On the recordApril 25, 2012
I am struck here this afternoon. I've heard my good friends on the other side of the aisle and their concerns. I think it's legitimate that they would like to see long-term certainty in our infrastructure system. Yet, when the highway bill ended in 2009, they controlled the White House, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. While in the majority of all three levels of government, they chose to extend the transportation authorization six times. So here we are, once again, with another delay tactic, letting the American people wait some more. They know that this motion to instruct is not going to go anywhere because there are important reforms that the American people have told us they want. One of those reforms is my amendment, which is part of our bill that streamlines the redtape. Why in the world should we take 15 years to get a highway project finished? It's because we're waiting two-thirds of the time to get approvals done. It's nonsensical, yet we keep on promulgating the same problem over and over and over again. It's like Groundhog Day here. I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, it gets frustrating after a while. We need to get on with this and move forward with something. Let's get this into conference so that we can go ahead and make our reforms. The American people have spoken. They spoke in the last election. They decided that they wanted a split government, that they wanted the majority over here in the House and a different majority in the Senate.…
