Political Quotes

“I once again come to the floor to talk about a Feinstein-Wicker amendment to this Transportation bill, which I hope we can have a vote on and dispose of and let the U.S. Senate work its will on, either late tonight or perhaps tomorrow after the pending business is taken care of. I would begin by quoting from an editorial that was in yesterday's Post-Gazette, the daily newspaper in Pittsburgh, where it says: ``The tractor-trailer roaring by you on the highway could be 9 feet longer next year.'' It could be this long, as shown on this chart I have in the Chamber. It could be mandated by this Congress on 39 States that do not want it. The editorial goes on to point out there is legislation pending that would force these longer trucks on these 39 States--on all 50 States-- 11 of them already allow it, but 39 do not. Unless we act and adopt the Feinstein-Wicker amendment on this bill, a provision in the Transportation appropriations bill will go forward and is likely to be signed into law requiring this. This will have been done, I might add, without a full debate, without a hearing being held in any committee of the Senate on this issue. So what are we talking about? I have in the Chamber a poster that says: ``Would You Feel Safe Driving Next to a Double 33?'' As shown here, this is the size of the proposed new longer trucks that we would mandate on all 50 States. As you can see on the chart, here is the size of a typical passenger car.…”