Political Quotes

“I thank Congressman Benishek very, very much. I thank him for his leadership on Great Lakes issues. That is a vast district that he represents and one that is vital to our country. I thank him for participating this evening. Before I yield to Congressman Mike Kelly of the Third District of Pennsylvania, I just want to say that the region that we are talking about, the Great Lakes, actually, if it were a country on its own, would be the third largest economy in the world. We are talking about a vast and important part of our Nation with more fresh water than any other part of the continent. The Great Lakes navigation system, including the Soo Locks that Congressman Benishek referenced, encompasses this vast region, and the Seaway that is a part of this that was actually built by President Eisenhower--it was built back in the 1950s--constitutes through the locks the shortest distance between the heartland of America and the ports of northern Europe and many other global destinations. Most people have never been through the Soo Locks because we tend to move commerce through the locks. We have some tourism, obviously, but it really is a busy industrial corridor and has the lowest cost transportation. Waterborne transportation is the lowest cost mode of transportation. So you have the big containers and so forth that move through the Seaway, and then we have the interlake trade, which is heavily industrial, as Congressman Benishek referenced.…”