Political Quotes

“I wish to support the short-term reauthorization of our national surface transportation law. It is urgent that we keep the highway trust fund solvent to avoid a shutdown of work on our highways, bridges, and transit systems. A recent letter from 62 national organizations, including the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the American Public Transportation Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Laborers' International Union, echoed the White House's warning: If we don't shore up the trust fund, we put at risk 100,000 construction projects that support more than 700,000 jobs, including 3,500 jobs in my home State of Rhode Island. We have to save these jobs, but I have to say that the legislation before us is inadequate on two fronts. First, instead of a short-term bill, we should be undertaking a long- term extension of transportation funding to provide certainty to the States and create much-needed jobs. Second, the House version of this bill uses the very offsets that House Republican leaders rejected when they were included as part of my bipartisan legislation to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. House leadership has used every excuse to deny these benefits to people who have been hurting for months, invoking increasingly problematic conditions. I, for one, will not stop working to help people who, despite their best efforts, find themselves without the opportunity to find work.…”