Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I encourage my colleagues to support these amendments. The first one gives the States the freedom to keep their gas taxes. For decades, Washington has collected State gas taxes through its highway program, taken its cut off the top, and then attached burdensome mandates to the funds before sending them back to the States. It hasn't worked. Since 2008, the highway trust fund has been bailed out three times from the Treasury's general fund to the tune of about $35 billion. During that time, the Federal Government has required that 10 percent of all surface transportation funds be spent on wasteful ``enhancements,'' which has included archeological planning and research, transportation museums, and scenic ``beautification'' along highways, and so on. The GAO has found that between 2004 and 2008, at a time when our bridges and roads have been in disrepair and have needed all the help they could get, the highway trust fund spent $78 billion on projects not related to the support of our Nation's network of highways and bridges. With the economy struggling, we need to provide States with the ability to move quickly and innovatively to implement their transportation priorities instead of a one-size-fits-all solution from Washington. Ohio's gas taxes should not be watered down, shouldn't be wasted by costly Federal mandates, regulations, and bureaucracies that Ohio doesn't think are necessary.…”