Thomas E. Petri: “the bill before us simply makes corrections to inadvertent errors that were contained in the conference report to…”

“the bill before us simply makes corrections to inadvertent errors that were contained in the conference report to accompany H.R. 2400, known as the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which was approved by the Congress on May 22. This legislation reinstates certain provisions agreed to by the conferees but which, for whatever reason, were not included in the final version. Again, these provisions simply reflect agreements reached by the conferees. In addition, upon review by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Department of Transportation, certain other inadvertent errors and technical problems have been discovered and the bill before us today will correct these errors. Congressional approval of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, known as TEA 21, has already been heralded as one of the landmark achievements of the 105th Congress. Building upon the success of its predecessor, ISTEA, TEA 21 continues our nation's highway, transit and safety programs and will lead us into the 21st Century. Perhaps the most important reform in TEA 21 is that transportation spending will now be linked to the taxes being paid by motorists and deposited into the Highway Trust Fund. In addition, major reforms were made to benefit donor states, with each state being guaranteed at least a 90.5 percent Highway Trust Fund return on apportioned programs and projects.”