ruane, first of all thank you and fhwa for, no, thank you all, your organization as opposed to fhwa, as for producing very good data which you have appended to your testimony about projects in each state impacted by the trust fund and federal aid. one problem is, y'all had to spend hours and hours and hours producing that data and it seems to me that data should be readily available through the program and to make it transparent and clear what the trust fund does or doesn't do. would you agree with that and there are reforms that can be made to make the activity under the trust fund far more transparent? >> i absolutely agree. and, it's really tragic one would have to use the freedom of information act to get such information. >> right. >> they have that information going back. i'm not here to, you know, unfairly criticize any government agency but you would think that they would want to get that information out there aggressively and tell the story. we make a recommendation in our testimony specifically, you recall the effort that was made by the administration, various agencies and

to prevent insolvency fhwa may stop reimbursing states on a daily basis and begin reimbursing once a week, once every two weeks or even once a month. december slowdown reimbursement as happened in 2008 forcing the states to delay payments to contractors. will congress to care the issue fighters to go with the general funds transferred states are concerned with the impact in the same situation happening again as early as this summer. if a similar scenario this year the contractors who many rely on trumped payments from the state may be unable to pay their employees subcontractors and suppliers. for some construction businesses and suppliers which survived the recession that are still operating on the slimmest of margins this could simply be the last straw. when ashto testified before this committee last september we thought highway trust fund would stay solvent through the end of fiscal year 2014 but it now appears that congress will have to act before the august congressional recess to ensure that the highway trust fund will have enough funding to reimburse the states for past commit

hwa, you and h w a four -- no, thank you all, your organization as opposed to fhwa, for proposing very good data attached to your testimony for .he impacts for every state one problem is you all have to spend hours and hours and hours producing that data, and it seems to me that data should be readily available through the program, to make it transparent and clear what the trust fund does or doesn't do. would you agree with that, that there are reforms that could be made. >> i absolutely agree. it is absolutely tragic that one should have to use the freedom of information act to get such information. i am not here to unfairly criticize any government agency, you -- but you would think that they would want to get that information out there and tell the story. you recall the effort that was made by the administration in telling the story under the stimulus program. there were routine, very commentary, what was being done around the country. we think that should be pro forma. that should be routine. they should be celebrating these investments and telling the resources arehese going. and

ruane first of all thank you and fhwa, thank you all and your organization for producing very good data which you appended to your testimony about projects in each state impacted by the trust fund and federal aid. one problem is you all have to spend hours and hours and hours producing that data and it seems to me that data should be readily available through the program to make it transparent and clear what the trust fund does or doesn't do. would you agree with that but there are reforms you think can be made to make the activity in the trust fund far more transparent? >> i absolutely had re-and it's really tragic that one would have to use the freedom of information act to get such information. they have that information going back and i'm not here to unfairly criticize any government agency but you would think they would want to get that information out there aggressively and tell the story. .. mid unfortunately they have a response to the report yet. we need that greater transparency. mr. hancock, i'm real concerned, as are many of my republican colleagues about the epa and a new p