On the recordJuly 29, 2014
I appreciate the comments of my distinguished colleague, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Today the Senate will vote on a short-term extension of funding for the highway trust fund. While it remains to be seen what shape that extension will take, Congress appears to be poised to pass legislation that will ensure that the trust fund will not face a shortfall and that States will be able to continue to plan and implement their transportation projects. This is important. As many have noted, passing this extension will preserve thousands of jobs and prevent disruption of a number of different highway projects that are currently in existence. It has taken a lot of work to get to this point. It has required the collective good will of Members of both parties and it has meant compromise on both sides. In the Senate Finance Committee, both Chairman Wyden and I worked together for weeks on a bipartisan Federal highway funding extension. At the outset of these negotiations, I stated that I hoped any agreement to extend the solvency of the highway trust fund would contain spending cuts and reforms to go along with any revenues. I fought hard on that point, but in the end that particular goal of mine, with one exception, had to be set aside in order for an agreement to be reached. Of course that is how we pass legislation. If everyone got everything they wanted out of a deal, it would not be a compromise.…
