The Highway Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, after literally months of discussion and a lot of cooperation from chairmen and ranking members and staffs and Members from both sides of the aisle, I am happy to announce that Senator Boxer and I have an agreement for a multiyear, bipartisan highway bill. We hope to be able to discuss this agreement at our conferences shortly. This is a 6-year highway authorization that will allow planning for important long-term projects around the country. The bill also provides 3 years--3 years--of guaranteed funding for the highway trust fund.

Senators from both parties know that a long-term highway bill is in the best interest of our country, so we will continue working together to get a good one passed. Thanks to the dedication of both Republican and Democratic Senators and their staffs, I am hopeful that we will.

I wish to thank some other people who have been involved in getting us to where we are. In particular, I thank Chairman Jim Inhofe, Chairman Orrin Hatch, Chairman John Thune, and Chairman Richard Shelby for their efforts to reach a bipartisan accomplishment.

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