Well, you pay for it as you pay for transportation improvements at the local, State, and Federal level. You issue debt to finance the life of the project.

That's right. And according to Transportation for America, there are 69,000 structurally deficient bridges in the United States. There are over 2,000 structurally deficient bridges in New York State. There are 99 structurally deficient…

Again, I want to thank you for your leadership on these issues and for bringing us together tonight to discuss this important issue. Hopefully it will be the first of many or a continuation of this discussion. But even groups like the…

Well, I think you made a very good point, particularly with your leadership on the Make It in America initiative. Keep in mind, when you invest in American infrastructure you're buying labor from American businesses. You're buying supplies…

Well, I would just say, back to the power of America, you hear in this Chamber a lot of tough talk about China. The best way to respond to China is to stand up to them, to compete with them. They cheat on their currency, they treat their…

Left unresolved, the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff, with spending cuts and increased taxes, will exact real and permanent damage on the American people and on the American economy. What we need is leadership--leadership that was lacking…

This week, The Washington Post reported that unless America doubles its spending on port infrastructure, we are on track for export losses of $270 billion by 2020 because our ports do not have sufficient capacity. That translates into a…

First, I want to thank Jeff Duncan for his leadership and friendship on this issue and for his hard work on this. It's a very important bill that obviously enjoys bipartisan support. I rise in support of H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in…

Earlier today I missed rollcall vote 584, on final passage of H.R. 6213. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' ____________________

Tonight, I will join Members of Congress Mike Quigley and Pat Meehan in an ice hockey game with and to benefit the wounded warriors. The Wounded Warriors is a great organization that takes care of our returning injured soldiers. Congress…

Our economic problems are eminently solvable. They just require confidence in the American people. But the American people have lost confidence in Congress, and it's easy to see why. Exhibit A: the inability to reach a deal on a grand…

On Monday, I hosted a field hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, on which I serve as ranking member. This was an opportunity for the committee to hear from local officials on the decision to…

Today the House will vote on legislation to block all new Federal regulations. I'm concerned that this bill would damage our ability to improve aviation safety, which the bipartisan western New York delegation has long promoted. We fought…

An alarming number of former employees at Bethlehem Steel in western New York are now suffering from cancer and other diseases due to radiation exposure as a result of having unknowingly worked with and around uranium during the Cold War…

A recent report issued by American and Canadian scientists for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans reveals alarming findings regarding the health of our Great Lakes. The report warns that Asian carp are closer to entering the Great…

The new Federal courthouse in Buffalo opened last November. It opened to great fanfare, and rightly so, because it is a beautiful building that enhances our community and will provide needed space for the crucial work that is done there…

I come to the House floor to talk about the extraordinary transformation in the city of Buffalo and Buffalo's waterfront. The national publication, The Economist, had declared last week that the city of Buffalo is back in business. Buffalo…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will report the amendment. The Clerk read as follows: Page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert the following: ``(reduced by $10,000,000)''. Page 32, line 18, after the…

In the wake of the tragic crash of Continental Flight 3407 in my western New York community, Congress successfully passed comprehensive airline safety reforms. While final rules have begun to be released for these reforms, there are still…

The appropriations process and the budget is not only a spending plan about future priorities, it's also a statement about our values. The United States in 2001 went into Afghanistan and took out the Taliban government. We have also taken…

The Department of Defense oversees important research into the varied threats that face our Nation. This research is essential to safeguarding our communities and empowering research institutions and universities to come up with the…

Yesterday New York State's Eric Schneiderman was in western New York to celebrate the passage of New York State's I-STOP law. This law uses online databases to connect doctors and pharmacists helping to combat the tragic prescription drug…

In my home town of Buffalo, New York, nearly half the Bills games were blacked out last season because, despite an average game attendance of 67,000, the games were not sellouts because Ralph Wilson Stadium is one of the largest in the…

The Republican majority of this House is holding the American people and its economy hostage in a cynical ploy to keep the economy from growing and creating jobs. In the year 2000, 12 years ago, the Federal budget had a $258 billion…

The Peace Bridge is the second-busiest crossing at the U.S.-Canada border. Expediting traffic at the bridge is essential to the economic future of western New York. The historic Beyond the Border agreement between the United States and…