"I think these pilot projects for the first time in four administrations hold some promise of giving us a path forward."
"it is a broken promise."
"So we could productively, with community and state support and tremendous consensus, spend these funds for their lawfully authorized purpose if we stopped using them as a phony budget offset, and that..."
"If you want to put it into a historical context, in 1999 the House of Representatives actually passed what would have been a $3.2 billion package that essentially would have funded most of the compone..."
"Bottom line, there is no excuse for unnecessary bureaucratic delays, and we have got to look at ways to eliminate those sorts of things."
"I just had an example last week in my office where there's a critical rail project in my district..."
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman."
"Well, not under existing law. There are five States eligible under the pilots, but I'm saying if we made it a part of permanent law that States could request that authority, you would not object to th..."
"And as I understand it, there is a major barrier that States don't want to waive sovereign immunity."
"But I think we need to perhaps elevate that issue higher or look at whether the exception process is the right way to go."
"I think it's important to put an emphasis on looking at lower cost, more appropriate alternatives, that doesn't require you to take an exception or not be part of an experimental program."
"Well, we'd love to be on the early distribution list so that we can incorporate some of the ideas into our reauthorization working with the chairman because we need to address this situation."