Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank the chair, ranking member, and all the colleagues who worked so hard on bringing this legislation to the floor. My amendment is really about improving this bill. It is going to make it a better bill, and it is about making our Nation's roads safer and the delivery of goods more efficient. There are 15.5 million trucks on the road each year driving more than 93 billion miles annually, carrying over a billion dollars' worth of goods. There is no question that our Nation's trucking industry is a huge economic driver, earning $650 billion annually, 5 percent of the United States GDP. With all that sunshine comes a little bit of rain. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that in 2013 almost 4,000 people were killed and 95,000 people were injured by large trucks, costing the public a whopping $100 billion annually. So my amendment does three things to increase safety and to reduce those costs. First, the amendment brings the requirement for commercial truck insurance into the 21st century. It is shocking, Mr. Chair, that the minimum insurance required for commercial trucks has remained the same since the 1980s at $750,000 per incident regardless of the number of victims or their injuries. The FMCSA, which is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is currently engaged in rulemaking to examine the appropriateness of this standard. The base bill requires studies that I respectfully submit will slow down this process.…”