EMERSON: HIGHWAY BILL IN HOUSE BEST FOR STATE

Missouri would get "its fair share" of federal highway money under a transportation bill now being considered by Congress, Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said Friday.

"Under this bill, Missouri stands to get about $2.5 billion over the next five years, in addition to the earmarked projects that are in the bill. It's as close to equity as you can get," stated Emerson.

"Missouri fares exceedingly well under this bill," he said at the Cape Girardeau First Friday Coffee, held at the Drury Lodge. "It is the best deal for us."

Under the House measure, which Emerson helped write, the state would get twice as much in federal gasoline tax money as it now receives.

And, he said, a number of projects in Southeast Missouri, including the widening of Highway 60 to four lanes from Springfield to Sikeston, would be specifically authorized in the transportation measure.

The current highway act expires at the end of this month and will likely be extended until Congress approves a new transportation bill, Emerson said. A new highway bill may not be enacted until mid-November, he pointed out.

"It's all very complex," explained Emerson. "The Senate has passed its version. The president has other ideas. Some people want the federal highway act to expire altogether."

Said Emerson, "Some people want us not to reauthorize it. They say that would free up money; that the states could then levy gasoline taxes according to their own priorities and the feds would be out of the highway business."

But the congressman said he believes it's important to maintain a national system of highways.

He predicted that the House will pass the measure drafted by the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, of which he is a member.

The measure would then have to go to a conference committee, which would iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

"And we would have to get the president to sign it," said Emerson, "and he may veto it.

"We may go through a veto override scenario here, so I invite you to stay tuned," Emerson told the First Friday gathering.

He predicted there will be "a lot of debate and compromise and conflict" before a new highway bill is enacted.

Opponents of the $153.5 billion measure have criticized the legislation because it calls for a 5-cent boost in federal gasoline taxes.

"This is an era in which people don't want new taxes,' said Emerson.

But the Cape Girardeau Republican said he believes such a tax hike is warranted. He said this is the first proposed tax hike that he has supported in his 11 years in Congress.

Emerson maintained that a nickel increase in the federal gas tax would be "a wise investment for America."

The legislation would result in 2 million new construction jobs, he said.

"This is a bill that when it becomes law you'll see the surveyors out here surveying the rights of way," said Emerson. "You'll see the concrete and asphalt trucks hauling the concrete and the asphalt, and laying highways."

He added, "This is not having people raking leaves or pushing shovels to do nothing, this is putting people to work building highways."

Said Emerson, "I think this tax is a fair tax. It is a user tax and the way the bill is structured, the money would have to go to the roads and bridges."