Lincoln Chafee: “Yesterday, the Committee on Environment and Public Works held an important meeting on the pending business before the…”

“Yesterday, the Committee on Environment and Public Works held an important meeting on the pending business before the Senate; namely, the underlying legislation, S. 1173, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1997. During yesterday's business meeting, the committee agreed unanimously, the 18 members of the committee voted 18-0, to adopt an amendment to S. 1173, which will provide an additional $25.9 billion for the Nation's highway programs over the next 5 years. The additional funds will bring the total authorization for highways in the bill to $171 billion. As I mentioned last Thursday in my opening statement on ISTEA II, the majority leader, Senator Lott, and Senators Domenici, D'Amato, Byrd, Gramm, Warner, Baucus, and I have been working to try to resolve the difficult issue of how much additional funding should be directed to transportation. Although I am not an advocate of spending the 4.3 cents gasoline tax on highways, I believe that the agreement we reached is a fair one that will allow the Senate to complete its work on ISTEA in a timely fashion.”