Political Quotes

“I rise as the chair of the full Appropriations Committee in support of the fiscal year 2014 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. At noon we will be voting on the motion to proceed. I am here in the strongest, most affirmative way to urge my colleagues to please vote yes so we can get on with this very important bill that was fashioned with bipartisan participation to literally get America moving again. The Transportation-HUD appropriations bill for 2014, under the leadership of Senator Murray and the ranking member Senator Collins, is an outstanding effort. It shows what bipartisan consensus is and focuses on two things: America's infrastructure and transportation and meeting compelling human needs in housing and urban development, both of which contribute to creating jobs in the United States of America. This is not a bill where jobs will be on a slow boat to China or a fast track to Mexico. It puts America on the right track to meet these needs in transportation. There is a very good reason we need this bill. The American Society of Civil Engineers says the need for physical infrastructure in our country is piling up. Steel rusts, asphalt wears out, and buildings need to be repaired, to be maintained. It is not politics; it is physics. We have to make investments today so our Nation can grow. We still have an unemployment rate of over 7 percent. So how do we get America moving? Public investment that creates private sector jobs.…”