Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. On those fronts, clearly there is an ability to find common ground as we talk about infrastructure. There has been a lot of discussion over what that number would be, what the amount would be, because ultimately, it would have to be a number that we could both get an agreement amongst Republicans and Democrats that would be paid for. And I think both sides acknowledge, it has got to be paid for. That has usually been the sticking point with infrastructure. But within that, whether it is $200 billion or $2 trillion, there is an understanding that we need to do more work to try to find out how we can get agreement on how to pay for it. And I do think the ability is there to find that agreement. The amount would be variable. But also, it is something the President has talked about, as well as a number of Members of Congress have, making reforms to the way we build major projects: roads, bridges. The infrastructure delays so often are caused by red tape that is unnecessary. I have heard from Governors, both Republican and Democrat, that would like to see Congress not only send money--obviously, the States would like to see more Federal money come--but also, to see less strings attached so that a project that right now might take maybe 10 years to do, because of so many overlapping delays in red tape, that should maybe take 2 years at most.…”