Max Baucus: “I might also note that last week when we were working out an arrangement to allocate dollars in the…”

“I might also note that last week when we were working out an arrangement to allocate dollars in the Byrd-Gramm-Warner-Baucus amendment the mass transit folks were going berserk; they were all upset that they were not 'taken care of'. As we all know, the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee and the chairman of the Banking Committee and others have reached an agreement of the amounts that will be in the transit title. So there is no reason why they can't quickly put this bill together with the amounts that are contained in that agreement and offer their amendment. I hope they will do that very quickly. Again, we are here waiting for the Finance Committee. We are here waiting for the Banking Committee. Once those two committees come over with their major amendments to different titles to this bill, we will by and large be able to pass this bill and urge the House to take up and pass their ISTEA bill so we can meet the deadline of April 30. A lot can slip between now and April 30--passage here and in the House, then conference, and we have to have all of that done by April 30, and signed by the President by that same date so we don't have to worry about the possibility of another extension, which I certainly don't want, and so that States can rest assured that the highway program is in place. We have to move here. I hope the Finance Committee and the Banking Committee will help us out.”