[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 19, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H3743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LET'S PASS A TRANSPORTATION BILL
(Mr. WALZ of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address the
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. The American public deserves better. They
deserve more from their Congress. The sacrifices that so many millions
of Americans have given, whether it's in military service or service to
this Nation, to allow us to stand here and self-govern ourselves needs
to be repaid with maybe the words of Daniel Webster above us up there:
Let's do something great in our time. The differences this Nation has
is what makes us strong--differences of opinion. But compromise and
common purpose is the glue that hold us together.
If there's anything that we can agree upon, it's that this Nation
should have a world-class transportation system to move people and
goods in an efficient, effective manner. And we're sitting here not
passing a transportation bill. We have never had this problem in this
Congress. The last five transportation bills have passed with an
average of 375 bipartisan votes. We have a bill that passed the Senate
100 days ago that passed with a 74 22 vote. I'm not sure they can agree
it's Tuesday in the Senate, and they compromised on a transportation
bill.
I urge my colleagues here, either get the compromise done this week
or bring the Senate bill forward and let us vote up or down to put
America back to work and do something great in our time.
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