Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy, and I appreciate the way he framed this rule debate. Mr. Speaker, we have sort of a hodgepodge here of items that really deserve careful, sustained attention. There is no reason to lump this together. These are important items. And, sadly, the way it has been structured shuts down debate. There is no room under this rule for the Ex-Im Bank. I appreciate person after person coming to the floor, acknowledging that there is broad bipartisan interest in the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank and no rational reason to reject it. It is going to have serious consequences, as my friend from Washington pointed out. But there is another area that we are discussing here today that could also make a huge difference for our economy because we are dodging again our responsibilities to deal with a country that is falling apart as it is falling behind. My friend from Texas was too polite. The reason we don't have a 6- year reauthorization is because the House has not met its responsibility to outline how we pay for it. We are still trying to pay for 2015 infrastructure with 1993 dollars. Now we have got legislation that actually mirrors what Ronald Reagan did in 1982, when he called upon Congress to come back, raise the user fee 125 percent, and be able to put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work, and maintain our roads and bridges and transit. We are not doing that.…”