John Sarbanes: “I rise to join my able and distinguished colleague from Alabama, the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban…”

“I rise to join my able and distinguished colleague from Alabama, the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, in strong support of the Federal Public Transportation Act of 2005, which has been incorporated into the pending amendment which was offered yesterday by Senator Inhofe, the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. The Federal Public Transportation Act was reported out by the Banking Committee earlier this year, and, I might add, by a unanimous voice vote. Moreover, although the funding level provided in this bill is lower than in the one we passed last year, the program structure and policy decisions reflected in this bill are almost identical to those included in S. 1072, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Act, SAFETEA, which passed the Senate last year with overwhelming bipartisan support. At the very outset, I express my appreciation to Chairman Shelby who worked tirelessly on the development of this legislation last year, reaching across the aisle in a cooperative manner to develop a transit bill that will begin to address the urgent needs faced by communities all across the country. I also want to acknowledge the leadership of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Jeffords; and the Finance Committee Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Baucus, for their efforts to move this very important bill forward.…”