Political Quotes

“I hope Members, as they vote on this measure, will keep a couple of things in mind that I think are critical. One is this measure does not attempt to do away with the buy-America preferences that have existed in the law. It keeps those. What it does do, Mr. President, is define what fair and reasonable is. In the past, literally, the Department of Transportation has looked at rates that have been 100 percent, 200 percent, 300 percent, 400 percent above what is available on the market and called those reasonable and fair. Mr. President, that is simply ludicrous. Charging double or triple what your competitor charges is not reasonable and fair. We do not kid anyone when we allow that sort of thing to go ahead. It is a scandal on the American taxpayers to have them stuck for two and three and four times as much what reasonable rates are. The second point I hope Members will look at is this: One of the good arguments that have been made for those who defend the existing system is that, on occasion, what they are comparing is apples and oranges; that is, the higher rates that have been talked about at times--not always, but at times--sometimes have been in circumstances where you could not unload the cargo and it was not an apples-to-apples comparison.”