WASHINGTON (Feb. 13)—By a 76-21 vote, the U.S. Senate passed a $318 billion highway and transit reauthorization bill despite veto threats from the Bush administration because the measure exceeds President Bush's transportation budget request by $62 billion.
The Senate rejected 78-20 an amendment by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to cut funding levels to the $256 billion the administration wants. The big news for the tire industry was that Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, decided to withdraw his planned amendment requiring point-of-purchase disclosure of a tire's month and year of manufacture, a requirement the industry staunchly opposed without prior studies of the effects of tire aging on tire safety.