Political Quotes

“I rise today to thank my colleagues for passing America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 and to discuss the importance of it to the State of Washington. This legislation is going now to the President's desk, and it is very needed to help make our ports more competitive, to protect thousands of jobs, and to help protect our salmon habitat in the State of Washington. This legislation means the ports of Seattle and Tacoma will be able to deepen their harbors to allow them to meet the much larger cargo demands to compete with other ports on the west coast, specifically in Canada. This legislation also improves the critical habitat for salmon and waterways like the Puget Sound and the Columbia River, and it also helps utilities make commonsense investments for the future and helps to protect our ratepayers and the environment. I am proud to have worked on this legislation with our colleagues because we need to keep moving forward on investments that help make our region competitive. Our ports are essential to our economic growth in the Northwest. I always say ``ports are us'' because we have so many along the Columbia River and on the west coast, and trade is a cornerstone of our economy, with $95 billion in exports and $92 billion in imports each year. The fact that this legislation helps us on important maintenance and operations for both large and small ports and for locks, dams, and waterways is so important to our future.…”