Contact: Rob Ostrander 202-224-5721 Shana Stribling 202-224-0309
Thursday, February 12, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC Calling it a victory for jobs and safety, Senator Kit Bond today announced that the federal highway bill passed the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

Bond, who has led the fight for quick passage, urged his colleagues in the House to act quickly on this important legislation, stressing the highway bill dollars will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in Missouri and across the nation.

"This bill is the most important economic development and job-creating bill in this session of Congress. Today's vote is a victory for jobs and safety," said Bond, who as Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee is jointly responsible for the bill's re-authorization. "This bill will put a lot of hardworking Americans back to work and it will save lives. Americans overwhelmingly support increased investment in our roads and bridges. I hope my colleagues in the House listen to the American people and act quickly. It is time to sign a highway bill into law."

For Missouri, this bill is particularly significant. For years, Bond has fought to increase the return on the dollar that Missourians pay in Federal transportation taxes. In 1987, when Bond joined the Senate, Missourians received 76 cents on the dollar. Over the past two re-authorizations, Bond has successfully increased Missouri's share to 90.5 cents in the current bill, TEA-21. In the bill that passed the Senate today, Missouri will receive a minimum guarantee of 95 cents on the dollar, which will result in approximately $1.4 billion in new dollars, or $233 million per year, designated for Missouri's transportation needs.

In addition to the $1.4 billion new dollars for Missouri, an extra $50 million is included in the bill for the proposed Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis. This makes the bi-state bridge a federal priority, helping ease the burden on Missouri's competing transportation needs. The bill will also create an estimated hundreds of thousands of new jobs per year, since every $1 billion in highway spending creates an estimated 47,500 new jobs, a significant boost to job growth efforts.

The bill also elevates safety to a core program highlighting the need to address the over 42,800 lives lost on our nation's roadways 2003. Bond also praised the bill's new positive environmental measures. The bill will ensure that projects sensitive to environmental concerns will move through a more structured environmental review process with fewer delays.

The new bi-partisan highway bill, the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003" (SAFETEA), builds upon previous re-authorizations, including the 1992 Intermodal Surface transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and the 1998 Transportation Equity Act or TEA-21, which is now scheduled to expire at the end of February.