FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 24, 1998
Contact: Bill Adams
Telephone: (202) 366-5580
DOT 53-98
STATEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY RODNEY SLATER
ON HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVAL OF ISTEA REAUTHORIZATION
Today's House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure vote on ISTEA reauthorization is another step towards a surface transportation bill which keeps America moving.
I commend the Members, especially Chairmen Shuster and Petri and Ranking Democrats Oberstar and Rahall, for a bipartisan bill which includes many of the principles that have served the nation so well under ISTEA. These principles, which President Clinton articulated in his own ISTEA reauthorization proposal one year ago, include a balanced transportation system which meets America=s mobility needs while supporting other vital national priorities.
This bill supports balanced investment in highways, transit, and new transportation technologies, demonstrates a strong commitment to programs that improve safety and protect the environment, and includes initiatives to expand opportunity, such as a continued disadvantaged business enterprise program and a plan to help those making the transition from welfare to work.
Although there is much to praise in this bill, the Administration has some serious concerns. The President, in partnership with Congress, has raised transportation investment to record levels, and supports further increases. However, such increases must fit within last year's bipartisan Balanced Budget Agreement while respecting the President's other priorities.
We strongly oppose increasing transportation investment by moving the transportation trust funds off-budget, since this would circumvent efforts to maintain a balanced budget and force cuts in other key national priorities. We also oppose the bill's inclusion of specific, mandatory highway demonstration projects: states, and not the federal government, are best able to determine which projects should be built.
Timely action on reauthorization is necessary. A lapse in ISTEA funding would shut down safety programs and construction projects around the country. I hope that the full House will act quickly, and that Congress will send the President a strong bill which would keep these vital programs operating.
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