Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise today in support of the fiscal year 2020 Appropriations bill for the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. This bill is included in the appropriations package that is before this Chamber. Let me begin my remarks by thanking Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy for their bipartisan leadership in successfully finishing the conference and advancing all of these appropriations bills to the Senate floor. I also want to acknowledge the hard work and strong commitment of my friend and colleague Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the T-HUD Subcommittee. We have worked closely together in negotiating this bill and have crafted a truly bipartisan product. The fiscal year 2020 transportation and housing appropriations bill provides $74.3 billion to continue to improve our Nation's infrastructure and maintain HUD rental assistance for low-income seniors, homeless youths, and other vulnerable populations. This year, we once again faced the funding challenge of rising rental costs across the country and a reduction in the receipts from the Federal Housing Administration that are used to offset some of the spending in this bill. However, we were successful in maintaining many of the Senate priorities in the final bill. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for the highly effective and popular BUILD grant program, which has provided $205 million in critical infrastructure improvements in Maine since 2009.…”