Political Quotes

“I am not attempting to get the floor. I think what the Senator from California has said is very significant. I think people realize--and I have said several times that the Senator from California and I are about as far apart philosophically as any two people can be. She is a very proud liberal. I am a very proud conservative. We disagree on a lot of issues on the committee which the Senator from California used to chair when the Democrats were in the majority and which I chair now, but during all that time and up to the present time, we have agreed on this. When I see people saying they don't want--I am very disturbed by what the House is doing right now. If we don't have a long-term bill, then we will go right back to what we have done since 2009. The Senator from California and I remember when we passed the 2005 transportation authorization. That was huge. We have had things that have happened in Oklahoma now as a result of that legislation that are saving lives. As I have mentioned before, remember the bridge when a chunk of concrete fell off and killed a mother of three. That happened right up toward the 2005 bill. I can't imagine we are going to be in a position where we go back to increase the number of short-term--we have had 33 short-term extensions since 2009. I can't imagine we will go back to that. If we do that, we don't get the reforms. A lot of the reforms, I say to my friend from California, were reforms where she had a hard sell. She had a hard time doing it.…”