Political Quotes

“Whatever it took, you got it done. A couple of things that I think are also important as we go about this infrastructure, and that is: Who is going to provide the material? I want to give you an example of why it is important that we honor the Buy America laws that exist today. We have had Buy America requirements in laws for almost 50 years now, and those requirements simply say that if it is our taxpayer money or your taxpayer money, then it should be used to buy American-made products and materials. Now, out in California, we have the San Francisco Bay Bridge. This is about a--what do we have here--$3.9 billion project. Excuse me--it is not $3.9 billion; it is about $6 billion. It is $3.9 billion over budget. This project replaces the old San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge connecting the two cities across the bay that collapsed during the 1989 earthquake. The bridge went out to bid, and the contractor said: I can use Chinese steel, and it will be 10 percent cheaper if we use Chinese rather than American-made steel. So the State waived the Buy America requirements. They didn't use them. They went out and bought Chinese steel. Well, they got 3,000 jobs in China and overbudget and poor material. In fact, today it is reported in the California newspapers that one of the major bolts, which is a 25-foot bolt, and I don't know, it must be several inches across, that holds down the main pier to the bridge is cracking. So we have a problem here.…”