Political Quotes

“I rise today to talk about legislation we are currently considering, and it is a welcome development that we are actually working on appropriations bills on the Senate floor. I want to commend the work of Chairwoman Mikulski of the Appropriations Committee, her ranking member Senator Shelby, as well as both Chairman Murray and Ranking Member Collins on the so-called THUD bill. Everything in Washington has an acronym. So it is with this, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. As many people know, when you consider those appropriations and you consider the subject matter, it is pretty broad and diverse. I will just give maybe a five-part summation here of what we are talking about. It means investing, of course, in transportation infrastructure; providing housing and services to very vulnerable Americans; supporting our communities and addressing the foreclosure crisis, which is still with us in so many ways, as the Presiding Officer knows so well and has worked so hard on over many years; ensuring the safety of our transportation system; and then, No. 5, promoting sustainability in our communities. I want to talk first about Amtrak. Amtrak is part of our transportation infrastructure that not only is critically important for a State such as Pennsylvania but really the entire eastern seaboard and really across the whole country.…”