mr. oberstar and i were going for a six-year bill. that was not to be, and i regret that. mr. oberstar was a wonderful individual that did all he could to move this process forward and i was saddened when the administration at that time opted actually to cut his legs out from underneath him for a short-term measure, and that's really what puts us in this place. a lot of people say this can't be done, but i've got senator rockefeller and i've got senator hutchinson over there, and we had 17 extensions before i became the chair of the committee some 14 months ago, and we did an faa bill. it wasn't what everybody wanted. everyone would have done it a little bit differently, but we got it done, and it is the law of the land. the president signed that on the 14th. so i think this can be done, and i think it's important that we do get it done. there are millions and millions of americans who don't have jobs, particularly in the hard-hit construction industry. but while we all share a commitment to build our nation's infrastructure. i think we've got to really focus on what is in the

mr. oberstar and i were going for a six-year bill. that was not to be. i regret that. mr. berstar was a wonderful individual who did all he could to move this process forward and i was saddened when the administration that that time i did actually to cut his legs out from under me 10 from a short-term measure. that's really what puts us in the slate. a lot of people say this can't be done, but i've got senator rockefeller and i've got senator hutchison over there and we had 17 extensions before i became the chaired the committee some 14 months ago. we did an essay bill. it wasn't what everybody wanted. everyone would've done it a little bit differently, but we've got the law of the land the president signed on the 14th. so i think this can be done. there are millions and millions of americans who don't have jobs in the hard-hit construction industry. but while we all share a commitment to build our nation's infrastructure, we've got to really focus on what is in the transportation bill and if it does get the job done. i think in order to achieve that goal -- and it is an im

mr. oberstar was a wonderful individual who did all he could to move this process forward, and i was saddened when the administration at that time opted actually to cut his legs out from underneath him for a short-term measure, and that's really what puts us in this place. a lot of people say this can't be done, but i've got senator rockefeller and i've got senator hutchison over there, and we had 17 extensions before i became the chair of the committee some 14 months ago. and we did an f.a.a. bill that wasn't what everybody wanted. everyone would have done it a little bit differently. but we got it done and it is the law of the land. the president signed that on the 14th. so i think this can be done, and i think it's important that we do get it done. there are millions and millions of americans who don't have jobs, particularly in the hard-hit construction industry. but while we all share a commitment to build our nation's infrastructure, i think we've got to really focus on what is in the transportation bill, and if it does get the job done. i think in order to achieve that goal -- and it i