Paul Tonko: “Well, it's amazing because there are situations--I'll first go to Representative Welch's district in Vermont--where…”

“Well, it's amazing because there are situations--I'll first go to Representative Welch's district in Vermont--where Route 4 has been wiped out. It's just about removed from the map. What was just a couple of miles worth of activity for some people to travel to work now becomes this tremendous circuitous route that may even take you down into Massachusetts and back into eastern Vermont to get to the locations. It has made life nearly impossible. I have seen numbers of bridges wiped out in upstate New York, a tremendous amount of bridges, locks that have been compromised in the area that I represent. I talked about hosting the Erie Canal barge canal activity. The locks that came in the second phase of that canal development are now tremendously devastated by the powerful force of water, homes that have been knocked out, but the infrastructure and landslides of roads that are disappearing and different opportunities now that are really demanding of an investment like this in order for us to go forward. As Representative Sarbanes made mention, this is a part of the equation for success for jobs--not just jobs in the immediate zone to improve and repair and construct some of this infrastructure, but jobs in general. It is part of the equation of success. You have got to move that product line. You have got to deal with the freight issues. So it is incumbent upon us to respond. If politics gets in the way here, it is grossly regrettable.…”