Political Quotes

“A rare thing has happened today. Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have reached a compromise for the greater good of the American people. Today we will vote on three critical measures: a long-term transportation extension, a long-term flood insurance extension, and a one-year continuation of current rates for need-based student loans. Each of these is of critical importance to our nation's economic recovery. This legislation will create or save more than 2 million jobs, including approximately 9,000 in Rhode Island, by authorizing highway and transit programs through 2014. Unfortunately, in order to secure an agreement, the conferees included some provisions in this bill with which I disagree. I am disappointed that the legislation threatens critical environmental funding and protections and fails to expand funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides matching grants for our state to acquire land and water for the benefit of all Rhode Islanders. I will work to restore these resources in the future, but on balance this is a good agreement that will benefit communities and workers across our state. I am also pleased that this measure prevents the Stafford loan interest rate from doubling to 6.8 percent on July 1 for 7 million college students, saving them $1,000 over the life of their loans.…”