Pete Domenici: “I know the time is running out on the debate on this major amendment, the amendment that is in the nature of a…”

“I know the time is running out on the debate on this major amendment, the amendment that is in the nature of a substitute. But I wanted to take about 5 minutes and express my views about it. Frankly, it is common knowledge around here that I was not in favor of moving quickly with the ISTEA bill. But clearly, we are ready now. We have had ample opportunity to discuss how much money is coming into the trust fund from the 4.3 cents, how much contract authority ought to be obligated to use it up during the next 5 years. Part of that would be in 1998. So it is a 6-year cycle. We arrived at a conclusion that is pretty clear and pretty close to fair, in my opinion. In fact, I think it is about as well as we can do. America needs highways. The U.S. Government has a lot of programs it is involved in that are not its responsibility. But there is no question that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to appropriately handle the gasoline tax money and to let our States build roads with it. So, in a very real sense, it is a very high priority, because for many things that we spend money on, we are not, in a sense, as trustees, obligated to spend money for those things. And there are scores of them. So I have come to the conclusion that the dollar number of $173 billion as the total expenditure over the next 5 years is a right number, consisting of the gasoline tax of 4.3 cents which used to be in the general fund and is now in the trust fund.”