[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13019-13020]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                            NEVER-NEVER LAND

  (Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about an imaginary world 
that many of my Republicans, I believe, are living in.
  Peter Pan's Neverland is a place many of us think of with fond 
thoughts of our childhoods. It is an imaginary place where anything is 
possible and innocence lasts forever.
  Mr. Speaker, sadly, I think the House is operating under some sort of 
a never-never land that neither reflects our best nor our brightest. It 
is a Neverland in which House leaders think we can build and 
reconstruct bridges, roads, and highways without the funding to do so. 
How do you do that? It sounds like never-never land to me.
  How else do you explain 32 or--I forget--34 patches--short-term 
extensions--since the Federal authorization ran out 7 years ago, thus 
continuing to kick the can down the road? How is it possible to keep 
hard working individuals employed or to maintain the safety of our 
roads and transit systems if we are not providing the long-term funding 
to do so to match both State and local funding? It is not possible. 
Once again, we are going to see another patch for 2 months--kicking 
this can down the road.
  This is a never-never land that the American public is frustrated 
with. This is America's Congress. We can, we must, and we should do 
better.

[[Page 13020]]



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