Tom Latham: “I rise in strong support of this amendment. Let me just say that this has been a subject of great discussion with the…”

“I rise in strong support of this amendment. Let me just say that this has been a subject of great discussion with the ranking member and me over time. I hope the people of the House understand and the American people understand what an outright waste of money these projects have oftentimes become. Everybody here is talking about our needing more money for infrastructure, transportation; let's get the trust fund built up; we're trying to find new ways of funding. I hope everyone understands that, 2 years ago, before we got control of this committee, they took $150 million out of the highway trust fund to pay for sustainability projects and grants. That's rather interesting. When it's an unauthorized program, no one even has a definition of what a ``sustainable community'' is. There is no definition of where this money could go. This is $150 million, and people talk about all their projects at home--of their highways in disrepair, of the bridges falling down--and we're spending $150 million out of that trust fund for things that aren't even defined and that are not authorized. Mr. Chairman, it is outrageous. I just spoke with the Secretary of HUD a few weeks ago on this issue because I have zeroed it out in this bill. There is no money for sustainable communities, whatever that is. Do you know the example the Secretary gave me of a good project?…”