Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I thank the ranking member for his support of this amendment. I thank Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman Smith for working with me and working together on this amendment. The piece of the amendment that I want to address is the language based on a small piece of the Future TRIP Act, which I introduced, cosponsored by Chairwoman Comstock, and that we passed in the Subcommittee on Research and Technology of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The gentlewoman is chair of that committee. I am ranking member on that subcommittee. The language in this amendment from my bill calls for a regional transportation center on connected vehicles and connected infrastructure. Connected and autonomous vehicles hold enormous promise for safe, efficient transportation. This research center could play a big part in developing new technologies in this area, so I am very pleased to have it included in this amendment. The amendment also contains language from my bill in regard to University Transportation Centers. It allows universities to lead one proposal for each type of center. It also permits universities to collaborate on as many awards as they like, as long as they are not leading the proposal. This gives increased flexibility to those universities that have special expertise in this area. I want to thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio for their support in working with us. I urge my colleagues to support this.”