Bud Shuster: “I thank the gentleman for yielding and commend him on his amendment. I think it's a great amendment. As a freshman, you…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and commend him on his amendment. I think it's a great amendment. As a freshman, you have done tremendous work on the committee. And you've been in Washington only a year-and-a-half, and yet you brought a shovel here. That shovel shovels more than just dirt. It shovels other stuff that happens here in Washington. And it's time we clear some of that out to be able to streamline building roads and highways in this country. And that's what your amendment does. It cuts bureaucratic red tape, allows the Federal agencies to review transportation projects concurrently, which is extremely important. It delegates project approval authority to the States, establishes hard deadlines to Federal agencies to make decisions on permits, which is going to definitely speed up the process. It expands the list of activities that qualify for categorical exclusions, an approval process that's faster and simpler than the standard process. The environmental protections do remain in place. I disagree with the gentleman from Oregon. I have all the confidence in the world that what the gentleman has in his amendment here will allow just what's in the right-of-way. That's what we interpreted, and I believe that's how the States will interpret it. So I have all the confidence that this amendment is properly prepared and we're going to pass it here on the floor today. So, again, these are practical reforms.…”