Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I first want to commend Chairman Olver and Ranking Member Latham and the other members of the subcommittee for putting forth a good bill which makes wise investments in our Nation's transportation systems, our housing industry, and our urban development, investments which will go a long way toward helping America return to a prosperous future. But today I offer an amendment which saves the American people $50 million by cutting a Federal grant program which few States, if any, will participate in this year. It's a small step toward deficit reduction, but it is a wise step. I want to say at the onset I support every man, woman, and child using seatbelts. They save lives and reduce health care costs. Most States have done the right thing and passed laws which make it a traffic violation to not wear a seatbelt. This means if a law enforcement officer sees someone in a car not wearing a seatbelt, they can pull that person over just for that offense. The Safety Belt Performance Grant program this year will spend up to $124.5 million as incentives for States to pass such laws. Thirty-seven States and territories already have those laws. They've already received their one-time payments under the program. But for the remaining States, the incentive program generally does not seem to be attractive or workable. Rightly or wrongly, most States which don't have these primary seatbelt laws don't seem to want to pass these new laws.…”