The Highway Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, there are a lot of tired clichés about not giving up after an initial setback. I won't subject our colleagues to any of those this morning, but I will say that last night's vote represents an important first step toward passing a multiyear, bipartisan highway bill. It is the first step on a much longer road but, in my view, a worthwhile one.

This bipartisan bill will fund our roads, highways, and bridges for longer than any transportation bill considered by Congress in a decade, and the highway proposal will do so without increasing taxes or adding to the deficit. That is no small achievement.

Just consider what the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget had to say about the bill we voted to move forward on last night. It is ``refreshing,'' they said, to see Congress focusing ``on a multi-year solution instead of just another short-term patch.'' In general, their overall view was that this is ``a fiscally responsible bill that relies on some pretty solid offsets.'' That is from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. They called it ``a fiscally responsible bill that relies on some pretty solid offsets.'' Positive comments such as those echo the kinds of things I continue to hear from Members of both parties.

I would like to thank the Senator from California and the other Members on her side who worked with us to help prepare this bill and then voted with us to advance it last night. I hope we will continue to work together to finally deliver a fiscally responsible, long-term highway bill for the American people.

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