Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy. I came to Congress 25 years ago determined that the Federal Government should be a better partner, working with our communities, making our families safer, healthier, and more economically secure. I have traveled to over 200 communities, working with architects, landscape, engineers, local government, State government, transit, listening to their concerns about how we make the transportation system work better. I can say unequivocally that this legislation that we are considering today reflects what America wants. There is a broad consensus that we can't keep doing the same thing. We need to make sure that we build a low-carbon future; that it is equitable; that deals with the challenges that indiscriminate infrastructure inflicted on communities. I have an example in my hometown, where a transportation project, a freeway, just ripped through an African-American community, without the sense of what it was doing to people who weren't involved. Well, people don't want to do that anymore, and they want to have a multi-modal solution. The nonsense that we hear from the other side, that somehow this will prohibit construction of new roads, is not true. But what it does is emphasize fixing it first and having plans that put the pieces together in a way that solves problems rather than creating new ones. Yes, we ought to pursue the bipartisan agreement that the President has struck with our friends in the Senate.…”