Political Quotes

“Anyone who drives a car in Washington, DC, knows that this city needs highway money. Practically every street and highway in this town has potholes or broken pavement. Many of the bridges are in dire need of repair or replacement. It seems like every other bridge in the District has at least one heavy metal plate stuck in the pavement to cover a hole in the bridge. The road infrastructure in the District is falling apart. The $82 million in Federal highway trust fund money is absolutely vital if the District is to reverse this trend. But, as we are well aware, a decaying transportation infrastructure is not a unique problem in Washington, DC. Many other cities face similar problems. So why should this city receive a total waiver of fiscal year 1996 and fiscal year 1997 matching funds requirements to get their highway money as the administration has asked for? The District is in this position, because of years of fiscal mismanagement. The city could not sell bonds to raise the capital necessary to meet the 20-percent match requirement, because it's bond rating is so poor. I do not think we want to reward the District's fiscal mismanagement by waiving the share requirement for 2 years. This would be unprecedented in the 39-year history of the Federal highway program and is simply the wrong direction to go in. This legislation does not grant a complete waiver and as a result, does not set such a precedent.”