed by Congress early next year. Once a new long-term transportation bill is passed, the Secretary of Transportation will offset each State's fiscal year 1998 funding to reflect the funds used by each State as a result of this extension.
Again, I would like to personally thank and congratulate Senator Bond for putting this package together with our leaders of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Chafee, Warner, and Baucus. While many of my colleagues and myself would have preferred a long-term solution to our transportation needs, this short-term extension will allow Alabama and all States to continue their transportation planning, maintenance, and construction until a new, long-term bill is negotiated and passed hopefully early next year.
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