Mario Díaz-Balart

Thousands of my constituents in northeast Queens are bombarded daily by helicopter noise...

Absent a significant essentially martial plan for these distressed communities, and absent a really thoughtful approach, the next wave of significant investment could actually be a repeat of that phenomenon.

3.1 billion dollars in rail from the, in the OMNI which this committee is very proud of

This is obviously a major problem, an unacceptable problem that we need to figure out.

I want to work with you to kind of dive into it and make sure that our seniors are protected.

Thank you for--your name was invoked a little while ago, and again, your leadership on all issues, but particularly on the housing, will be greatly missed, greatly missed.

We literally just wanted to make sure that we did not add bureaucrats, bureaucracy, and we did none of that.

I look forward to working with you. Let me just quickly go to--Secretary Carson has focus on the need to increase home ownership and opportunities for home ownership.

As you know, the House and the Senate both placed a huge priority on continuing the authorized transit Capital Investment Grants.

I do not think crisis is too strong a word.

I think it is a billion dollar increase over frankly the historic high as far as I know.

You mentioned demolition, and so, you know, the taxpayers have invested for a long, long time on housing stock, right?

We have to continue to invest wisely in infrastructure.

We wanted to show how important it is to use that money, to put it to good use as soon as we can.

To me, this is a national priority, above politics, by two States that bore the brunt of September 11, 2011.

We ought to make sure that whatever we have to do to make sure that something like that is not repeated is done.

I believe that the next big institutional failure that we will see in this country is the collapse of the whole subset of American cities.

So anything that you and your team can do to help them prepare for a long-term recovery plan would be very helpful.

Gateway will be built, if not during your tenure, Madam Secretary, then thereafter.

Is that something that was looked at?

So your intention is, obviously, to do that?

It is to ensure enough funds are available to--for all the projects that are currently--have been executed, full funded grant agreements.

I have seen firsthand in places like Hialeah and Miami, as you have, by the way, the effectiveness of these dollars on the ground.

I know you are committed to that, and I look forward to working with you.

I remain angered by the administration's opposition and very calculated indifference towards the project.