Contact: Rob Ostrander 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Friday, April 30, 2004

Kansas City, MO - Senator Kit Bond today was joined by members of the Missouri Transportation Coalition, the Heavy Constructors Association and labor leaders in Kansas City to announce his latest effort to get Congress to pass a six-year transportation bill.

"Every single day I get asked, 'when is Congress going to pass a highway bill?'" said Bond. "There have been no negotiations to get a final transportation bill done at all. No progress toward making our roads and bridges safer. No new jobs created. It is time to tell everyone who, not what, is the real roadblock. Last night, we finally got that progress I have been fighting for."

Bond, who as Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee is jointly responsible for the bill's re-authorization, has grown increasingly frustrated with Senate Democrats' ongoing delay of the bill. The Senate transportation bill passed eleven weeks ago and Senate Democrats continue to hold up the appointment of Senate conferees.

On Thursday, Senator Bond put a hold on legislation to extend current highway and transit programs in order to spur the appointment of these conferees so negotiations between the House and Senate can begin. Late last night, Bond lifted his hold after Senate leaders agreed to hold a vote next week on moving the bill forward.

"Next week, we will have a vote to bring everyone out of hiding," said Bond. "Missouri and our nation need a new highway and mass transit bill to help create jobs and save lives."

In addition to laying out his latest efforts to move the transportation bill, the Missouri Transportation Coalition presented Senator Bond with 35,000 signatures from across the state encouraging final passage of the transportation bill, legislation critical to Missouri's economy.

Bond said Missouri will receive about $1.4 billion in new transportation dollars under the Senate bill. The Department of Transportation estimates that every $1 billion in new federal investment creates 47,500 plus jobs. Most importantly, a comprehensive six-year bill at $318 billion will sustain over 2 million new jobs. These funds will support the much-needed jobs and economic stimulus that the nation currently needs. According to the Associated General Contractors, failure to enact a 6-year bill yields the loss of 90,000 jobs.