Political Quotes

“The point I wish to make is that when the Senator from Montana has the opportunity to present the amendment to the Senate, I wish to be recorded in opposition for the following reasons. There is nothing that I have witnessed in my period here in the Senate that is more divisive than the highway allocation formulas. Mr. President, I do not know--I think I do know, but for the moment I do not have before me the documentation--who devised this formula years ago, but I know it requires many, many bureaucrats and many, many pages of reference material for even those in the Department of Transportation responsible for this allocation formula to figure it out. I think it is incumbent upon the Congress next year as a part of the ISTEA reauthorization, in which I hope to play an active role, to revise this formula so: First, it is simple and can be understood and all States know the various factors that are taken into consideration to make the allocation; and: second, that it is fair. Right now there are donor States and donee States.”