Political Quotes

“Madam President, I came back today and had really good news over the weekend. I think a lot of people have gotten together on both sides, in the House and the Senate, to do what we are supposed to be doing. I often refer to that old instrument called the Constitution, which says there are two main things we are supposed to be doing here: One is defending America, and the other is building roads and bridges. That is what we are supposed to be doing. The Presiding Officer has heard me say before that my top priority as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee is, and continues to be, passing a long-term highway reauthorization bill. The last one we passed was in 2005. I was proud to be the author of it at that time. It expired in 2009. Since that time, we have not had anything except short-term extensions. I have to remind my conservative friends, because I am a conservative, that the conservative position is to have a long-term reauthorization bill, because the short-term costs about 30 percent off the top. As a result, the industry stakeholders and local government leaders have lost faith in Congress's ability to provide funding certainty to maintain and advance our surface transportation and infrastructure. Ranking Member Barbara Boxer and I have been fighting for a long period of time to change this and reverse the trend of wasteful short-term patches. On June 24, our committee--and this is very unusual for this to happen.…”