Ray LaHood Quotations

The reality is the people have a hard time believing gouging or collusion is not taking place when they see these spikes, and I have a hard time believing it myself,

The only part of the formula they have going for them right now is some of our people are ethically challenged, ... The rest of it doesn't fit--they don't have ideas, they don't have people on our side retiring.

Phil's in an uphill battle, there's no question about it,

I was raised in Peoria. My wife was. It's a good town to raise kids in,

I guess I don't have to tell you that we've got a huge mess in Washington,

He's a friend. We've been friends for 20 years and I really count him as a friend, and I don't have any reservation at all about saying I'd give him a substantial check,

I think service is going to go right down the tubes, ... I think the flying public is in for real horror stories. If there was a vote by Congress on this, I think it would not go through.

I think if Edgar gets in the race, he'll win the GOP nomination and beat Blagojevich,

will find very good uses for this facility.

What I told Edgar is I would write him a big check, ... I didn't offer to give him all my money.

The president has told us that he has the resources that he needs to fight this war, he has the resources that he needs to carry out homeland security, ... The president is the commander in chief. He is the one who is waging the war.

People used to write a letter, but since the anthrax scare it takes four to six weeks for a letter from Adams County to get to an office in Washington D.C.,

People can say all types of stuff, ... When I lived in Peoria before, people tried to convince me to run for things. I had an opportunity then and I didn't. I will say I'm never going to rule that out in the future. Politics is a lot about being in the right place at the right time.

they don't think he'll do it because he's done it before and he has a good lifestyle.

They didn't like the unknown of not knowing who would follow on, ... There was no heir apparent.

It's just a lot of money and people are worried that it's done correctly,

It's as bad as I've ever seen it. The dike is broken. There's no holding back.

It's a little unrealistic for us to be sitting around at this moment having a lot of heartburn about the deficit,

I don't think my driving skills would allow that,

I don't really favor that kind of thing, ... I know you all like COOL up here ... but I cannot believe you're interested in having the government get involved in this thing.

He's like a retired prince, ... He doesn't have to rush.

If he decides to do that, he'll be the nominee of our party, and he's the one that can beat Blagojevich,

What Lincoln did is he gathered people around him the way that I believe President Obama is doing by calling Republicans, talking to them, trying to work with them. And when that happens, big things get solved.

Portal Bridge is based on a design from the 1840s and was already obsolete shortly after it was completed in 1910. It's a swing bridge that needs to be opened several times a week so barges can pass up and down the river. It takes about a half an hour. The problem is it fails to lock back into place on a regular basis.

A shortage of airports runways and gates along outmoded air traffic control systems have made U.S. air travel the most congested in the world.

The Bush administration, they had two blue ribbon commissions about infrastructure finance that recommended a lot more money, and additionally the gas tax being increased. We couldn't get them to accept being able to move forward. Since President Obama's been in office, there has been, to be charitable, a lack of enthusiasm for raising the gas tax.

Last time Congress passed a major six-year transportation bill was in 1997, since then there have been 21 short-term extensions.

Public spending on infrastructure has fallen to its lowest level since 1947. And the U.S., which used to have the finest infrastructure in the world, is now ranked 16th according to the World Economic Forum, behind Iceland, Spain, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.

The last time we raised the gas tax, which is how we built the interstate system, was 1993.

Liveability means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or Post Office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids at the park - all without having to get in your car.

People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

The Chinese are more successful [in building infrastructure] because in their country, only three people make the decision. ... In a country where only three people make the decision, they can decide where to put their rail line, get the money, and do it. We don't do it that way in America.