Paul Tonko: “When you look at that strategy, Representative Garamendi, you sense the fundamental fairness. I look at projects like…”

“When you look at that strategy, Representative Garamendi, you sense the fundamental fairness. I look at projects like the efforts in New York where Governor Cuomo is leading this effort to make certain that we invest in the rebuild of the Tappan Zee Bridge. That takes traffic from the greater Metro New York area, the New York City area, and moves it along into upstate New York and into the Northeast area of our country--a major thoroughfare with a huge price tag. Now, if we partner with our States, that is helping those individual States to endure, to provide for the resources needed to build these major projects and to do them well. Otherwise, it falls upon the local taxpayer and on State income taxes and what have you--or whatever the State revenue supplies are--so that there is this partnership that is strengthened when the Federal Government leads with a strong commitment to infrastructure improvements. Now, in looking at the safety, the stretch is miles long as we travel from that metro area on the Tappan Zee Bridge into upstate New York. It was in need of improvement for quite some time, and I applaud the Governor for leading the effort now in putting it together, but, again, the Federal partnership here is important. For us to continue to ask middle-income America to pay the bill--they are already saturated with these efforts. They know that they have been stressed out. What this measure does is provide fundamental fairness again.…”