Political Quotes

“We have an unusual prospect tomorrow where a proposal to raise money for the highway trust fund is opposed by the very interests strongly identified with the need for more transportation funding. How did we get to this point? Why do we need the money? And why would the very interests that seem to benefit be opposed? This is the latest chapter in the strange saga of congressional irresponsibility on transportation funding that started when the last Congress refused to meaningfully address the funding crisis. You see, the funding has fallen in the highway trust fund that is based on gallons of fuel consumed, but the need continues. The United States is now spending far less on infrastructure than our competing countries, and the vital Federal partnership, which can be a third or more of the funding in our States, is falling further and further behind. But Congress put its head in the sand. There has not even been a hearing on the needs of transportation finance by the Ways and Means Committee, which is the House committee with primary jurisdiction. I am afraid my friend Dave Camp, the chair of that committee, has it exactly wrong. He is proposing a short-term fix tomorrow, saying it is time for the committees of the entire House and Senate to have the influence they deserve by kicking it into the next Congress.…”