Contact: Rob Ostrander 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Wednesday, July 6, 2005

Doniphan, MO – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today provided a legislative update to local leaders at the Doniphan Chamber of Commerce forum on the Senate passage of the energy bill and the status of federal highway legislation.

“Clearly we need both a comprehensive energy policy and more investment in highways to continue to move America forward. The good news is that the House and Senate have both passed energy and highway legislation but we still have work to do before these important bills are signed into law,” said Bond.

The need for a comprehensive energy bill is clear, Bond pointed out. America is using energy about 40 times faster than is being produced. The cost of not addressing this problem is high, evidenced by record high gasoline and natural gas prices, blackouts, a higher cost of doing business and greater reliance on foreign sources of energy.

The comprehensive energy bill passed by the Senate promotes both production and conservation. The bill provides incentives to expand the production of energy from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass sources to promote cleaner alternative sources of energy and promotes research and development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

Bond stressed that the Senate bill goes further than Congress has ever gone before to conserve energy and make sure that energy is used efficiently. While this progress is important, Bond ensured that common-sense changes were made to fuel efficiency standards. Bond argued that other competing proposed fuel efficiency amendments, which were defeated, would, if enacted, eliminate minivans, sport utility vehicles and light trucks in this country, and the thousands of jobs of the workers that assemble them. In Missouri, 36,000 men and women work directly for the auto industry and 200,000 jobs are auto-dependent.

In addition, Bond said the proposed arbitrary fuel efficiency standards would have to be met by decreasing vehicle weight. Statistics show that decreasing vehicle weight directly affects the fatality rates on roads and bridges.

Bond’s amendment directs the experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to consider key elements such as technological feasibility, cost, safety, emissions controls, consumer choice and the effect on American jobs of any proposed changes in fuel standards.

The dismal state of our state’s and nation’s infrastructure is another priority that must be addressed quickly to keep our economy growing, Bond said. In addition to being a jobs issue, poor infrastructure is also a safety issue: nearly 43,000 Americans continue to lose their lives on our highways and roads each year.

As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, Bond has led the fight in the Senate to reauthorize a new six-year transportation bill and to boost the bill’s funding as well as increasing the rate of return Missouri, which has some of the worst bridges in the country, receives on every dollar paid in gas taxes.

In May, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the transportation bill and since the House and Senate conference has been meeting. Bond hopes to see a final bill passed by Congress in the next several weeks.