Political Quotes

“These programs, unfortunately, often finance projects that have little or no value to interstate commerce. This is the Federal Government. The Federal Government exists to do things that the State and local governments can't do, but yet the State and local governments can do these things. They just choose not to. I don't blame them. Why would they when the Federal Government will pay for them? I will give you some examples: It includes $606 million in TIFIA assistance to the Moynihan Train Hall project in New York City to relieve congestion at Penn Station. It includes $99 million in TIFIA assistance to the city of Bellevue, Washington, for 12 multimodal roadways to support the new Bel-Red neighborhood in the heart of the city. It is great for those cities. I am sure it is wonderful, but that project alone included 25,000 linear feet of sidewalk and 21,000 linear feet of dedicated and separate bike lanes, all within one city. They weren't crossing State lines. People in Pennsylvania are paying for the one in Washington, people in New Mexico, Florida. They are not there, though. They just get to pay for it. It also includes $908 million in TIFIA assistance to a regional rail project that only traverses through three counties in Texas. What region is that? I guess that is the Texas region, right? It is not the Southwest. I mean, it is technically, but this doesn't cross any State lines. There is no interstate nexus here.…”