Patty Murray: “The agency's table shows all of us the amount of money each and every State will see cut next year if the highway trust…”

“The agency's table shows all of us the amount of money each and every State will see cut next year if the highway trust fund were not fixed and if we are required to fix it through the appropriations process for 2009. No State will be spared. Look up your own State. Texas will lose $822 million. Kentucky will lose $175 million. Minnesota will lose $125 million. Maine would lose $44 million. The list goes on. Look up your State and learn what is at risk if we don't vote to move this bill forward and solve this problem. I remind my colleagues that the provisions in this bill do not fix the trust fund on the long-term basis. The fix that is in this bill will only be sufficient to keep the highway trust fund in the black through 2009. But cutting this provision would not just mean States would lose the ability to make urgent road improvements, it would also mean a loss of a half million jobs across our Nation. Many of my colleagues have talked about the terrible impact felt in the construction sector by the recent economic slowdown. Some have called for economic stimulus proposals to get the sector back on its feet. I have to say, stripping the highway trust provision out of this bill will have the exact opposite effect. It will mean layoffs at a time when our economy badly needs help.”