Jim Inhofe: “in a few minutes it is our intention to bring up the substitute amendment, to have the pending amendment withdrawn and…”

“in a few minutes it is our intention to bring up the substitute amendment, to have the pending amendment withdrawn and bring up the substitute amendment. We are not quite ready for that. We are waiting for a few things to be done in a few minutes. I think it will be worked out, but the managers' amendment is going to do a lot of things to offset some of the problems people had with the bill. When that time comes, we want a chance to go over it in detail and make this a reality. The amendment is going to bring the total size of the bill up to $251 billion. This includes $199 billion for highways, $5.8 billion for highway safety, and $46.6 billion for mass transit. This amendment would add $6.8 billion in additional receipts to the highway account of the highway trust fund, all of which are offset in the amendment--also, thanks to the good work of Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus of the Finance Committee. They have made a yeoman effort and have been able to have us increase this highway funding and have it paid for. Highway funding would increase by $8.9 billion over the EPW-reported bill. That is the bill that came out of our committee. It includes a 5.1-percent increase in both apportioned and allocated programs. It also increases the minimum rate of return to donor States to 91 percent immediately. Right now, as you know, it is 90.5 percent. It would raise it to 91 percent in 2006 through 2008.…”