In this vote, the House agreed to an amendment offered by Tom Osborne (R-NE) to H.R. 3 to exempt the custom harvesters in the state of Nebraska from the federal restriction establishing a maximum length for trucks. H.R. 3 was a bill to reauthorize the nation's surface transportation (highways, etc.) laws. Osborne stated that he was offering the amendment because length limits set in 1991 restricted custom harvester lengths to the then-existing limits set by each state. At that time, Nebraska's limit was 65 feet, but the limit in a number of surrounding states was roughly 80 feet. Progressives opposed the amendment, arguing that it would extend the already unsafe policy of permitting very long trucks on the roads that was grandfathered to Nebraska in the 1991 law, consequently making the roads there less safe. Most Republicans supported the amendment, countering that drivers of custom harvesters in Nebraska only now must unnecessarily double-back to the state line to retrieve all of their equipment because they can't drive very long trucks into Nebraska. This is the only way they can avoid running afoul of the length limitation. Republicans argued that this requirement thus imposes an undue and inefficient burden. A number of Democrats joined Republicans to approve this amendment by a vote of 236 to 184, thus putting in the bill a provision exempting Nebraskan custom harvesters from the safety-based length limits on trucks imposed in 1991.