Political Quotes

“on September 29, the bipartisan leadership of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure introduced H.R. 5183, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004. H.R. 5183 would extend our Nation's surface transportation programs for an additional 8 months, through May 31, 2005. While I fully support this extension, I am certainly not pleased that we need to consider such a measure once again. This is the fifth such extension we are considering since our highway and transit programs expired exactly 1 year ago. Earlier this year, my colleagues in this body labored long and very hard to pass H.R. 3550. In writing TEA-LU, our committee considered the interests and needs of almost every single Member of this body. We held dozens of hearings and we heard from many Members. We heard about their needs in their districts that they represent. Most importantly, we listened. We tried to accommodate the needs of every Member within the $275 billion bill. All in all, I think that the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young), the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and myself on the Committee on Transportation and the Infrastructure did a good job. I believe we wrote a good bipartisan bill. This body passed TEA-LU by a vote of 357-65. But now many, many months later, this measure is stalled in conference.”