Political Quotes

“I rise to talk about a very important amendment that Senator Feinstein and I will be offering to the transportation bill when we move to consideration. That vote may be around 2 a.m., and then the clock will tick. But then at some point on Sunday, I am hoping that we will begin the process of considering amendments and, chief among them, should be the Feinstein-Wicker amendment to the bill regarding truck-length increases. Our amendment would authorize the Secretary of Transportation to require a truck size-and-weight study before promulgating a rule to increase the minimum length limitation for trucks. Now I show to my colleagues and I show to the Presiding Officer a poster. What I am showing is a picture, a drawing of what we call twin 33's. This is the tractor trailer. Here is a 33-foot trailer, and here is another 33-foot trailer tacked on to the back of that. So twin 33's are long trucks--longer than is allowed in 39 States. So far we have let the States make the decision about whether to accept these, and some 39 of our Federal States have decided: No, we don't want trucks this long with the twin 33 trailers on them in our States. Our amendment would accept that decision on the part of the States. Our decision would allow those 39 States to continue to make that decision. Of course, the States that want trucks that long can make that decision themselves. Why are we having to offer such an amendment on this highway and transportation bill?…”