Carolyn Maloney: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the ranking member and chairman for their leadership on this important…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the ranking member and chairman for their leadership on this important bill, the Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act. This act includes a clean 6-month extension of our Nation's critical highway and transit programs. The funding provided in this extension to State Departments of Transportation and local transit agencies will keep Americans working and our economy moving while Congress acts to reauthorize these critically important programs. This extension is necessary to our Nation's economic health and to getting Americans back to work. I applaud the bipartisan work of our Chamber's leadership in bringing this to the floor. However, I believe that, once the extension is passed, we should focus on bringing true high-speed rail to the Northeast Corridor. {time} 1310 As a representative of the citizens of the great city of New York, I understand the significant economic and transportation value of having a high-speed rail option that would serve the Northeast mega-region. Such an initiative would not only create high-paying construction jobs in the near term, but would spur economic development and growth throughout the region in the long term. The Northeast region contains 20 percent of the Nation's population and just 2 percent of the land area.…”