Max Baucus: “we heard today from both the chairman and the ranking member of the Budget Committee that we need to address this…”

“we heard today from both the chairman and the ranking member of the Budget Committee that we need to address this problem; the problem that there is a deficiency in highway-mass transit-infrastructure spending that must be dealt with at sometime. But they are also saying they feel constrained to say they cannot deal with it here because they feel constrained by the budget resolution, a resolution agreed to principally between the White House and the leadership. They talk about an $8 billion increase. That does not include interest. And because the country is growing, because of additional needs we have and the crumbling bridges, if this resolution is adopted, Senators should know that they will receive less in dollars than they will need for their State's infrastructure. The Senators, the chairman and ranking member, say, ``Well, we will deal with it in the future at sometime,'' acknowledging that there is a problem and we need more transportation dollars. I must remind Senators that we have a difficult problem ahead of us.”