Barbara Boxer

I do not think they will buy it. They are struggling right now.

We have to stand up and make sure we do the right thing for the American people, for the environment, for our future.

I am very, very grateful to you.

But a short-term extension raises a lot of doubts, at least in my State.

It is my intent to work with the Administration the day after we resolve the short-term crisis.

I have stated before, I am willing to see the gas tax indexed to inflation.

Greenhouse gas emissions, that is a major problem.

The reason is we have a crisis in the Highway Trust Fund and we have no consensus on how to fund a transformational bill.

I am not going to keep going back to the American people and a gas tax.

I want a short-term fix.

We will do both. We will solve our short-term crisis and we will have a long-term bill that everyone is going to be proud of.

Just to make it clear so that we do not send a mixed signal from the Chairman and the Ranking Member, we plan to mock up a clean extension, for 18 months, the week of the 20th of July.

Well, my belief is that an 18-month extension shows our commitment to continuity.

I hope that we can work together as you meet with these various groups.

The majority of us here across party lines, agree to a clean 18-month extension, not with these policy changes because it will in fact jeopardize a quick passage of this extension.

It is true that the truckers have stepped up, and I think you are right to single them out.

We need to figure this out. So, I am very glad you raised the issue of our ports.

I want to get to that transformational bill. But I recognize...we have to figure out a way to replenish it.

The WMATA system is stretched. It is strained. It is old.

We have a direct responsibility here.

I, too, favor this short-term extension, this 18 months, because we have so much work to do across party lines.

I cannot believe that we can do anything that is less than a single year extension to the current law

We need to invest and expand transit options because they are more convenient and more energy efficient

I think that is really key for me, too, because otherwise I think that it is too short an extension.

The difficulty here, Madam Chairman, and I just want to point this out because the Appropriations Committee will be meeting shortly and going over the transportation appropriation for next year.