Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I rise to urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture on Senator Reid's amendment No. 1633 to the highway bill. The bill we…”

“I rise to urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture on Senator Reid's amendment No. 1633 to the highway bill. The bill we are getting ready to vote on puts the other titles into the highway bill from the Commerce Committee, Finance Committee, and Banking Committee. I am going to object on the grounds that the Commerce Committee title is not the title that should be included in this bill. What happened is that there was a partisan amendment that was added to a markup very late that the minority had not had a chance to work out before it went to the markup. We thought it wasn't going on the markup, but it did go on the markup before we were able to have the input and work it in a better way, which has been our usual position in the Commerce Committee. The bill would create an unfunded, unlimited discretionary grant program that has divided the transportation community. It will add a new Assistant Secretary for Freight Planning and Development and a whole new office in the Department of Transportation. This is a part of the bill that certainly none of the Republicans can support, and it caused a party-line vote in the Commerce Committee.…”