mr. speaker , i would just say that the president has been criticized for not vetoing any bills over the last 4 1/2 years , but it has become a tradition around here to include the president as we do legislation through the house and the senate and therefore working out any of our differences so that he would not have to veto a bill , and i do not see that the highway bill is any different than anything else we have been doing for the last 4 1/2 years . 
so he is obviously a major player in this process . 
the house , as the gentleman says , has expressed itself at a number . 
we think the president will sign the bill . 
the senate has chosen to do otherwise . 
hopefully , we can work this out in the conference committee so that the president will not have to mar his record by vetoing a bill . 
