Political Quotes

“Mr. President I am proud to join my colleague from Illinois in offering an amendment to recognize and promote bicycling's important impact on energy savings and public health. With America becoming more and more dependent on foreign oil, it is vital that we look to the contribution that bike travel can make towards solving our Nation's energy challenges. This amendment would establish a Conserve By Bike pilot program that would oversee up to 10 pilot projects throughout the country designed to conserve energy resources by providing education and marketing tools to convert car trips to bike trips. By replacing even a small percentage of short car trips with bike trips, we would save over 462 million gallons of gasoline in a year, worth over $721 million. While more bike trips would benefit our energy conservation efforts, they would also contribute to the public's health. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, less than one-third of Americans meet Federal recommendations to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days a week. Even more disturbing is the fact that approximately 300,000 U.S. deaths a year currently are associated with being obese or overweight. By promoting biking, we are working to ensure that Americans will increase their physical activity.”