Bob Menendez Jr.

We need a flood insurance advocate who not only is dealing with the immediacy of rates and flood maps but is an advocate as to the totality of what happens to someone with flood insurance.

So, if that is the case, let me ask you; in the 40-plus years that the National Flood Insurance Program has been operating, how many Write-Your-Owns have been thrown out of the program due to repeated patterns of underpaying claims?

I think to have the expectation that an average citizen is Perry Mason is totally unacceptable.

That's why I wrote and introduced the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act to stop the storm-surge of flood insurance rate hikes that would force people from their homes.

I received dozens of letters at first, then hundreds, then thousands, from people pleading for some relief.

This bill recognizes that local leaders need support from the Federal Government, not orders.

the expansion of that Hudson Bergen Light Rail is paramount to Jersey City, as well as to Bergen County, as well as to Hudson County.

I'm here today to offer you Jersey City, my hometown, as proof of that.

I hope to advance legislation in a bipartisan manner through the Committee and through the Congress, and looking to incorporate some of your ideas along the way.

Our Nation's ability to meet demand for transit rises or falls with New Starts.

Are there fiscal policy steps the Congress can take to improve the situation and reduce the headwinds against growth?

Those are the types of initiatives that I am thinking of as we talk about if you can reduce the debt burden, then you have greater spending capacity, which creates a ripple effect in the economy.

I do believe there is a macroeconomic significance to people being highly constrained by indebtedness.

You could look at student loans. The President has talked about helping refinance student loans as a way of reducing consumer debt.

But I did vote for Afghanistan. That is where Bin Laden was. That is where al-Qaeda was.

In Afghanistan, the people overwhelmingly want us to stay, and every single contender in the Presidential election said they would sign the BSA.

I look forward to working with all of you and others to develop a transit title that can begin to meet some of these needs for the next surface transportation bill.

Investing in our transportation infrastructure and supporting 10 billion passenger trips every year is essential to our mobility, our economic development, our air quality, our overall quality of life, our ability to create jobs, and our…

Your testimony notes that more people are choosing to live in urban areas where cars are less necessary, younger people less reliant on cars than previous generations.

the GROW AMERICA Act is the right plan to keep transit safe and reliable now and for future generations.

If Federal funding remains flat in the coming years, do you believe that we can make any progress toward eliminating the $86 billion backlog?

Investing in our transit systems is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

I view our Nation's infrastructure as a significant sense of economic strength and a quality-of-life issue for citizens of this country.

As a father, I am heartsick that these brave young women and their families are in a set of circumstances where they simply were getting an education and have been kidnapped.

Open it up. The more ideas we can pour into that island, the better I think the chance that they will move toward values that we share.