The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REOPENING OF PFEIFFER CANYON BRIDGE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H8015 on Oct. 12, 2017.
The Department handles nearly all infrastructure crisscrossing the country. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department should be privatized to save money, reduce congestion and spur innovation.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REOPENING OF PFEIFFER CANYON BRIDGE
(Mr. PANETTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PANETTA. Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise today to recognize the reopening of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in Big Sur, California.
After 4 years of drought, my district on the central coast of California finally got the rain it needed, but a little too much. As a result, this year there were many large-scale landslides, including this one, as we see here to my right, which knocked out the pilings of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, causing this bridge to fail.
This left a community of people isolated and numerous businesses without revenue for at least 8 months. But over that same amount of time, the people of Big Sur, the people and government of Monterey County, the engineers and construction crews, and the California Department of Transportation demonstrated a lot of grit, guts, determination, and dedication. They listened to each other and came together to fix this bridge.
Tomorrow I will be able to attend the opening of this bridge. We will be able to show our pride for the record pace of construction, of government working together to get things done, the businesses that struggled but remained open in Big Sur during this time, and, most importantly, we will show our pride in the people of Big Sur and the communities on the central coast of California.
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