Bud Shuster: “I do rise in opposition to the motion to recommit, and I just want to say I have high regard and great respect for the…”

“I do rise in opposition to the motion to recommit, and I just want to say I have high regard and great respect for the gentleman from Oregon and his passion for infrastructure. As long as I have been here, he has certainly been a strong advocate. Leaving the committee to go to Ways and Means, I know his passion is on the Transportation Committee, but now he is on the committee that certainly can help the process and move it forward. But I strongly oppose this motion to recommit. It shortens the length of the time of the extension, and I am afraid that putting all our eggs in a lameduck basket will cause us great problems, and I don't believe it will be successful. And then what do we do then? We are going to be doing another short-term and another short-term extension. So shortening the length is not appropriate, I believe. I think this is the best strategy. It cuts funding. I don't believe that that is in our interest. If we don't get this into next year, we are going to lose that funding because somebody will take it for something else, and if we are not successful in lameduck, then we are going to be going into the next construction season and then we will have trouble working out a solution to that when you cut the funding. It also increases taxes, and that is something right now that I just don't believe this country can accept.…”