Political Quotes

“In a few minutes, we will be meeting with President Obama here in the Capitol. While I appreciate the President's commitment to the economy, and I do believe he is passionate about renewing and rebuilding America, there is a certain irony to having the conversation today, because this is the very same day the House is supposed to be completing its work on a woefully inadequate budget bill to fund Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. By insisting on an increase in defense spending and approving a budget target that is unrealistically low and freezing in the sequestration, we are seeing budgets that bear no relationship to reality: $44.1 billion in transportation discretionary appropriations, down 15 percent from the authorized level. It makes no attempt to deal with the looming collapse of the highway trust fund; it slashes Amtrak a third below the current level--hardly responsible. Many of the budget reductions in the housing programs and the Community Development Block Grants are even worse. We began those deliberations on the same day the American Society for Civil Engineers released their report card on the state of America's infrastructure. The grade was D-plus. It was only that high because we have increased some private investment, some local government funding and, of course, the reviled stimulus funding that helped reduce some of the more egregious shortfalls while putting people to work.…”