| 00:00:00 | AFTERMATH OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT COMES TO EXTENSIONS AND WHAT HAPPENS, AND I KNOW IN MY CITY WHEN I SAW THESE EXTENSIONS FROM THAT END OF THE TABLE, WE ALSO HAD TO STOP PROJECTS, SLOW THEM DOWN, DIDN'T HAVE THE MONEY TO FINISH THEM, WINTER SHUTDOWN, ALL IT DID WAS ADD COST, INCREASE THE CAPACITY -- OR DECREASE THE CAPACITY OF ROADS, AND LITERALLY TAKE PRODUCTS OFF THE LIST. |
| 00:00:26 | IN YOUR COMMUNITY, HAD YOU TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBABLY LIKE I HAD TO, DID YOU HAVE THE SAME KIND OF IMPACT WHERE YOU HAD TO TELL CONTRACTORS I'M SORRY, WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY BECAUSE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HASN'T DONE THEIR JOB THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO 20-SOME TIMES BEFORE AND NEVER COMPLETED IT? |
| 00:00:42 | IS THAT A SIMILAR SITUATION SITUATION? |
| 00:00:46 | MR. COONS: MADAM PRESIDENT, THE SENATOR FROM ALASKA IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. |
| 00:00:48 | IN MY COUNTY ROLE, WE DIDN'T DO ROADS, THE STATE DOES THE ROADS BUT |
Mr. BEGICH. The Senator was a county executive; I was a mayor of a community. We had to deal with the real-life aftermath of what happens around here, especially when it comes to these extensions. I know in my city, when I saw these extensions from that end of the table, we always had to stop projects, slow them down, didn't have the money to finish them, winter shutdown. All it did was add costs, decrease the capacity of roads, and literally take projects off the list.
In his community, the Senator had to deal with this probably like I had to. Did the Senator have the same kind of impact where you had to tell contractors: I am sorry, we don't have the money because the Federal Government has not done their job that they said they would do 20-some times before and never completed it? Is that a similar situation?