Victor Fazio: “despite an overwhelming bipartisan defeat in the Senate, unfortunately we have before us another attempt to gut a…”

“despite an overwhelming bipartisan defeat in the Senate, unfortunately we have before us another attempt to gut a program that gives women and minorities the chance to compete for Federal highway dollars. The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program works. It puts women and minorities to work. It gives them the chance to compete in an industry that has traditionally shut them out. It is not a quota. It is not a set-aside. If it were, do we really think that Ronald Reagan's administration would have created this program? I think a not. The highway bill offers so much to so many. It is wrong to turn back the clock on women and minority-owned businesses. Let us not put a tollgate on the road to opportunity for these aspiring entrepreneurs. We can further refine this program. As the President has said, mend it, do not end it. But this amendment goes too far. I urge a ``no'' vote and, frankly, a return to the kind of bipartisan spirit that has allowed us to begin to make some progress against the legacy of discrimination. This program should be reaffirmed and not eliminated.”