Cord Byrd: “Let's go back to 1990 just a bit. The distinguished Senator has specificated the 4.3 cents. Let's go back to 1956, when…”

“Let's go back to 1990 just a bit. The distinguished Senator has specificated the 4.3 cents. Let's go back to 1956, when I was in the Congress. We passed the interstate highway bill during the Eisenhower administration and I voted for it. We passed legislation providing for a highway trust fund and for taxes on fuels that would be deposited into that highway trust fund. And it was clearly understood by the American public then that that money was going to come back to the public in meeting their highway and other transportation needs. So that thought was thoroughly ingrained into the minds and hearts and pocketbooks of the American people more than 40 years ago. Now, we come up to 1990, 34 years subsequent thereto, and we go to the meeting that was held over at Andrews Air Force base. I was part of that meeting. We passed the legislation as part of a package. President Bush entered into that agreement. I believe that former Speaker Foley was there and was part of it. Several us were there. A part of that package provided that 2.5 cents of the fuels taxes be for deficit reduction, temporarily, and that we would put it into a trust fund. That was in 1990. It was to go back into the trust fund in 1995. Tomorrow, I am going to lay a clearer outline in the Record.”