John W. Olver: “the author of this amendment is undoubtedly trying to get at some egregious earmarks that are funded in this bill or in…”

“the author of this amendment is undoubtedly trying to get at some egregious earmarks that are funded in this bill or in some other bill; however, in drafting a provision that is so broad in scope that what we have is an amendment that's careless. There are legitimate parking facilities that can be built using Federal funds, and I use an example, for instance, the parking facilities that we have with elder housing projects, built in various places around the country, but this amendment would kill that. Under current law Federal funds can be used to fund park-and-ride facilities and other activities aimed at encouraging carpooling and vanpooling. In fact, these activities are of such a high priority that they're eligible for 100 percent Federal funding and require no State or local match. Similarly, Federal funds are used to build safety rest areas along our interstates. This amendment would put an end to that. For these reasons and others, this amendment must be defeated.”