Pete Domenici: “I believe this is a good bill. I am convinced that the Chairman and Ranking Member have put together a bill that treats…”

“I believe this is a good bill. I am convinced that the Chairman and Ranking Member have put together a bill that treats our many States and varied interests as fairly as is possible. With respect to my own State of New Mexico, this is a bill that will provide immeasurable economic benefit to our State. The most visible economic impact is on jobs. Thousands of New Mexicans will go to work as a direct result of this legislation. We have repeatedly been told that for every $1 billion spent on roads, more than 40,000 jobs are created. Over the 6-year span of this reauthorization, we will spend over $2 billion in the State of New Mexico. Quick math tells me that this will mean that over 80,000 jobs will be created in New Mexico alone in the next six years. New Mexico is the fifth largest State geographically and has a predominantly rural population. This means that our population is very dependent on roads to keep us connected.”