| 00:00:01 | YEARS THIS BILL, THE HOUSE BILL, I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH, IS REALLY AS SECRETARY LAHOOD SAID IT BEST, IT'S THE WORST BILL HE'S SEEN IN 35 YEARS. |
| 00:00:12 | OF COURSE IT'S THE WORST BILL I HAVE EVER SEEN. |
| 00:00:15 | I SAT THROUGH THAT MARKUP FROM 9 IN THE MORNING UNTIL 3 IN THE MORNING AND IT WAS A NIGHTMARE. |
| 00:00:21 | MANY OF THE PROPOSALS WAS DISMANTLED TRANSPORTATION. |
| 00:00:27 | AND I CAN TRULY SAY THAT PEOPLE COME TO THIS FLOOR OFTEN RAVING AGAINST THE SENATE. |
| 00:00:35 | I NOW SAY THANK GOD FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE BECAUSE THEY HAVE COME UP WITH A COMMONSENSE BILL THAT WE COULD FUND, PASS, AND GO HOME THAT WOULD FUND TRANSPORTATION AND REALLY PUT ABOUT TWO MILLION PEOPLE TO WORK. |
| 00:00:51 | WE HAVE MANY PROJECTS IN THE FLORIDA AREA THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM PASSING A COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION, BUT MORE THAN THAT WE HAVE SUCH A HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN FLORIDA, 9% OF EVERY BILLION DOLLARS WE SPEND IN TRANSPORTATION GENERATES 44,000 PERMANENT JOBS. |
| 00:01:14 | . LET ME SAY VISITING US TODAY IN THE CAPITOL IS THE HAWKE FAMILY. |
| 00:01:21 | THEIR DAUGHTER WAS KILLED BECAUSE OF POLLUTION. |
| 00:01:23 | AND THEY'RE VISITING HERE TODAY. |
| 00:01:26 | WHEN WE TALK ABOUT REGULATIONS, SURELY WE GOT TO STRIKE A BALANCE, BUT WE HAVE REGULATIONS FOR A PURPOSE. |
| 00:01:34 | THAT PURPOSE -- WHEN WE RAISE OUR HAND TO DEFEND AND PROTECT THE PUBLIC, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE TUTION BUT -- CONSTITUTION BUT WE ALSO HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC AND HAVE A BALANCED APPROACH AND NOT DESTROY ALL OF THE REGULATIONS PERSON TAKE TO THE ENVIRONMENT WHICH IS WHAT THE HOUSE BILL DID IN THE MARKUP. |
| 00:01:58 | SO WE CAN GO ON AND ON, BUT LET ME TELL YOU AS I CLOSE, YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME BUT YOU CAN'T FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME. |
| 00:02:12 | PASS THE SENATE BILL. |
| 00:02:13 | THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: THE GENTLEMAN FROM FLORIDA. |
| 00:02:15 | MR. |
| 00:02:16 | MICA: MADAM SPEAKER, I'M PLEASED TO YIELD 2 1/2 MINUTES TO THE GENTLEMAN WHO HAS AUTHORED |
Ms. BROWN of Florida. I thank the Members of the House.
Madam Speaker, let me just say, in having served on the committee for 19 years, it is the House bill I am very disappointed with. Secretary LaHood stated it best: it's the worst bill he has seen in 35 years. Of course, it's the worst bill I've ever seen. I sat through that markup from 9 o'clock in the morning until 3 o'clock in the morning, and it was a nightmare, since many of the proposals dismantle transportation.
I can truly say that people come to this floor often raving against the Senate. I now say thank God for the United States Senate because they have come up with a commonsense bill that we can fund and pass--and go home. It's a bill that would fund transportation and really put about 2 million people to work. We have many projects in the Florida area that could benefit from our passing comprehensive transportation, but more than that, we have such a high unemployment rate in Florida--9 percent--that every $1 billion we spend in transportation will generate 44,000 permanent jobs.
In talking about rules and regulations, visiting us today in the Capitol is the Hawk family, whose daughter was killed because of pollution. When we talk about regulations, surely we've got to strike a balance. We have regulations for a purpose. When we raise our hand to defend and protect the public, we're talking about the Constitution, but we also have a responsibility to make sure that we protect the public and have a balanced approach and not destroy all of the regulations pertaining to the environment, which is what the House bill did in the markup.
We can go on and on, but let me just tell you as I close that you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Pass the Senate bill.