Senate Proceeding on Sep 16th, 2009 :: 4:47:00 to 4:53:35
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4:46:46 to 4:47:07( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: amendment to the transportation h.u.d. bill that we are on this week. i think, expenditure ofhe federal government over the last ten years that has drawn the attention of the american people more than the bridge to nowhere, it's probably the $200 million

4:47:00 to 4:53:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jim DeMint

4:47:08 to 4:47:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: that's gone to the john murtha airport in johns town, pennsylvania. americans are greatly concerned about the level of spending and debt, particularly the spending that they consider wasteful or maybe even corrupt. media documentaries on the john

4:47:29 to 4:47:49( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: murtha airport, and i'd just like to talk about it a little bit today because my amendment would disallow the use of any funds in this bill to administer any additional subsidies or grants to this particular we disagree a lot on federal spending here, and there are

4:47:50 to 4:48:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: different things, different priorities that we can debate about. but if there's any such thing of waste, it is this airport.and i'll tell you why. over actually 20 years, this little airport in johnstown, pennsylvania, has received about

4:48:12 to 4:48:32( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: $200 million in federal funds, $150 million of that was steered directly by congressman murtha himself who uses the airport to come back and forth to washington and for campaign stops. it only has three commercial flights a day to one destination, and that's to washington, d.c.

4:48:33 to 4:48:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: only an average of about 20 passengers a day use this airport. themerican taxpayers are on the hook for about $1.5 million a year in federal subsidies. every ticket to back is subsidized for about

4:48:55 to 4:49:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: $100, whi means that the american taxpayers pay almost as much for the ticket as the passenger does, not just for o trip or two but continuously, year after year. so in spite of the fact that major media outlets of months example of the fleecing of america, this continues to go

4:49:16 to 4:49:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: on. in fact, whe was of transparency and priority use, $800,000 of funds went to this airport to repave an alternate runway which is seldom, if

4:49:37 to 4:49:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: now, a lost us here in the congress and the senate have worked for years on small rural airports to try to get some money to extend that corporate aircraft could come in, so maybe businesses would locate in areas where there wasn't commercial traffic. just getting $100 thowfer,000

4:49:59 to 4:50:20( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: for an airport is a major accomplishment sometimes. but $200 million f an airport that averages 20 passengers a day. many times there are more people handing security at this airport than there are people going through the lines. this is something that we need to stop. and if we can't stop it, we can't stop anything.

4:50:21 to 4:50:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: last saturday here in the capitol, hundreds of thousands of people gathered. it was not a republican gathering. i can tell you that, because i was there. it was average americans, moms and dads with the children, grandmas, grandpas, p have never been involved with politics before, who are just very concerned about the level

4:50:42 to 4:51:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: of spending, not just with this administration. this is not a crit simple of this administration. we are talking about the last 15 people are concerned about the level of spending and borrowing and debt, taxes and government takeovers in all areas economy. health care is certainly something that brought it to a head. but these people are here concerned about the fact that

4:51:03 to 4:51:23( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: they believe our country is on the edge after cliff and they'd like to see us here in the congress begin to move back away from that cliff and take some of the things that aren't necessary here in washington and begin to trim them back. but i think we can say here, if we cannot the funding of this

4:51:24 to 4:51:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: little airport in named after the congressman that's helped to get $200 million, if we can't stop funding it and stop subsidizing the tickets, if we can't look the facts in this case and decide as a congress to stop this, then there is nothing that we can cut here, then there's no such thing as waste, and there's

4:51:45 to 4:52:06( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: no such thing as fraud and corruption throughout this federal agree here as members of the senate to stop this. we're not taking million they've already gotten. the $800,000 for the runway that they have there which didn't need repaving in the first place, we're not closing down the airports or

4:52:07 to 4:52:27( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: stopping any travel there. we're just sayin enough is enough we've bought equipment there radar eipment, spent millions of dollars that's not being used, not being staffed. it's time that we at least focus on one thing and say, hey, we can beg this country away from a cliff

4:52:28 to 4:52:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: of e disaster and i hope on this bill with this amendment that we can in a bipartisan way agree, this to have at the federal level, that we can begin to shift priorities to those things we're supposed to do at the federal level. and it's certainly not to fund a pet project of one congressman

4:52:51 to 4:53:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: to the tune of $200 million. i encourage all of my senate colleagues, republican and democrat, t support an amendment that would simply disallow the use of any funds in this bill to be used to continue the administration of or grants to this airport. i thank you, mr. president. i yield back.

4:53:12 to 4:53:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the