On the recordFebruary 16, 2011
I want to commend again and congratulate the gentleman from Colorado for offering this amendment, and I want to support this amendment, though I realize the realities of the situation that we are in. In the recovery bill--and we could have a long discussion about the word ``failure'' of the recovery bill but we won't go into that at this time of night--the so-called projects that were ready to go into construction right away, those were designated with a termination date. The work had to be done by the end of 2010. And those monies that were for shovel-ready projects have already been expended completely in the process. For the longer term investments, of which the high-speed rail program and the TIGER grant program were part, those were always intended to go farther. Never was it suggested that they could be done and the work done that would produce the jobs necessary in less than at least 2011 and 2012 as well. So what has been proposed for the TIGER grant here, and all of the TIGER grants, puts them in quite a different category. The gentleman's amendment highlights an example of how the majority's rhetoric and political posturing on the continuing resolution come at the expense of good policy.
