Political Quotes

“I must start by saying that this is not an ISTEA amendment, this is not a formula amendment, this is not a 4.3 cents amendment, this is not an Amtrak amendment, this is not an off-budget amendment. This is a sense-of-the-Senate amendment concerning reestablishing the linkage between the revenues deposited in the highway trust fund and transportation spending. Mr. President, if I can take just a moment I want to read this short sense-of-the-Senate. The Senate finds that-- One, there is no direct linkage between the fuel taxes deposited in the Highway Trust Fund and the transportation spending from the Highway Trust Fund. Two, the Federal budget process has served this linkage by dividing revenues and spending into separate budget categories with fuel taxes deposited in the Highway Trust Fund as revenues; and most spending from the Highway Trust Fund in the discretionary category. Three, each budget category referred to has its own rules and procedures. Four, under budget rules in effect prior to the date of adoption of this resolution, an increase in fuel taxes permits increased spending to be included in the budget, but not for increased Highway Trust Fund spending.”