Frank Lautenberg: “Now Senator Warner comes along and argues that is not enough. He not only wants the donor States to get the $457 million…”

“Now Senator Warner comes along and argues that is not enough. He not only wants the donor States to get the $457 million provided to them in this bill. He wants them to get an additional $400 million beyond that--taken away from the donee States. He wants to cut highway funds for 27 States below last year's level. Members might appropriately ask ``how is it that the highway program is growing, but my State is getting cut?'' The answer lies in a provision of the Highway bill that was established 6 years ago. That bill included many different formula calculations, but one of them--the so-called 90 percent of payments calculation--requires that donor states receive back at least 90 percent of the gas tax receipts they contribute to the highway trust fund. Mr. President, that kind of entitlement to donor States inevitably will mean a decrease to other States when gas tax receipts are increasing at a rapid rate. That is true because they will rise at a rate faster than highway spending. So, if donor States are guaranteed a 90 percent return on the gas tax dollar, they will be taking that money from the rest of us. It's a zero sum game. This is exactly what has happened this year. As a result, when the Appropriations Committee increased the highway program roughly half a billion dollars last year, the so-called donor States, not only absorbed every penny of that $500 million increase, they also took a billion dollars away from the other States in order to pay for it.”