Contact: Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Wednesday, May 21, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC – "Today I am pleased to formally welcome Congressman DeLay, Senator Voinovich, Senator Levin and Congresman Hill to the TEA-party. I strongly support the idea of raising the minimum guarantee to donor states like Missouri, Ohio and Texas. My primary concern however, is that in order to hold many other states with returns above 95 percent like Illinois, Alaska or Pennsylvania harmless under the Highway Funding Equity Act, we will need a whole lot more money than what was in the House Budget or even the higher number in the Budget Conference Report. I support a bigger reauthorization program, and by sponsoring this legislation, it appears that my colleagues do too."

"Some members of this donor-state group have publically supported increasing user fees to generate additional Highway Trust Fund revenues while others are in favor of bonding, but many of the bill's cosponsors have not gone public with a funding solution. Hopefully the roll-out of this costly proposal will be followed by a more detailed discussion of how to pay for these and other good ideas. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues that are interested in increased investment in effeciency, safety and security on our nation's roads and bridges."

Kit Bond is the Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee and is also Missouri’s senior Senator, now in his third term after having served the state previously during two terms as Governor.