John Mica: “My colleagues, I know the chairman and the ranking member have done yeoman's work in bringing this bill forward, and the…”

“My colleagues, I know the chairman and the ranking member have done yeoman's work in bringing this bill forward, and the staff have also done great work. This is a special achievement. I have been there and tried to do this, done it, and it is very difficult. Sometimes you try not to interfere in the process, but from time to time an issue comes up that you try to negotiate and make sense out of. My amendment is pretty simple. In the committee bill, the bill before us, the committee has already allowed for a very limited number of automobile transporter vehicles to increase their length from 75 to 80 feet, some 5 feet, which will accommodate approximately one more vehicle. However, there is no consideration for the way to correspondingly provide for, again, the increase in the length. I have tried to negotiate between the industry. I do not support 91,000 pounds. I do not support 88,000 pounds. I do not support 86,000 pounds. What I said is: What would it take to transport one more vehicle? There are 12,000 of these vehicles across the country. About what weight would it take to add one more vehicle to the length that is already in this bill? And it is about 4,000 pounds. This amendment is simple. It says we would allow in this limited instance to go to 4,000 pounds because the committee draft and bill before us has, again, a provision to increase and allow, again, the additional 5-foot length. Forty percent of these carriers travel empty.…”