Political Quotes

“But I think often overlooked in this debate is the fact that this is not just any run-of-the-mill gas or motor vehicle fuel tax. This tax, imposed about 3 years ago at the time of President Clinton's first budget, represented an unprecedented change in the use of motor vehicle fuel tax. Always previously here in the Congress--and for all practical purposes almost always in our States--motor vehicle fuel taxes were used for transportation purposes, generally for the construction and maintenance of highways, but more frequently in the recent past for mass transit systems, whether bus related or on fixed rails. As such, motor vehicle fuel taxes were usually less objected to by the vast majority of people than was the case with many others taxes because they could see what they were getting for their money, because one paid in proportion to one's use of those very transportation facilities. President Clinton, however, flouted that convention in 1993 and determined that this gas tax was to be used for various social purposes.”