Political Quotes

“I thank the chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, Mr. Costello. He has already well and duly explained the FAA authorization extension that is before us at this moment. I want to address, as Mr. Petri has done, as Mr. Garamendi and Mr. Sires have done, the other provision in this bill. When we passed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act a time ago, the legislation then was sent back by the Senate with some changes in the highway funding formula that I felt were unfair, unjust, unnecessary; and I held up House consideration of the bill until we could reach an agreement with the other body. As I went on to explain in meetings of the caucus, meetings with our committee members on both sides of the aisle, the Senate version of this bill directed major highway discretionary program funding to a select group of States: four would get 58 percent of the funding; 22 States get nothing; the other 20 got dribbles. That formulation would provide a permanent windfall for those four States. And not just a one-time shot but a long-term windfall, because it would skew underlying highway formulas, changing the baseline for those four States that got the lion's share of the money. After a good deal of discussion and consideration, I had a conversation with my very good friend from the time he served in the House.…”