Senate public-works chair says new highway bill should have 'targeted initiatives' for rural areas

In response to complaints from fellow senators, mainly Republicans, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said yesterday that the next highway bill should include "targeted initiatives focused on the needs of rural America." She is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is writing the bill.

"Boxer's comments came in response to concerns from Republican Sens. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Barrasso of Wyoming that their heavily rural states would be hurt by the addition of new programs aimed directly at combating urban congestion," John Voorhees of Environment & Energy Daily (subscription-only) reports.

Inhofe, the committee's ranking Republican, said "The Oklahoma Panhandle doesn't have the same problems as New York City or San Francisco." Boxer said California has almost as many miles of rural roads as urban ones. "I have more rural areas than you can imagine," she said. "We're going to work together; we all have common interests."