John Shaw: “I can tell the Members that what comes to my mind is that figures do not lie, but liars can figure. I am not saying…”

“I can tell the Members that what comes to my mind is that figures do not lie, but liars can figure. I am not saying people are lying here, but I think this body is totally confused about what is going on. Only ask yourself this one question: Is getting back 93 percent or applying the formula to 93 percent worse than applying it to 84 percent? Is 93 percent more than 84 percent? Under the Isakson amendment, every State would be guaranteed a higher level. In Florida, we plugged these figures in. Florida will send $12 billion in Federal gas tax to Washington under this bill but receive back only $8.5 billion. That is not fair, and I can tell the Members right now, a lot of people who are listening to this debate are totally confused. But the fact is that the States of Florida, California, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Missouri are taking a whipping under this bill, and it is not fair. All we are asking for is equity. We are not asking to get all our dollars back. We wish we could. We are not asking to get them all back. All we are saying is, do not hurt us more than we are already hurt under existing law.”