Political Quotes

“later today this House will vote on the biggest transportation vote of the decade. The Shuster-Oberstar- Petri-Rahall amendment takes a small slice from the tax cuts, from defense, from discretionary domestic spending so the American people can get the road and the rail improvements they have already paid for but are not included in the balanced budget agreement. This allocates an additional $13 billion for transportation over the next 5 years. This amendment will, as the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Kelly] said earlier, save lives. Up to 12,000 a year it will save, and at the same time it promotes jobs and it builds a strong economy. For Northern Virginia, which I represent, where we are choked in traffic, this will give us the money to help in rebuilding the Woodrow Wilson Bridge before it falls into the Potomac River. It will give Virginia our fair share of transportation dollars. We got back less than 80 cents for every dollar we spent under the previous authorization. Without the additional dollars this amendment provides, fair allocations for donor States like Virginia become next to impossible. Let us balance the budget, let us fix the broken transportation system, let us support the Shuster-Oberstar amendment.”