Max Baucus: “I appreciate the statement the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation of the Environment and Public Works…”

“I appreciate the statement the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation of the Environment and Public Works Committee made. I understand the Senator's position, namely that although a mistake is made, and there is not anybody who disputes that a mistake was made, the point is the mistake could be corrected next year when Congress takes up reauthorization of the highway bill, the so-called ISTEA. The problem with that is very simple. First of all, this is a mistake. This is not a formula question. When ISTEA comes up next year, this Congress will deal with the formula under which the highway funds are disbursed. This is not a formula question--not a formula question. This is correcting an administrative error the Department of Transportation and, more precisely, the Department of Treasury made. It is a simple correction. I might also say the mistake that was made, and nobody disputes the mistake was made, is not a donor-donee question. The mistake distributes the dollars inappropriately to some States and does not distribute dollars inappropriately to other States, irrespective of the donor-donee question. This has nothing to do with donor-donee issues. It has nothing to do with the formula. One more point which I think is even more salient is this. The States in question here would not receive this money, if the mistake is not corrected, until fiscal 1997. So they are not going to be receiving any money this year, calendar 1996.”