Political Quotes

“given all the stories in the papers about ``pork'' in the transportation bill, I rise today to tell you about a transportation project that I believe will benefit hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren and adults alike in the great State of Illinois and which I am proud to sponsor. The Museum Campus Chicago, which is in my district, is made up of three world-famous institutions: the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the John G. Shedd Aquarium. The Museum Campus has a plan to transport visitors to its three institutions and others along the lake in Chicago on free trolleys powered by ethanol. This is a worthy, environmentally beneficial project that will be enjoyed by literally millions of people. And I and others in the Illinois delegation believe it is exactly the type of local project that merits Federal ``BESTEA'' start-up funding in order to get it off the ground. The Chicago Museum Campus was just created through the $92 million relocation of Lake Shore Drive, a major thoroughfare running along Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. The Museum Campus, which is on Park District land, opens officially this June. It totals 57 acres, including 10 new acres of public parkland that allow a continuous link between the three museums, which, Mr. Speaker, already draw nearly 4 million visitors a year.”