for purposes of the distinguished minority whip one minute unanimous consent for one minute to address the house without objection matters speaker i'd like to ask my friend a majority leader for any information about the schedule for the rest of the day today and i yield i thank the gentleman for yielding we will have another vote and then it will be our intention to go to debate on the  no further proceedings on the bill after ten p m tonight and go back to it tomorrow morning after a one minute appreciate that on our side i tell the gentleman that we would not intend to call for a vote on they ruled out which i think is the remaining business for the day other than a voice vote if that's the case and yet the gentleman yield if that's the case then we would expect no additional votes tonight for the members  without objection five minute voting will continue the question is are the adoption of a house resolution five five a those in favor say aye please say i go the polls please say no in the p you know the chance the i have it and the resolution is adopted without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table the house is not in order that house is not in order recorded in the record at the appropriate place consent that during consideration of h r three o seven four pursuant to house resolution five fifty eight the chair may reduce to two minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause six of house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h r thirty seventy four which the clerk will report by title a bill making appropriations for the department for transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal here in exhibit number thirty of two thousand and eight and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the bill is considered read the first time the gentleman from massachusetts mr alder and the gentleman from michigan mr will each control thirty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts thank you madam chairman i yield myself such time as i may consume gentlemen is recognize that in chairman represent the to the house with fiscal year two thousand and eight transportation and housing and urban development appropriations bill i thank members for their input and work on this bill i especially recognize the important contributions of my ranking member mr nolan burke in putting this bill together as former chairman of the subcommittee he had numerous valuable insights that make the bills and report stronger and i have created his advice and counsel during this process i also thank the chairman of the appropriations committee mr obuchi in the ranking member of the full committee mr lewis for their support i must also recognize the hard work of the staff on both the majority and minority side kate h together and we would not be here today without their great dedication this is a bipartisan and fiscally responsible bill indeed this bill should not be partisan because a broad consensus affirming the great need for transportation infrastructure investments and for four portable housing exists country w the bill provides fifty point seven billion in discretionary funding for transportation and housing programs and to live within the subcommittees three o two the allocation none the less due to current budgetary constraints the subcommittee was forced to either flat fun or reduce numerous programs furthermore there are no major expansions of existing programs and only a handful of new initiatives are first airings this year sought a broad assessment of the future challenges this country faces in transportation and housing not surprisingly our hearing show that there is a great and growing need for transportation infrastructure and affordable housing particularly in metro areas experiencing explosive had a dallas phoenix and las vegas but also an older metropolitan areas such as boston new york cleveland and pittsburgh where in whose infrastructure is aging and in need of extensive repair and even in rural communities in counties suffering from a loss of population and disinvestment in both housing and transportation to meet these challenges we visited we have restored the president's deepest cuts and have continued important investments in transportation housing started by my predecessors in short we've tried to make our core programs whole and function better rather than start a lot of new initiatives with regard to transportation our bill fully funds the highway and transit guarantees contained in the current transportation authorization bill known as safety lou the bill contains forty point two billion for highways which is six hundred thirty one million over the president's request and nine point seven billion for transit investments three hundred thirty four million over the president's request adequate investments in our highways and transit systems are critical to the economic and social future of the country vehicle miles traveled on our nation's roads have doubled since hundred eighty while we have fully funded the highway guarantees of this year i must warn my colleagues about the future solvency the highway trust fund the office of management and budget recently estimated that by the end of the fiscal year two thousand and nine a trust fund will have a four billion dollars deficit this deficit is far greater than any other previous projection and will inhibit our ability to fully fund the highway guarantees in the future without additional transportation revenues which must be provided through the authorization process our bill also continues to making critical investments in aviation in one nine hundred ninety five our aviation system handle five hundred forty five