Political Quotes

“I pick up on the concluding note of my good friend, the ranking member of our committee. We marked up the bill barely 30 days ago and pledged our allegiance to rule XVI. Now, the essence of what this debate is all about: Are we going to do a 180 and all run downhill? What is the public going to think of the Senate and how it conducts itself and how it observes its rules? That should be foremost in the mind of every Senator as that vote bell rings, hopefully, in but a few minutes, as this debate concludes. As our distinguished chairman and ranking member have clearly said, our committee worked hard, not for a month, not for 2 months. I was subcommittee chairman of the subcommittee that did the initial draft of TEA 21. It was a 2-year task, 2 years carefully going out amongst the 50 States and evaluating proposals of the various Governors, of the organizations that devote full time to America's transportation needs and they came forth with a variety of proposals. We worked very diligently to take all of that into consideration, and over a 2-year period we had many, many subcommittee hearings, and, indeed, hearings of the full committee, and crafted this legislation with the intent of seeking equity and fairness among the 50 States, of correcting what many of us viewed as an inequity between the donor States, of which mine was one, and the donee States. Therein was the most difficult battle. Two years' work stands on the brink of being disassembled on this vote.”