Political Quotes

“I deeply appreciate the gentleman from California yielding time to me, and I appreciate his leadership in focusing on where the economy is and where it needs to go. I think it is important to look back in time because you are absolutely right, that from the founding of the Republic, infrastructure loomed large. In the Constitution, there is a provision for postal roads. And 8 years after the plan that was developed by Alexander Hamilton for President Washington, there was the Gallatin plan that was developed for President Jefferson by his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin. It had a vision for what would happen for that next American century. Throughout that time, infrastructure has been one thing that has brought Americans together. It is something that really didn't have a partisan tinge. Yes, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican President, actually, on the anniversary, the centennial of the Gallatin plan, had his own vision for what we would do with inland waterways and reforestation, redeveloping America. His cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, likewise helped plant the seeds that ultimately grew into the Interstate Freeway Act, signed into law and funded by President Eisenhower. And 150 years ago, there was the Transcontinental Railroad Act with a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln. This infrastructure agenda is something that has made America great. It produced the finest infrastructure in the world.…”