On the recordJune 30, 2010
For as long as I have been in Congress, I have worked on being a proponent of ``bike partisanship,'' something that everybody ought to be able to agree on. That's why I have been appalled at the repeated attacks on cycling by the Republican leadership. The latest is for the second time, Republican Whip Cantor has offered on the chopping block Safe Routes to School. You know, this is a program in 6800 schools across the country and has been requested by three times that number. People know that children under 14, one-third of all their deaths occur when a car hits them when they're biking or walking. In my old grade school on a very busy street, these grants have reduced crashes by 25 percent and pedestrian injuries by 34 percent. This is a commonsense program supported by people regardless of their party. When children can bike or walk safely to school, we won't be worried about 300-pound morbidly obese 6th graders and a second rush hour as people take their kids to school. And then all our families will be safer, healthier and more economically secure.
