Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and his leadership. I listened to my friend from Oklahoma. I wish his leadership would listen to him to create an atmosphere of certainty and move forward. There is a reason why the stakeholders uniformly supported the Senate approach. The Senate approach said: Wait a minute, on a bipartisan basis--79 votes, 25 Republicans--we said we are not going to kick this into the next Congress, because that is where the crisis is going to be. You will be in the middle of a new Congress, who knows what the lineup is going to be in the House and the Senate, and Presidential elections, and you won't be giving the certainty to the industry that they are asking for. That is why construction trades, contractors, the AFL-CIO, Chamber of Commerce, the people who pave the roads, were uniformly supporting the Senate approach. They don't want to slide it into the next year. I serve on the Ways and Means Committee. I have been trying for now 3\1/2\ years to get the Republicans who control the Ways and Means Committee to have a hearing on transportation finance. We have not had one in 3\1/2\ years. Now, that is the responsibility of the Ways and Means Committee. I left the T&I Committee hoping that I could help you in the pursuit of resources--3\1/2\ years, not a single hearing. My goodness. That is why we have had ever shorter reauthorizations. I don't count a 27-month bill as a reauthorization. And we had 21 short- term extensions.…”