Jeff Merkley actually said...

"They liked the previous strategy better. They found that more effective, and the ability to acquire more fuel-efficient vehicles and so forth."

"Half of all transit riders do not have access to a private vehicle."

"You consider that a valuable use of public funds, to help reinvest in our own economy?"

"The whole effort was to preserve farming and forest lands and it has worked relatively well, but it does not work well without good transit."