In this vote, the Senate approved an amendment offered by Tom Davis (R-VA) to remove language from H.R. 3 that would have mandated that states establishing HOT (high-occupancy toll) lanes include a lower fee for low-income drivers. H.R. 3 was a bill to reauthorize the nation's surface transportation (highways, etc.) laws. Progressives argued that creating HOT lanes without a reduced fee for low-income drivers would result in highway lanes for the use of the wealthy only, and that low-income workers might be "tolled out of" jobs that would require them to use those roads. (James Oberstar (D-MN).) Republicans countered that the tolls on these lanes represent "user fees, not taxes," and that requiring "income-based tolling" would make the HOT lanes extremely difficult to administrate and would discourage the critical formation of public-private partnerships to fund road construction and improvements. (Davis.) The House approved Davis's amendment by a vote of 224 to 201; thus, language requiring that low-income drivers be permitted to pay reduced rates on HOT lanes was removed from the bill.