[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19037]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING APPRECIATION FOR H.R. 3, TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A LEGACY 
                               FOR USERS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I see that the staff of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the minority side, is 
still in place, and I see that they are representing the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and all of the very fine members of that 
committee. I see the gentleman from Alaska still remaining on the 
floor. I just simply wanted to add my appreciation for the elements of 
this transportation bill.
  I think it is important for those who are listening to understand 
that although we swiftly moved through the debate this morning, we will 
be better for the passage of this bill. Children will be encouraged to 
bike and walk to school, creating a healthier climate for Americans. A 
children's museum in Houston will now have a parking facility to allow 
the guests to come and children to play. Our neighborhoods will have 
better gradation and more access to hike and bike trails. We will be 
fixing the main street line in Houston, Texas. But, most importantly, 
we have made a commitment to jobs in America, creating some 45,000 jobs 
per increment of money in this transportation bill.

                              {time}  1145

  This is the kind of message we want to send to America in a 
bipartisan manner, that the Transportation Committee in its 
bipartisanship, both the House and the Senate, has worked through a 
commitment to the mobility of Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, more environmental support could have been there, but we 
continued to work toward making America safer, making its 
transportation system better.
  Let me thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown) for the 
addition, through other vehicles of dollars for Amtrak; but we must 
continue to support the safety of our transportation system, bus, 
train, airplane and, yes, walking, for America is safer and stronger 
when we are mobile.

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