Max Baucus: “This amendment is simple, fair and noncontroversial, as evidenced by the fact that my colleagues have signed off on it.…”

“This amendment is simple, fair and noncontroversial, as evidenced by the fact that my colleagues have signed off on it. It says two things: First, no State or local transit authority will lose its ISTEA funding simply because it suspends the DBE Program in response to a court order declaring the program unconstitutional. Second, my amendment asks GAO to study the program and lets Congress know how the program is working to ensure it genuinely helps disadvantaged women and minorities. Even though ISTEA and the DBE program were declared unconstitutional last summer by the federal court in Colorado, this legislative body chose to reauthorize the program because the Secretary of Transportation and the Attorney General promised us that any possible problems with the program had been cleaned up under the new proposed regulations.”