Political Quotes

“I want to congratulate both Mr. Shuster and Mr. DeFazio for their work on this bill. I want to thank the Senate, as well, for their work and their leadership. This is a good week, in many respects. We passed yesterday, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, a bill to make sure that our education system works better. Today, we will pass, by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, a bill to give more stability and investment to our infrastructure in America. Those are good things. I lament the fact that, although the previous speaker talked about a sound, long-term fiscal path for infrastructure investment, my own view is we don't do that. We do better than what is but not what we ought to do. My own view is that we need to dedicate the user fee we call the gasoline tax at a level which has not been raised since 1993 to a level that will in fact put us on a path to fiscal stability and certainty for our infrastructure package. But this is a good package, and I want to thank my friend Bill Shuster for his leadership. Very frankly, that was critical to getting us to this point, not only on his side on the aisle but on our side of the aisle as well. And I want to thank Mr. DeFazio. As has been said, this is not a perfect reauthorization. We ought to stop saying that because nothing we pass is perfect. What we hope for is the good, and this is good. It is a compromise.…”