David Thomas: “I do rise to talk some more about the issue that is before us, the issue we have been talking about now for 10 days, and…”

“I do rise to talk some more about the issue that is before us, the issue we have been talking about now for 10 days, and that, of course, is the highway transportation infrastructure bill that is now before us. I thank the chairman of the EPW Committee and the ranking member and the staff for continuing to move forward with this important bill. Sometimes we take for granted what is out there, whether it be electricity--we have been working on the electric bill--whether it is energy. Because it is there, we just sort of forget all that goes into making sure it is there. But our previous transportation infrastructure bill, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, expired on September 30 of the past year. Now we are nearly half a year beyond the bill expiring to take care of our infrastructure needs. For some time, then, the transportation system has been operating under a 5-month extension, which expires at the end of this month, by the way, and which doesn't fund nearly to the present needs because it is a CR from before. So the infrastructure is in great need. All of us recognize that. There is an increasing use of it, increasing numbers of cars on the road, increasing numbers of trucks. Our whole economy depends on this transportation infrastructure.”