Jim Inhofe: “after the vote today, I think that any effort to pass a bill such as the ones we just voted on would be very difficult.…”

“after the vote today, I think that any effort to pass a bill such as the ones we just voted on would be very difficult. But something good does happen from that; that is, we had the vast majority of people in the Chamber recognizing that we need to do something that would be stimulative to the economy--something unlike the stimulus bill we had before, where only 3 percent of the money actually went to building roads, highways, maintenance, and that type of thing. I do appreciate the fact that we are now in a position where I think, with this behind us, we can be looking at a good, legitimate highway transportation reauthorization bill. I have been working very closely with Senators Boxer, Vitter, and Baucus--we are considered the ``big four'' in the Environment and Public Works Committee--to come up with something. I have to say that we have worked very hard, and I am talking about hours and hours. Anytime you can get Senator Barbara Boxer from California and me to agree on something, you know we have gone through a lot of work--and we have. We have gone through a lot of give and take. Senator Boxer and I, along with Senators Vitter and Baucus, recognize that we desperately need to have a transportation reauthorization bill, and we need to do it the right way. All these things we have been doing with extensions don't work.…”