i'm going to listen to his republican chairman john micah. this is from last tuesday's meeting and he's going to describe what he thinks is important in this in negotiation over to highway bill. >> let's not just spend more money or throw money at problems. let's have some serious reforms that get people working, get projects moving across this country. and let me set some markers out here. we're going to have to pay for this and pay for it responsibly. we're not going to raise taxes. anyone who wants to raise taxes, you're on the wrong conference committee. i think we must not include earmarks. we did the faa bill without that. and we can't add to the federal bureaucracy. we've got to cut red tape paperwork and start streamlining the process that actually get things done. >> first we should note at very large conference committee. >> 47 members. >> how can you get work done with so many people? >> the chair of the conference is senator boxer. and she has done excellent job so far breaking it down into various groups, addressing various issue

john duncan. put your mike on, sir. >> i want to commend you and chairman micah and all the members of the house and senate who are here today who have worked so hard to get to us this point. i look forward to working with everyone to iron out our differences and send the bill to the president's desk as soon as possible. this is certainly the most important jobs bill that this congress will deal with because these are jobs that will be done here not in china or afghanistan or elsewhere. over the course of this conference, we will be dealing with a large number of policy issues that affects all of our nation's surface transportation system. one that we emphasized in hr 7 in the house is streamlining the project delivery process. we have given lip service to that goal for many years but we haven't accomplished much at all. too much government bureaucracy and red tapes -- increasing construction costs out of site. according to the federal highway administration, the project delivery process can take up to 15 years from planning through construction. this is simply unacceptable. another analysis conducted by the national t