Political Quotes

“What strikes me most about this, Madam President, and to the good Senator from Alaska, is that of all the sectors in the entire American economy--at least in my home State--that have suffered since the financial collapse of 2008, construction was hit the hardest. We already knew that we were far behind in investment. We have tens of thousands of bridges that are out of compliance with basic engineering standards. Half of our roads are below the standards we would expect from a modern economy. This is money that can and should be invested in putting people to work in construction, which has suffered from the highest unemployment. It has the support from the Chamber of Commerce to the AFL CIO, where we wrestled through the tough processes here over several weeks, and we have a strongly bipartisan bill sitting and ready to go. There are other things we debate in this Chamber that will maybe create jobs, maybe won't. There is no question--even those who have the strongest concerns about the Federal role in our economy cannot disagree that Federal highway projects put people to work, strengthen our economy, and make us more competitive. This bill is ready to go. Why you would not take it up and enact it today, I cannot imagine.…”