Max Baucus: “I am very pleased to join in offering the substitute amendment to this bill. This bill is called SAFETEA. It culminates…”

“I am very pleased to join in offering the substitute amendment to this bill. This bill is called SAFETEA. It culminates many months of hard work. I commend the chairman, Chairman Inhofe, and Senator Bond, chairman of the transportation subcommittee, and especially the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, Senator Grassley and Senator Jeffords, for their hard work. I especially thank my good friend, Senator Grassley. He is a good man. He is good to work with. He is pragmatic, practical, he cares, he wants good solutions, and he wants to advance the ball. The people of Iowa are very lucky to have him as their Senator. Senator Harkin is another great Senator from Iowa, but I particularly enjoy working with Senator Grassley. We have a strong working relationship and it means a lot to me personally. This legislation is critical for Montana and also for the country as a whole. I cannot think of any other legislation that would have such a substantial effect on our Nation's economy. The current transportation program expired in September 2003. Since then, regrettably, Congress has had to enact extensions. We could not come up with a solid 6-year bill. We have had six extensions to the highway program--the most extensions in the history of the program. Frankly, in addition to all of the substantive good provisions of the bill, it is very important to enact a full 5-year bill rather than going down the road with more and more extensions.…”