Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I find no small amount of irony. Yesterday, we were celebrating the accomplishments of that great American Lance Armstrong for his prodigious bicycle accomplishments, and today we are moving to gut the enhancements program that extends the benefits of cycling to millions of Americans. I heard the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee speak to a couple of points. One, he talked about choice in transportation. Well, the fact is today, under the enhancement programs, there is choice that is available. States have the opportunity of flexing money in and out of the enhancements program if that is their priority. The fact is that this is a priority for people if they have the focus of an enhancement program. The gentleman talked about safety. There is less than 1 percent of the money spent on 7 percent of the trips that are cycling and pedestrian, and they account for 13 percent of the fatalities. If the gentleman was concerned about safety, I would suggest that maybe we would increase the funding in these enhancement programs. These are programs where people have indicated they want choices. There are national surveys that indicate, in fact, over half the American public would put more money into bike and pedestrian activities even if it meant less money for roads.”