Political Quotes

“Chairman Oberstar's manager's amendment contains several important provisions. First, it codifies FRA's existing safety advisory on railroad bridges. This provision will help ensure that the recent tragic collapse of the highway bridge in Minneapolis will never be repeated on our Nation's rail system. The manager's amendment also modifies the Swift Act, which requires locomotives to sound whistles at every crossing in the Nation. The amendment will require the FRA to take into account the impact of horn use on local communities. For example, the town of Baldwin, Florida, is only a mile wide, but has a number of rail crossings and heavy train traffic. According to Mayor Godbold of Baldwin, locomotives sound their horns over a thousand times per day in this small town. The amendment will help Baldwin and other towns balance issues of safety and noise pollution. Finally, the manager's amendment makes some technical corrections deleting the preemption and the police provisions which have already been enacted in the 9/11 bill. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.”