On the recordMay 22, 2015
I want to talk today about one of the things we need to do before we leave here--the extension of the highway bill. And nobody is satisfied with a short-term extension of the highway bill. I would be among the group who would be least satisfied with that. But as we look at what has happened so far this year, we moved in a positive way in a number of areas. We don't have time while we are here to do what we need to do to have a truly long-term highway bill. The last two bills under the two previous Congresses--the two previous Senates--were very unhelpful and unsatisfying in many ways: a 6-month extension of the highway bill--you cannot build roads and bridges 6 months at a time. Not only can you not do the work 6 months at a time, you cannot get the kind of competitive bidding process and planning to do this work in the right way. Before that, we only had a 2-year bill. I will be very disappointed if we cannot beat both of those standards. The reason to do the 2-month bill today will be the important reason that, one, we have enough money left, because of winter conditions, that we can do 2 months of further construction with the money that is available, and that way we don't do anything to slow down construction here at the best building time of the year.…
