Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak and for his raising this issue. Madam Chairman, it is important that we have a balanced transportation system, and there are already problems in terms of being able to promote nonmotorized transportation in terms of bike and pedestrian. Being able to maintain the ability for the Federal funding, I think, is important. I don't think we should relegate this to being a second-class type of transportation. I was in Brooklyn on Friday night, and people were engaged in their initiatives with cycling. I started the week in Dallas. Texas cities are incorporating these mechanisms into their basic approach to transportation. This is not the end of the world, but I think it is ill-advised, and it is the wrong signal for us to be sending. There are several dozen women from the bicycle industry here--executives from companies--who are involved with hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity. This is something that does not deserve to be downgraded. This is not going to upset the apple cart by any stretch of the imagination. I appreciate my colleague for putting the spotlight on this. We are watching cycling explode from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, to Rochester, New York, to Indianapolis, Indiana. This is a small but important step backwards.”