Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Shuster, as well as Ranking Member DeFazio and all the members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their hard work on this large bill, this legislation. The amendment I offer today for myself and Mr. Schrader of Oregon is vitally important to the American economy. Nearly a year ago, a dispute began at 29 of our Nation's West Coast ports that drastically slowed imports and exports to a near standstill. Agricultural products rotted on the docks. Retailers couldn't get products to stores. American manufacturers could not get their products to foreign customers. By one estimate, there was nearly $7 billion in damages to our economy. Mr. Chairman, I have no interest in pointing fingers over who is responsible for the dispute. However, I do believe that Congress has a great interest in preventing future disruptions from harming our businesses and consumers as well as our economy. One thing that became abundantly clear during the disruption was that there was very little data available to gauge how our ports are functioning on a day-to-day basis. If something is impeding port performance, be it a dispute, major congestion, or even a natural disaster, we need to know if and how our ports are suffering before it harms our economy and standing with foreign trading partners. This amendment is simple.…”