Political Quotes

“I thank my colleagues Betty McCollum, Barbara Lee, Emanuel Cleaver, Karen Bass, Laura Richardson, Bobby Rush, and Doris Matsui all for cosponsoring this amendment. Our amendment will provide $500 million for the TIGER program, which creates jobs through investments in transportation infrastructure. The economy is struggling to recover from the recession. The unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent nationally for 40 straight months and is even higher in minority communities and in many areas of the country. Meanwhile, the American Society of Civil Engineers' ``2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure'' estimated that there is a $549.5 billion shortfall in investments in roads and bridges and an additional $190.1 billion shortfall in investments in transit. TIGER, formally known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, is a nationwide competitive grant program that creates jobs by funding investments in transportation infrastructure by States, local governments, and transit agencies. TIGER funds projects that will have a significant impact on our Nation's highway and transit infrastructure. TIGER could finance a wide variety of innovative highway, bridge, and transit projects in urban and rural communities all across this country, provided there is sufficient funding. One such project is the Crenshaw/LAX transit corridor in Los Angeles County, a light-rail project that will run through my district.…”