On the recordJuly 15, 2014
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the distinguished ranking member. Thank you for your hard work in trying right now to put a Band- Aid on our bleeding transportation funding. Thank you for trying to get the transportation cart out of the ditch. Mr. Speaker, we have reached the eleventh hour, and soon projects will be closing down across the country. It is unfortunate that we are at this juncture on the road to funding transportation responsibly. We had a chance for a 5-year bill, and we did not have the leadership, I believe, from the White House. In fact, President Obama was AWOL during that entire process. Now, today, we see the President has been at a bridge, and he is going to be at another site. He is out at a research thing, talking about transportation funding. Where was the President when Mr. Oberstar--the distinguished gentleman who recently passed away and who was chair of the committee-- offered a bill, and he came and cut his legs out from underneath the Democrat chairman? We would have had a longer term, fully funded bill. If it is to secure our borders, where has he been? He says he doesn't do photo ops, but he is doing them now, and he will do them on transportation. He doesn't need to be at the bridge. He needs to be here, working with these distinguished Members of Congress for a long- term solution. He was absent at the border, and he is absent as we need to secure our Nation's infrastructure. This is not acceptable.…
