Jay Rockefeller: “I fully support highway funding. Obviously, in a State like West Virginia, where it is mostly mountainous, highway…”

“I fully support highway funding. Obviously, in a State like West Virginia, where it is mostly mountainous, highway funding is more important and more expensive than most places. I supported Senate passage of ISTEA. We are spending $217 billion on highway funding this year. When I was Governor, I helped get an amendment passed in this Congress, which was actually referred to as the Rockefeller amendment, which said if States had accumulated money, they went to the head of the line on interstate highway building and got their money from the Federal Government first. Again, this is in no way an antihighway amendment, as some are very anxious to label it. It is, however, very much a proveteran amendment. The amendment has one purpose and one purpose only: To protect veterans funding from a midnight raid--nothing less--by the administration and the Budget Committee. The raid isn't really a raid, it is a ravage on the authority of the Veterans' Committee to see that the needs of the Nation's veterans are met. In this case, I am talking particularly about disabled veterans. It is as simple as that. The veterans' account under the budget authority is being cut by $10.5 billion to pay for an enormous increase in highway funds.”