Barbara Boxer: “reclaiming my time, my friend is right. This is an area where conservatives, progressives, liberals, moderates--what we…”

“reclaiming my time, my friend is right. This is an area where conservatives, progressives, liberals, moderates--what we call ourselves doesn't matter. We need to have a good, strong highway system. We need to fix the bridges. We need transportation. That is what we do here. In closing, I wish to make this point. Each of our States has relied on the highway trust fund since Eisenhower was President. I have a list, and I think I put it in the Record yesterday so I don't have to put it in the Record again, but it shows how much each State relies on the highway trust fund. I will pull out a few States because it is interesting. I know my own State is 49 percent. We raise the rest of the money, but that 49 percent is huge, and if it were to disappear, we simply could not do what we need to do. So my State is about 50 percent. Here are some of the States: Rhode Island, 100 percent of its program is funded by the Federal highway trust fund. Alaska, 93 percent is funded by the Federal highway trust fund. Vermont, 86 percent is funded by the Federal highway trust fund. South Carolina, 79 percent; Hawaii, 79 percent; North Dakota, 78 percent; South Dakota, 71 percent; Connecticut, 71 percent; New Mexico, 70 percent. Now, from that list--that is, everybody who is 70 percent and over-- those are red States, those are blue States, those are purple States. My point is exactly what Senator Inhofe said yesterday.…”