Lincoln Chafee: “I am delighted and, indeed, grateful that the Senate is about to conclude action on ISTEA II. I congratulate my…”

“I am delighted and, indeed, grateful that the Senate is about to conclude action on ISTEA II. I congratulate my colleagues for wrapping up this effort with such alacrity, rescuing us from a Saturday or even Sunday session, as the majority leader pointed out. He--and I agreed with him--was determined we were going to finish this bill, and we are finishing it way ahead of the outlying time. We have before us a very fine piece of legislation of which we can all be proud. It will truly bring our Nation's transportation system into the 21st century. It will do so with an unprecedented increase in funding, $214 billion over 6 years, for all surface transportation programs. That is the highway plus the transit money. That includes $171 billion for highways. This increase represents the Senate's understanding of the breadth of the needs of our infrastructure and our commitment to meeting these needs. One year ago, the Senate was very divided on the issue of how ISTEA II should look. Within the Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which I have the privilege of being chairman, we had not one, not two, but three very different proposals on what to do with this legislation, how to proceed, how to make the allotments amongst the various States. All of these proposals had merit, and the duty was to try to coalesce them into one unified plan. And we did so.…”