Political Quotes

“often times, as my State's Department of Transportation undertakes new highway projects, donations are offered in order to assist in the development of these projects. Up to now, these have been limited to those businesses, organizations, and individuals who believe the advancement of these projects will assist them. Their reasons could be that there will be economic growth resulting from this highway project that will directly benefit them, or that they wish to see a project develop in a certain direction that will be facilitated by the donation of this property, supplies or services. These donations can make the difference between whether or not the project is undertaken. Often times the amount of the federal funds are insufficient to complete the project, especially federally mandated projects. Because the value of the donation can be applied to the State's match requirement for federally funded projects, a donation like these can provide the funds necessary to not only meet the State's match, but provide the funds necessary to make up for insufficient federal funds. An example may better illustrate this point. A community in my state was designated for demonstration project to expand the capacity of a major artery through that city. However, the level of federal funding was only $15 million on a $25 million project. The normal state match for a project like this, $3 million, would still leave the community $7 million short of completing this project.”