Copyright 2002 eMediaMillWorks, Inc.
(f/k/a Federal
Document Clearing House, Inc.)
Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
January 24, 2002 Thursday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 562 words
COMMITTEE:
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
HEADLINE: HIGHWAY FUNDING
REAUTHORIZATION TESTIMONY-BY: MAX
BAUCUS, SENATOR
AFFILIATION: OF MONTANA
BODY: Opening Statement for Max Baucus Of Montana
EPW TEA 21 Hearing
January 24, 2002
Thank you Mr.
Chairman. It is my pleasure to be here today to discuss the
reauthorization of a law that I am privileged to have helped
write. Along with Senators Warner and Chaffee and others on this Committee and
on other Committees, we hammered out a bill that I believe was equitable to all
states and that served this nations
transportation system well.
TEA 21 staked out new ground by putting into law the requirement that all gas
tax revenues be devoted to highways. Some of the members in this room were
instrumental in achieving that goal. Now I don't have to remind you of the
difficult debates we had over funding formulas among the three main groups,
northeast states, donor states, and western states. But in the end, we achieved
a bill that was supported by the vast majority of Senators. So the final result,
while not perfect, was a good compromise and was broadly supported.
I
look forward to working with the leadership on this Committee and other
committees to develop a new highway bill that will help to continue many of the
ideas that TEA 21 began--the integrity of the Trust Fund, the budget firewalls
and an equitable distribution of formula dollars.
I plan to hold
hearings on the Finance Committee addressing the balances in the Highway Trust
Fund and on innovative ways of financing
transportation
projects.
I plan to use my role as Chairman of the Finance Committee to
gain more funding for the program and to protect the Highway Trust Fund. As
always I am committed to highways and to the Highway Trust Fund.
I
personally have several ideas about what I would like to see in a new bill and
as I do for every
reauthorization, I will be introducing a
highway bill in the coming months. I have been working with the Montana DOT and
other western states to develop ideas for the next several years of highway
policy. I assure you that my bill will not serve the West to the detriment of
other states. Quite the contrary. My bill will be a national bill and a
decidedly pro highway bill.
Once again, I look forward to being very
active and assisting the leadership of this Committee as much as I can, as we
embark on this new chapter in highway law. There is something of concern that I
would like to mention here today, particularly in the presence of our
distinguished Secretary of
Transportation. It has come to my
attention that because of various factors, the RABA for this year will be
negative. In fact I have heard predictions that we are looking at a program that
is $9 billion less than the FY 02 program. We must do something about this. We
cannot go into the next
reauthorization with such a low
baseline. If this is in fact the case and we are looking at a lower program over
the next few years, I would support the influx of new obligation authority to
the states for the next two years. This would prevent the base numbers for the
next highway bill from going down too much. I hope that Secretary Mineta will
address this in his remarks today and that this Committee, the Finance Committee
and the Administration can work together to alleviate this problem that will
plague our
reauthorization efforts if not addressed.
I
look forward to today's hearing and future hearings as we prepare for the next
reauthorization. LOAD-DATE:
January 25, 2002