Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I do rise in opposition to this amendment. I do share, however, the interest of the gentleman from Georgia in promoting the common good, as mentioned by Pope Francis when he spoke in this Chamber yesterday. But the common good is people coming together to improve their lives by creating improved infrastructure for transportation, whether that is highways or mass transit, for delivering energy resources to places where that energy needs to be delivered, to improving the shipping lanes so that goods can be shipped to and from this country and within this country in ways that make it easier for consumers to receive the energy, the products, the transportation that they need and deserve. The RAPID Act will create jobs by ensuring that the Federal environmental review and permitting process works like it should. It will also make sure that these infrastructure projects that deliver the common good will do so in a reasonable period of time, so people won't have to wait 20 years, like we heard yesterday from the gentleman from Texas, about simply lowering the draft, the 8 feet lower, for ships to get up the waterway in east Texas to deliver goods and pick up goods from ports in that part of the country. Why 20 years to make a decision about dredging 8 feet from a waterway? The RAPID Act is drafted to make agencies operate efficiently and transparently. That is not happening in so many, many instances.…”