Charles Q. Brown

25 years is too long for those men and women who have defended this country and the freedoms it holds dear.

We have been waiting 25 years. That is a serious indictment on the VA and the Members of Congress.

The Republicans didn't vote for high-speed rail funding. They cut future funding. Yet, we are holding our second full committee hearing on this subject in 2 weeks.

This committee is fiddling, while the United States transportation and infrastructure is burning.

If this committee is going to hold hearings about the infrastructure in California, we should be holding a hearing to find out why the State is building the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge with 5,300 tons of inferior Chinese steel.

the idea that we are going to penalize veterans who have already paid their dues is totally unacceptable to me.

one-third of the veterans on the streets are homeless.

any savings that we have from deficit reduction should go directly into veterans programs.

It is important to make sure that veterans get the resources they need while making sure the resources are not wasted.

But no one wants to be called a polluter, and calling names is not going to help us get where we need to go.

I acknowledge that nitrogen and phosphorus management nationwide, worldwide is a problem and that we're past arguing about whether or not it's a problem.

My understanding is hearing from certain Members, they want to do away with the Clean Water Act completely, which is ludicrous.

I mean, it is a perfect example of what could happen when natural resources aren't protected from encroachment and pollution.

The purpose of my bill is to get the VA thinking about how they should properly address the needs of Veterans.

Because the House passed something does not mean that the Senate is going to take it up, or the President.

I support the PTC requirements in law. But I do have some major concerns with how FRA is implementing it.

I want the railroads to make money. But, most important, I want it to be safe for our communities.

We will have high-speed rail for the people of Florida.

The high-speed rail plan for Florida serves as a perfect example of a successful public-private partnership.

Florida's governor is much more interested in politics than in creating jobs or improving the transportation system for Florida residents.

I want to make sure that we put the study in the record that showed that the high-speed rail project would have made money the first year, based on the facts.

I agree that we need to improve the Northeast Corridor. I am just not in the business of sitting up here and deciding that California should be left out.

This hearing is very timely. Just last week, we saw an example of a great passenger rail project with massive private sector participation die in Florida.

I come from the private sector, I worked in the private sector. And what I will tell you is, when you have the resources needed to do the job you can often times do it more efficiently.

I also understand that one additional lane will not help us. We have to come up with ways to move people, goods and services.