James M. Jeffords: “I thank again Senator Inhofe and Senator Bond for their leadership on this bill. I am glad to be here on the Senate…”

“I thank again Senator Inhofe and Senator Bond for their leadership on this bill. I am glad to be here on the Senate floor continuing to debate this important legislation. This managers' package we have before us today will increase the funding in our legislation $11.2 billion and ensures that all States will have the resources necessary to improve their highways, roads, and bridges. This package will be the catalyst that helps get this bill completed the way it I should be--fully funded. I sincerely thank Senators Grassley and Baucus for their tremendous efforts in crafting the finance title of this proposal. This package will create jobs. It will save lives. It will reduce travel time. And it will improve the quality and structure of our Nation's surface transportation system. Just this week, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University released its annual Urban Mobility Report. This highly respected report once again tells us we need to do better when it comes to transportation in this country. The report tells us that traffic congestion delayed travelers 79 million more hours--79 million more hours--and wasted 69 million more gallons of fuel in 2003 than in 2002. The report tells us that overall in 2003, there were 3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel, for a total cost of more than $63 billion. But this bill is about more than reducing traffic congestion. The U.S.…”