Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the FAST Act, which authorizes $305 billion over 5 years for highways, transit, and rail, including Amtrak. Although many of us would have preferred much higher funding levels, the conference agreement provides an increase in funding of $12.8 billion above the House bill and $26.8 billion in guaranteed funding above fiscal year 2015 levels. The funding increase allows us to preserve core highway and transit programs and to still invest in new key areas. New York State will get an additional $1.5 billion above current levels in highway and transit formula funding over the life of the bill, of which an estimated $500 million will go to projects in New York City. The bill provides $4.5 billion for the new freight program, originally created in the House bill for large-scale, multimodal projects that are critical to our regional and national economy. This was a key recommendation of the freight panel on which I was the ranking member, along with Mr. Duncan as chairman, and I am very proud that it is included in the final conference report. The bill increases funding for transit, including the major programs that benefit New York, such as section 5340--High-Density States program, the State of Good Repair program, and capital investment grants, and it preserves the ability to flex other transportation funding toward major transit projects.…”