Political Quotes

“Madam President, I join Senators Shaheen and Klobuchar, and I particularly thank Senator Whitehouse for bringing us together. Senator Boxer was on the floor earlier talking about the transportation conference committee, and Senator Begich is also here. We are all here because of the urgency of the conference report being presented to us so that we have a multiyear reauthorization of the transportation programs of this country. Let me point out, I know a lot of times our constituents are confused as to why legislation cannot move here. Clearly, the holdup in passing the surface transportation reauthorization is the Republicans in the House of Representatives. They are blocking a bill that has broad support from the industries that are affected by it, from the public, and from both Democrats and Republicans here in the Senate. We passed a consensus bill. It is not even bipartisan, it is consensus. We were able to get the right balance between public transportation and transit and highways and bridges. We have the proper balance between how the money is controlled at the State level and how it is controlled at the local level. We have worked out a reform of our transportation programs to do this in a most efficient way. That bill is being held up for one reason and one reason alone; that is, the politics of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. They believe they can score political points by blocking any legislation from moving.…”