John Mica

I just don't believe that we are going to be able to have high-speed rail across this country because we can't afford it and because the American people really aren't clamoring for that.

I really believe if we focus on the one true high-speed rail corridor that we have today that desperately needs it, it is the Northeast Corridor.

I do believe there are corridors in this country that need high-speed rail; we should be focused on them.

I just don't believe it is going to happen because we don't have the money.

California, appears to be in disarray.

Unfortunately, three States have returned money for projects that did not get off the ground.

I am very disappointed in some of the things that have happened.

My hope is to get that FAA bill by working with Mr. Rahall hopefully by Christmas.

We can turn lemons into lemon aid, and our committee is working hard on oversight to do that.

In fact, we intend to return to the Treasury a greater amount in 2011 than was returned in 2010.

The Federal Government Must Stop Sitting on Its Assets.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would like to yield to the gentleman from Texas for the purpose of entering into a colloquy.

I want to thank everyone for participating, for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us.

Well, the final thing, and if anyone wants to comment, this is a global race, too, because whoever accepts the protocols and develops the technology, the software, the systems, also wins the world market.

Finally, well, two things. One, have you got enough money, and from what you have seen, our authorization does, I think we are going to end up with a higher rather than a lower figure.

One of the customers for the equipment, the big customer is FAA.

Well, you know, you are from the private sector. You are not doing this just to keep all these occupied Wall Street people happy.

The important thing now is we get the job done, and I look forward to working with everyone in that regard.

We have not had a long-term FAA reauthorization.

I do not intend for there to be another short-term extension of our FAA bill.

I believe we will now have a long-term bill.

Congresswoman DeLauro's bill would do, so it is not able to leverage or gear its own capitalization by issuing debt.

The bipartisan infrastructure bank that Senator Kerry and Senator Hutchison have introduced maintains ownership of the corporation by the Federal Government.

It is the policy of this administration to reduce the miles traveled per person.

I have been a strong proponent of creative and innovative financing methods, especially in a time when we have limited Federal resources.