Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to extend highway and transit programs for 2 months, but with reservations. The last surface transportation bill, MAP-21, expired last fall. At that time, we passed an extension to the end of this month to give us time to work on a long-term bill. We have known for months that this day was coming; yet we have made no progress finding a solution to funding highways, transit, and other important surface transportation programs. MAP-21, itself, was only a 2-year bill, breaking the tradition of Congress passing 5- or 6-year bills to provide the reliable funding necessary to promote long-term capital plans and projects that require a commitment beyond 1 fiscal year. The last long-term bill we passed was SAFETEA-LU in 2005. That was 10 years ago, and that bill was underfunded because of a resistance to raising the gasoline tax or to identifying new revenue sources. For over a decade, we have failed to address the funding challenges necessary to break the cycle of underinvestment and put this country back on a competitive path with the rest of the work. Today, we spend about 1.7 percent of GDP on infrastructure, while China spends 9 percent and Europe spends 4\1/2\ to 5 percent. We used to spend 4\1/2\ to 5 percent also. According to DOT, there is an $800 billion backlog of investment needs on highways and bridges, including $479 billion in critical repair work.…”