On the recordDecember 8, 2016
I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. I thank the chairman for his work and for the committee's work on this bill in the way that, in essence, it creates a lighthouse on how we might fund infrastructure projects going forward. There is much talk about the new Trump administration and what will come next on that front, but what will be important is the process in the way that we fund infrastructure. We can have our different takes on what should or shouldn't happen in California, but if you look at the bill in its totality, it sets in place a process that, I think, is vital. Second, it is important to take things off the Christmas tree, and this bill does that. I praise the chairman for what he has done. He deauthorized $10 billion worth of projects. That is something we do not often see in Washington, D.C., and it is something we need to see more of. Finally, I thank the gentleman for the way that he focused on Charleston. Any time one can count a resource on one hand, it is a natural resource. Indeed, that is the case with the port in Charleston, which I think will go to serve needs, along with a number of other ports on the Gulf and the East Coast, as the Panama Canal has been widened.
