[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TRANSPORTATION SPENDING WILL CREATE JOBS

  (Mr. ARCURI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ARCURI. Mr. Speaker, we certainly can appreciate the passion on 
both sides of the aisle with respect to health care. This House has not 
debated a bill of this importance in many years. But one thing that we 
can't forget is that we need to continue to focus on transportation. We 
have before us right now a surface transportation authorization bill 
that must be reauthorized by the House of Representatives. We have 
bridges that are collapsing throughout the country. We have roads that 
are deteriorating. I hear my colleague from the other side of the aisle 
say, Where are the jobs? The jobs are out there now from the stimulus 
bill where money was given to the States, and they're repairing the 
roads, and they're fixing the bridges. We need to continue that.
  There is no better way to create jobs and no better way to keep our 
infrastructure the best in the world than to spend money through 
transportation. I strongly urge my colleagues to continue to work on 
reauthorization of the surface transportation bill.

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