FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2001
CONTACT: Lisette Mondello
SENATOR HUTCHISON WINS INCREASE IN FUNDS GOING TO TEXAS
FOR BORDER SAFETY INSPECTION FACILITIES
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate on Tuesday passed the federal transportation budget, which includes $12 million requested by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the Texas Department of Transportation to build more safety inspection facilities along the state's border with Mexico.
The money is in addition to the $103 million included for safety facilities and inspectors along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, which was also left out of the original House-passed bill. Senator Hutchison fought to include both appropriations in the Senate's version, and to retain the money in the final conference report. The $103 million was requested by the president in the budget he sent to Congress in the spring.
"I support free trade and NAFTA, but we must ensure that Mexican trucks and buses meet the same safety standards as U.S. trucks traveling on our roads," Senator Hutchison said."That is why I fought hard during the appropriations process to secure this additional money for Texas, so TX-DOT can start to build these facilities to inspect the trucks, and keep the goods flowing across our border that help both countries' economies."
Senator Hutchison is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is a former vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The fiscal year 2002 transportation appropriations conference report (H.R. 2299) passed the Senate 97-2. It passed the House 370-11 on Nov. 30. The bill will now be sent to the president for his signature.
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