Political Quotes

“Mr. President, let me start by congratulating our colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee on which I serve, as well as the banking, commerce, and finance committees, where I also serve, on the recent appointment of a House-Senate conference to attempt to produce a final product for a multiyear transportation plan for our country. I am a strong supporter, as are many of my colleagues, of investments in our Nation's roads, highways, bridges, and transit systems. I have been so for 15 years as a Senator, for 8 years before that as a Governor, and for years before that as someone who focused an economic development and job creation within the State of Delaware. I am pleased on one hand that after too many years of short-term extensions in transportation funding, we are set to make rebuilding and modernizing our country's transportation system a long-term national priority again, and God knows we need to. However, I regret that I still have deep concerns for how Congress has decided to pay for these investments. For decades we have paid for our transportation systems-- roads, highways, bridges, and transit systems--through the use of user fees in the form of Federal excise taxes and, in some cases, on gasoline and diesel fuel to support the funding of our Nation's transportation system for over a half century--over 50 years. I believe that approach remains the fairest and most efficient way to fund transportation projects.…”