Steve Buyer: “Mr. Speaker, the topic I would like to talk about today is on STEP 21. The main point is specifically that local…”

“Mr. Speaker, the topic I would like to talk about today is on STEP 21. The main point is specifically that local governments and the metropolitan planning organizations do in fact support STEP 21. I want to give a special recognition and thank the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Condit] for their work on STEP 21. The continuous and bitter battle over transportation funding has caused a great amount of misinformation to be spread all around. Those who endorse the status quo, whether they are against the flexibility to the States or enjoy the funding inequities of the formula, they have tried to mislead Congress and others into believing that local government and the MPOs, the metropolitan planning organizations, are opposed to STEP 21. I have letters of support here that I will place into the Record from those who support STEP 21, the first being in particular the mayor, Mayor Goldsmith of Indianapolis. His quote is, ``. . . as the mayor of one of the Nation's largest cities, I enthusiastically support the STEP 21 proposal.''”