Rob Woodall: “I would have said in the realm of common sense that the authorizing committee should be allowed to authorize. I would…”

“I would have said in the realm of common sense that the authorizing committee should be allowed to authorize. I would have said the realm of common sense would have been that, if we have a committee that is functioning, we should allow that committee to function. I would have said in the realm of common sense, if the committee chairman supports it and the subcommittee chairman supports it, that perhaps we should have had a hearing where we at least talked about it. I ask, Mr. Chairman, when 80 percent of the TIFIA money goes to only 10 States, what impact does this have on smaller States? {time} 1530 I would yield to anyone who knows, but we don't know because this isn't the authorizing committee. The cardinal is absolutely right: He provided additional money in CIG dollars this year. But when there are projects on the horizon that would, by themselves, as a single project, Mr. Chair, consume not 1- year's worth of funding, not 2-years' worth of funding, but 3-years' worth of funding, leaving nothing for any other projects in the Nation, what is the impact of having a mandatory authorization? I see my friend, the chairman, at the desk. I love working with my friend, the chairman, in the committee. In his Dear Colleague that he and Eleanor Holmes Norton sent last year, he pointed out exactly what I am concerned about today, Mr. Chair. He said: ``As you know, the CIG program's statutory language is not like a typical discretionary grant program. . . .…”