(Washington, D.C.) - Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus is calling on his colleagues to focus on jobs and pass the Highway Bill. In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Baucus urged his colleagues to stay focused on highway jobs and the important transportation infrastructure investments the nation needs to stay competitive. The current highway bill expires at the end of March. Last week, Baucus helped lead the charge to stop an amendment to the highway bill that targeted women's health insurance coverage.

"I'm urging my colleagues to stay focused on this important bill that supports our roads, bridges and good-paying jobs. We've got a lot of dirt between stop signs in Montana and there's very little under the Big Sky that doesn't depend on our highways.  Montana jobs rely on the highway bill because Montana is a highway state - it's that simple," Baucus said.

The last Highway Bill, passed in 2005, brought more than $2.3 billion to Montana for highway construction projects and helped create and sustain more than 18,000 good-paying jobs across the state.

 As a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Baucus helped pass the policy framework for the bill unanimously through the panel in November. As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Baucus worked to come up with a bipartisan plan to responsibly pay for the investments in the Highway Bill. Baucus is urging Congress to stay focused on highway jobs and transportation infrastructure as the Senate works through procedural steps this week.

Additional background:

• The last Surface Transportation law expired on September 30, 2009. Since then, Congress and the President have extended the law eight times in order to continue to provide federal funding.

• The current extension expires March 31, 2012 and many groups ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the AFL-CIO have called for immediate action to reauthorize the nation's transportation programs.

• The new Highway Bill Baucus is co-sponsoring maintains funding at current levels for two years, reforms the nation's transportation programs to make them more efficient, and provides robust assistance for transportation projects under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) - a program to leverage state, local, and private-sector funding.

Full text of Baucus' Floor Statement on the Highway bill is available online HERE.

 Excerpt text:

"According to the US Chamber of Commerce's Transportation Performance Index, we could lose nearly $340 billion in potential economic growth over the next five years if we do not pass a Highway Bill and provide the certainty our economy needs.

Our transportation system depends on substantial investments from the federal government.

This investment consistently yields a big return for American jobs.

In my home state of Montana the last Highway bill created or sustained more than 18,000 good-paying jobs.  And nationwide it put approximately 35,000 people to work for every billion dollars invested.

Folks, these are not just statistics.

These numbers represent families able to put food on the table.

These numbers represent small businesses able to attract new customers.

I know these types of investments work because I spent a day working alongside a road construction crew on Amsterdam Road in Bozeman.

They showed me the ropes of running a road grader a paver and an excavator.

And during the workday, I talked with about a dozen workers who said their families depended on the project for their livelihood.

Their work also had a major impact on the community because Amsterdam Road is one of the most traveled roads in the area.

Investing in our transportation infrastructure is investing in our families and our economy.

This bill seeks to maintain that investment through 2013.  

I would prefer a longer bill to provide greater certainty.

But, we are already two years past due.  We must work together now to get something done now. And a two-year bill provides the compromise we need to get there."

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