Political Quotes

“this amendment takes into account the problem of the accumulated interest that is now in the highway trust fund in the amount of $19 billion. Again, the question is, should Congress, in past general fund appropriations for highway purposes, so designate that it was trust fund money rather than the general fund? General fund expenditures since 1956, when we started the highway trust fund, have exceeded $38 billion. The estimate is someplace between $38 billion and $40 billion. This is general fund appropriations for highway purposes that were not designated to come out of the trust fund. So what we have been doing over the years is spending more and more money out of the general fund, at the same time we were spending every cent that came in from the highway gas tax. So it is reasonable, I am suggesting to my colleagues, to consider that money that has been spent out of the general fund an offset to the $19 billion now owed to the trust fund by the general fund. The accumulated interest on some of the trust fund money diverted in the 1960's is the question in this taking off-budget debate. Some have suggested that that $19 billion is the property of the trust fund and therefore should be spent for roads.”