Lincoln Chafee: “I will send an amendment to the desk. I will not ask for its immediate consideration. This is an amendment that would…”

“I will send an amendment to the desk. I will not ask for its immediate consideration. This is an amendment that would require the Secretary of Transportation to reduce the amounts made available under the ISTEA of 1998 for the fiscal year 1998 by the amounts made available under the extension that we did last fall, the so-called 6-month extension bill. Now, last year, Mr. President, as you recall, the Senate passed a 6-month extension bill which allowed the States to use their unobligated balances to fund eligible transportation projects. The bill also allocated an additional $5.5 billion in new money to the States. As you remember, the ISTEA I expired on September 30 so we knew we were not going to be able to enact a new ISTEA bill-- indeed we have not enacted it yet--and that carried us over to May 1 of this year. In it we provided not only that States could use their unobtained balances but there was also allocated an additional $5.5 billion. The Senate agreed to provide this new $5.5 billion on the condition that the amounts allocated under ISTEA II in fiscal year 1998 would be reduced by the amount each State received under the 6-month extension.”