Patty Murray: “a few days ago I spoke about the serious concerns I had with the budget resolution that was proposed by the new…”

“a few days ago I spoke about the serious concerns I had with the budget resolution that was proposed by the new majority. One of the areas where the resolution before us falls woefully short is transportation funding. We have an opportunity before us to increase funding for Federal highway and transit programs by adopting the Bond/Reid amendment. As all Senators know, this year the Congress is scheduled to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century also known as the TEA-21. This bill includes resources not just for highways, but for highway safety and mass transit. This will be an enormous task for four separate Senate authorizing committees and will require a great deal of resources if we are to be able to develop a consensus package that will get on and off the Senate floor. What we do in this budget resolution will set the stage for TEA-21 reauthorization and demonstrate to the American people just how committed we are to investing in our nation's transportation infrastructure; to reducing congestion and improving the environment in our cities; to making our transportation system safer; and to putting people back to work. Simply put, the budget resolution as currently written simply doesn't do enough. The amendment before us would increase the highway program to $255 billion and the transit program to $56.5 billion over the next 6 years.”