Tom Latham: “I would like to join with the gentleman here in support of this amendment. I would like to make a couple of points. If…”

“I would like to join with the gentleman here in support of this amendment. I would like to make a couple of points. If you represent a rural district, this is an enormous issue. Oftentimes, on average, jobs will pay less in urban areas to begin with. On average, a lot of these folks have to drive long distances to work. We've got people in my district today that drive 50 and 60 miles one way to their job every day, and this would be an enormous hardship on these folks. I would also add that the Secretary of Transportation and the administration, 2 years ago when we were trying to get a highway bill done, the administration took this off the table. They said, We're not going to do this. And so I don't see why the Secretary would need to do research or any kind of means of implementation if, in fact, they so strongly oppose this type of taxation. So for several different reasons, I commend this gentleman on this amendment and rise in its support. I yield back the balance of my time.”