Herb Kohl: “earlier today I supported an amendment offered by my distinguished colleague from West Virginia, Senator Rockefeller.…”

“earlier today I supported an amendment offered by my distinguished colleague from West Virginia, Senator Rockefeller. Senator Rockefeller's amendment to the Budget Resolution would have restored $10.5 billion to the Veterans' Affairs Subommittee, offsetting that restoration by reducing funds allocated to the Transportation Subcommittee. As we all know, the Senate ISTEA bill, now awaiting conference deliberations with the House, authorized approximately $217 billion for transportation over 6 years--about $171 billion for highways, about $41 billion for transit and about $2 billion for safety. These levels represent a 38 percent increase for transportation over the previous ISTEA bill. Under the Budget Resolution considered today, a significant portion of this increase is financed by a $10.5 billion reduction in funds set aside to pay for smoking related illnesses among veterans. Mr. President, I believe we need to do more for infrastructure development--our investment in roads, bridges and transit must increase if we hope to maintain our quality of life while keeping up with the demands of the economy and the changing nature of our cities and towns. That said, veterans should not have to pay for that investment. It's not right, and perhaps more importantly, it's not necessary.”