Political Quotes

“I hope we quickly pass this conference report and send it on to our colleagues in the Senate and hopefully the President will sign this vital piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Packard) not only for this particular bill, but the service to our Nation for many years, and thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), our ranking member, along with the conferees for the work on this report. Mr. Speaker, I especially want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), my colleague and friend, for his dedication and hard work and especially appreciate his advice during this process. Because of the vision of the conference committee and the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, the Houston-Galveston Navigation project will receive $53.5 million needed to continue the construction schedule for the deepening and widening of the Houston Ship Channel including the safety effort in barge lanes. The continued expansion of the Port of Houston is important on many levels. More than 7,000 vessels navigate the ship channel each year. The port provides $5.5 billion in business revenue and creates indirectly and directly 196,000 jobs. It is anticipated that the number and size of vessels will only increase. So this important project is definitely needed for, not only for the port, but for the city of Houston and Harris County.”