Political Quotes

“I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. This is a historic event. For 10 years now, we have been doing patches and temporarily providing funding for our roadways. It costs taxpayers money to do that, to do these temporary extensions, to compartmentalize the funding. You have to take projects, and you have to separate them into smaller pieces. You have to pay for contractors to come out and to leave and to come back again. I will say it again: It costs taxpayers money to continue to do these patches and these temporary extensions. This is historic because it provides 5 years of funding. It provides funding certainty. Having run a large-scale infrastructure program for a number of years, I am well aware of the difficulty caused by doing these temporary patches and the increased cost. I will tell you, I think it results in less safe roads. It absolutely doesn't deliver what taxpayers deserve. The other great thing about this bill and a reason that it is historic is that it is bipartisan, something that has been lacking for some time now, to see that Members on both sides come together on something as important as infrastructure funding. I want to thank Chairman Shuster, I want to thank Ranking Member DeFazio, respective staff directors Chris and Kathy, and everyone who worked on this bill on the conference staff. I know you put in a lot of time and you gave up your Thanksgiving. I want to thank you very much for all the work that has been done.…”