Political Quotes

“The fancy new software at use in our congressional offices gives us the ability to see all of the constituent contacts, all of their questions, complaints, and concerns by category. I wonder if anyone in Congress has received any complaints about the Safe Routes to School program. I'll bet not. So why is the Republican transportation bill eliminating Safe Routes to School, creating an ``unsafe route to school''? This is a wildly popular program, costing a fraction of a percent of the transportation budget, and it has had a huge impact nationally on our children because it deals with real consequences for them. {time} 1020 A generation ago, 40 or 50 percent of children were able to get to school on their own. Now only 13 percent can. It's no wonder that childhood obesity has exploded over the same period of time, with one in three of our children now overweight or obese or seriously at risk. Asthma has gone up for children 74 percent over the last 5 years. There are real consequences for accidents. There were 23,000 5- to 15-year- olds injured, and more than 250 kids killed walking or biking in 2009. Getting our children to school in the morning represents 10 to 14 percent of the entire American morning commute, 6.5 billion trips stretching 30 billion miles. Doesn't it make sense to do something about the congestion, the injuries, deaths, and the obesity? Absolutely.…”