John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CHAFEE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I am delighted and, indeed, grateful that the Senate is about to conclude action on ISTEA II. I congratulate my colleagues for wrapping up this effort with such alacrity, rescuing us from a Saturday or even Sunday session, as the majority leader pointed out. He--and I agreed with him--was determined we were going to finish this bill, and we are finishing it way ahead of the outlying time. We have before us a very fine piece of legislation of which we can all be proud. It will truly bring our Nation's transportation system into the 21st century. It will do so with an unprecedented increase in funding, $214 billion over 6 years, for all surface transportation programs. That is the highway plus the transit money. That includes $171 billion for highways. This increase represents the Senate's understanding of the breadth of the needs of our infrastructure and our commitment to meeting these needs. One year ago, the Senate was very divided on the issue of how ISTEA II should look. Within the Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which I have the privilege of being chairman, we had not one, not two, but three very different proposals on what to do with this legislation, how to proceed, how to make the allotments amongst the various States. All of these proposals had merit, and the duty was to try to coalesce them into one unified plan. And we did so. Once ISTEA II reached the Senate floor, we had to address even more complex issues, such as funding, affirmative action, penalties on drunk driving, not to mention the countless highway- and transportation- related concerns which are inherent in this legislation. When it was enacted in 1991, ISTEA I transformed transportation policy in this Nation, what was once simply a highway program--if you had more requirements, you built more roads; needed more lanes, go ahead and build them. But the purpose of this national transportation program is not simply to build more roads; it is to move people and goods as efficiently, swiftly and safely as possible. I pay tribute to the splendid leadership that was given to us on that splendid legislation when it came out of the Environment Committee, on the floor and in the conference. Senator Patrick Moynihan from New York gave us that leadership. I am pleased that ISTEA II perpetuates the critical central ideals of ISTEA I passed in 1991--flexibility and efficiency and intermodalism. We ironed out in ISTEA II some of the problems that were apparent under ISTEA I. With the passage of ISTEA II, transportation policy will be even more responsive to the challenges of the new century. It contains provisions that address the infrastructure challenges of the new millennium, the new period we are going into. This legislation will endure into the first several years of that new millennium. There are exciting technological advances that are made in this legislation and innovative financing mechanisms. It redoubles our Nation's already strong commitment to the environmental health of our people and their safety. There are important measures that strengthen each of these areas. In the bill before us, we recognize we must reach out and be creative. First of all, ISTEA includes a number of innovative ways to finance transportation projects. It establishes a Federal credit assistance program for surface transportation. This new program leverages limited Federal funds by allowing up to a $10.6 billion Federal line of credit for transportation projects, at a cost to the Federal budget of just over half a billion dollars--$500 million. The bill expands and simplifies the State Infrastructure Bank Program to enable States to make the most of their transportation dollars. It includes a new program that will make it easier for the private sector to participate in financing transportation infrastructure. So that is the first big step--innovative financing. The second step recognizes the important role technology plays in an efficient transportation system. Transportation technologies offer a wide array of benefits. They relieve traffic congestion if you can spend money on coordinating your traffic lights, for example, not just building more lanes, but move the same amount of traffic or increase the amount of traffic in the same lanes in a swifter and safer fashion. That is what the technology innovations do. We strengthen the intelligent transportation systems, so-called ITS programs, which were established in the original ISTEA. We provide technologies that have new options to address safety and capacity concerns. Third, the bill before us significantly reforms ISTEA funding formulas. Now we are into the formula business. To balance the diverse regional needs of the Nation, we address the inequities that came about under ISTEA I. The bill before us addresses the tremendous infrastructure needs and terrible congestion problems of densely populated States such as California, New Jersey, and Illinois. And it strengthens the programs tailored to rural expanses in Federal lands in the West. Fourth, we provide real flexibility to localities and States and make the program easier to administer. In ISTEA I, there were five program categories. We reduce that to three, and that includes more than 20 improvements to reduce red tape. As valuable as transportation is to society, there is no question but these new roads and the automobiles and trucks that are on them have taken a tremendous toll on our Nation's air, land, and water. I am proud that ISTEA II builds on the original ISTEA efforts to preserve and protect the environment. In addition, what we do is to concentrate on the safety of drivers and passengers. In the United States, these figures are really shocking. More than 40,000 highway deaths occur every year. And just as troublesome and worrisome as that is, there are 3.5 million automobile crashes that occur each year. These do not--these do not--every one result in fatalities, obviously, but from these crashes come people who are terribly injured. And these injuries, in frequent cases, are detrimental to these individuals throughout the rest of their lives. ISTEA II provides several provisions to reverse this trend of 40,000 deaths a year. We increase the funds devoted to highway safety, and we include incentives for States to increase safety belt use in their States. We encourage the States to pass legislation dealing with seatbelts and to police that requirement, and we do this by not a stick, not by punishing them if they fail to do it, but by a carrot, in giving them increased moneys if they pass such legislation and enforce it. I am pleased that during floor consideration of the bill the Senate increased its commitment to safety by adopting tougher drunk driving standards. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Senators Warner and Baucus. I previously mentioned both of them, but I want to repeat that. They are my distinguished comanagers of floor action on ISTEA II. Always, it is a pleasure to work with each of them. My gratitude goes as well to Senators McCain and Hollings, chairman and ranking member of the Commerce Committee; Senators D'Amato and Sarbanes, chairman and ranking member of the Banking Committee; Senators Roth and Moynihan, chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee, for their efforts on the portions of ISTEA which were within their jurisdiction. Finally, I want to thank the majority and minority leaders, Senators Lott and Daschle, for their skillful work in bringing this bill to such a fine conclusion. I also thank the staff for their hard work and diligence. From my staff, I wish to thank Dan Corbett, Jimmie Powell, Linda Jordan, Abigail Kinnison, Cheryle Tucker, Bob Greenawalt, and Amy Dunathan. Mr. President, this legislation is very complicated. Nearly every Senator here has an amendment. And they bring them up to us, as is proper, for consideration. And they want an answer: ``Are you going to accept this amendment? If you are not willing to accept it, can we make changes to make it palatable to all concerned? Are you going to reject it so we have to go to a vote?'' It puts a tremendous burden on the staff, and they try--and in this case have succeeded--to give swift answers to the proponents of each amendment. We had some 500-plus amendments that were submitted in connection with this legislation. All of them had to be looked at. I want to recognize the tireless efforts of Ann Loomis and Ellen Stein from Senator Warner's staff, and Kathy Ruffalo and Tom Sliter from Senator Baucus' office, and Janine Johnson from the Senate legislative counsel's office. Last but not least, Mr. President, I extend my appreciation to a number of individuals from the Federal Highway Administration who have been with our staff on the weekends and well past midnight working on this legislation--Patty Doersch, Tom Weeks, Roger Mingo, Deidra Goodman, Bud Wright and his staff. Also, I want to thank the Secretary of Transportation, Secretary Rodney Slater, for his cooperation. And we have had the assistance of the head of the Federal Highway Administration, Gen. Kenneth Wykle, whom we consulted with several times in connection with this legislation. They are always within a phone's reach, both he and the Secretary. And they have been very valuable. So, in conclusion, Mr. President, I urge all my colleagues to cast a resounding ``yea'' vote in favor of S. 1173. I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator DeWine, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, from my visits to California, I have learned first hand how the traffic coming through the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are expected to more than double by the year 2020 with 25% of all U.S. imports coming through these two ports. If we are to realize the benefits of this increased trade, we must improve the efficient movement of the cargo throughout this nation while at the same time taking every step to enhance the safety of the residents of the area and to improve the environment. The Senator should be assured that I will give this project every consideration as we move to final enactment of this bill.

Mr. CHAFEE. I want to assure the Senator from Pennsylvania that I am well aware of this project and his support for it. It certainly is commendable when a State will put up 80 percent of any highway project and I thank the Senator for his input, which will be helpful as we proceed to a conference with the House. Increasing the Allocations to Indian Reservation Roads

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I share the Senators' view that advanced composites deserve further investigation for their applications to bridge construction, and are certainly innovative materials that fall under the purview of the bridge research program.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I shall enthusiastically read the Record tomorrow to find out about all these fine comments. I want to take this opportunity before he leaves the floor to thank my good friend, the chairman of the subcommittee that dealt with this legislation. He gave us such a hand on the floor. We had a few problems to start with, but they were soon eliminated, and we charged on.

Mr. CHAFEE. I thank the Senator from Ohio for his statement. If this issue is in the House bill it will be before the conference committee. metropolitan planning organization status for the lake tahoe basin

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, if I can briefly explain. These amendments deal with the application of the DBE Program to the transit title. Inadvertently, these provisions were left out when the original transit title was adopted. These amendments provide for the DBE portion of the transit title, and the second provision deals with the McConnell modifications to that. The McConnell modifications were the ones we adopted to the DBE in the highway program yesterday.

Mr. CHAFEE. With one addition, the application of the McConnell amendment to that title. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. If there be no further debate, the question is on agreeing to the amendments. (The amendments Nos. 2003 and 2004 to amendment No. 1676, en bloc, were agreed to.)

Mr. CHAFEE. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, this amendment relates to the Commerce Committee's amendment. It is under the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee, and has been approved by the chairman and ranking member of that committee. It establishes a commercial zone designation for two counties in New Mexico.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, the yeas and nays have not been ordered on the committee amendment, have they?

Mr. CHAFEE. Those were taken care of, and we were able to charge on to this successful conclusion.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Domenici, I send an amendment to the desk

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 12, 1998, at 2 p.m. in room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building to hold a hearing on ``S. 1530, the Protect Act and Children's Health: Can We Stop Kids From Smoking?''

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, be authorized to meet for a hearing on Assessment of New Health Care Technologies Role of AHCPR during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 12, 1998, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 12, 1998, at 9:30 a.m. on pending committee business.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be allowed to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 12, 1998, at 9 a.m. in SR- 328A. The purpose of this meeting will be to examine the reauthorization of expiring child nutrition programs.