On the recordJuly 24, 2013
as the chair of the full Committee on Appropriations, I rise today to comment on this bill, but also to thank and acknowledge the really important role that Senators Murray and Collins have played. Really, it has been the way the Senate should operate. They have held extensive hearings in the subcommittee on America's needs in transportation--an ever-piling up backlog that we need to address. It would accomplish several good, agreed-upon public policy goals. No. 1, safety. Because when we are talking about roads, bridges, and the other infrastructure areas in this bill, safety is our No. 1 priority. No. 2, when you are building or repairing a bridge in Maryland, Maine, Washington State, or North Dakota, those people are working in the United States of America, and, hopefully, the supply chain involved--whether it is asphalt to steel--is made in the good old USA. So what we would do is improve the safety rates and lower the unemployment rate and at the end of the day have something to show for it. So many of the American people are frustrated with us when it comes to spending because they think if they give us $1, we will spend $2 and not have spit to show for it. But yet in this bill, at this time, we have a legislative framework, and a restrained fiscal framework, to be able to move on important transportation infrastructure needs and on housing.…
