John Mica: “With record national unemployment in my State, 11.8 percent unemployment, one of the top 10 unemployment States in the…”

“With record national unemployment in my State, 11.8 percent unemployment, one of the top 10 unemployment States in the United States, I would love to come before the Congress and say, ``Pass this bill,'' titled the ``jobs'' bill, but I can't do that today for several reasons. First of all, let me say to those who have come before us who have said that just getting more money even in a short-term Transportation bill will get things going: I don't know the facts. Over 1 year ago, we passed $48 billion in stimulus money that went to the Department of Transportation. So far, as of March 2, only $8.8 billion has been spent. This is not a 6-year bill we are passing, and that's what we should be doing to ensure that States can do long-term projects, not just the repaving of sidewalks and simple things that we've seen done. This bill does not contain the elimination of the redtape and the hoops that States have to go through for compliance to do any project. This will be our fifth extension, and it only goes to December 31.”