Bob Wise: “I want to thank very much, and I think the country owes a vote of thanks, to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman…”

“I want to thank very much, and I think the country owes a vote of thanks, to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) for his tireless efforts to bring this bill to the floor, as well as to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member, for all he has done and for the bipartisan effort, Republicans and Democrats working together. This is going to be the major economic growth package that passes this Congress this year. And, indeed, it is going to be one of the most significant growth packages to pass the Congress in many a year. It does not do all that it could or should, but it sure does a lot and begins to redress an imbalance that has been there for many years: the fact that we are not investing significantly and not investing enough in our infrastructure. Mr. Chairman, some have called this, yes, a budget buster, and so I look at the $4 billion to $5 billion to maybe $6 billion over what was projected initially per year that this could cost. I estimate that that is roughly .003 of the total Federal budget in a year, and my guess is that we are going to be able to find that money some place pretty quickly, particularly because this bill brings about the economic growth that we need to make sure that the economy keeps growing. There is an imbalance that needs to be corrected. Fifty-nine percent of the roads in this country need work of some significant amount.…”