Bill Pascrell: “I thank the ranking member and the chairman. I am not going to vote for this piece of legislation--not even close.…”

“I thank the ranking member and the chairman. I am not going to vote for this piece of legislation--not even close. Everyone talks about how we must maintain the roads. If you listened over the last 45 minutes, all of these infrastructure issues are in bad shape, terrible shape. We know the problem. So long speeches about this and the problem don't make much sense. Here is my question to every Member of this body: What are you prepared to do? Make believe you are doing something? Hide under the desk in your office? How much money have we used, Mr. Speaker, from the general fund to bail out transportation? The percentage of general funds increases each budget that we are using. So without a clear source of long-term funding, our States cannot plan for the future. In fact, many States are not putting money into their trust fund. My own State, the State of New Jersey, I guess the money is going to fall out of the sky. So 2 months, 4 months, 7 months, it is all a joke. Ensuring the solvency of the trust fund is not only a key component of meeting our transportation challenges, it is our job. The Committee on Ways and Means has not even had one hearing, Mr. Ranking Member, Mr. Chairman. How many States have put themselves in the same position as the Federal Government?…”