Kelly Ayotte

This hearing goes to the heart of the fiscal crisis that faces our Nation.

I want to welcome our witnesses and thank them for appearing today.

Make no mistake--our actions as policymakers are felt across the economy.

Truck safety is important to everyone, because we all share the same roads.

The trucking industry is vital to the health of the American economy.

It is so important that we respect the rule of law and that particularly those who serve are afforded the presumption of innocence.

I think it is important for the security of the American people.

I am a strong supporter particularly of using the military commission system to try individuals at Guantanamo.

I think the people in New Hampshire make better decisions on where to put the funding than someone in Washington.

If I'm remembering correctly in having looked at this, there's really only one place in the world where you've actually been able to break even with the passenger fare in rail.

When I think about a project, for example, of high-speed rail--why would the private sector invest in that?

I think one of the things that has sometimes frustrated our private sector partners is it takes us a long time to do due diligence.

How can we assure taxpayers that this doesn't just become another government entity, that we end up bailing out bad projects?

I think the people of this country are very tired of bailouts.

I believe that we do need to take up a reauthorization of the transportation bill and that we need to make some hard choices.

States know how to best prioritize transportation funding.

I am concerned that establishing a national infrastructure bank would increase federal involvement and decision-making.

It is important that we reform our nation's critical infrastructure needs.

I am deeply concerned that over the past several years Congress has been unwilling to make tough choices about transportation funding.

There is no question that we must address our nation's infrastructure needs.

I think what's happened over the last decade is we've gotten a tremendous amount done, but we've lost some focus.

I think this issue is something that needs to be looked, because one of the concerns I have is that sometimes it's not so easy to deal with the Federal Government.

I'm a strong supporter of this program, and I think it provides what we're hearing about today.

I firmly believe we should make them permanent and would further encourage investment not only in this field but in other fields of manufacturing across this country.

How can we make it easier?