Political Quotes

“I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank Chairman Ed Royce for his leadership and for the help of his staff on this particular bill. Also, I thank my friend, the ranking member, Mr. Eliot Engel, and his staff also for supporting and helping us on this particular bill. As the lead sponsor of this bill, I rise in support of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, this bill will provide equity in the law and removes a level of uncertainty. In 1962, Congress authorized the Starr-Camargo International Bridge Company to construct, operate, and maintain the private toll bridge between the United States and Mexico near Rio Grande City, which is a city in my district. Congress, in drafting this original authorization, included a sunset clause of 66 years. In doing so, Congress left a level of uncertainty in the law, as it did not state what should happen to the bridge once the 66 years went by. Congress has authorized private toll bridges or other bridges along the U.S.-Mexico border before, yet previously had not included this sunset on the authorization. This sunset clause, while still a number of years away, has already begun to create issues for the owner and operator of the Starr-Camargo Bridge bill. Due to this uncertainty around what should happen to this bridge should the authorization lapse, they are unable to get much-needed long-term financing to make improvements and finance the long-term maintenance and operations of the bridge.…”