bill shuster. the reason this race has national implications is bill shuster is also the tremendously powerful chairman of the transportation committee in the house. you may have heard tell recently about how the highway trust fund is going broke and repair projects are idled across the country, literally potholes aren't getting filled in and bridges stopped being repaired because the funding got shaky. people will lose jobs because we haven't been able to fund all the basic transportation and repair projects we fund year. that is in part because bill shuster, who has been facing this tea party challenge back home in pennsylvania in tonight's primary, is in charge of the transportation committee and republicans facing tea party challengers are not the most likely candidates for passing huge spending bills out of their committees no matter how popular and necessary those bills are. well,that race tonight in the ninth district in pennsylvania we're looking at just about 16% of precincts in. right now

will schuster gave the republican -- bill shuster gave the republican address. >> hi, everybody. it's memorial day weekend. a chance for americans to get together with family and friends, break out the grill, and kick off the unofficial start of summer. more importantly, it's a time to remember the heroes whose sacrifices made these moments possible -- our men and women in uniform who gave their lives to keep our nation safe and free. from those shots fired at lexington and concord more than two centuries ago to our newest generation of veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, our history shines with patriots who answered the call to serve. they put their lives on the line to defend the country they loved. and in the end, many gave that "last full measure of devotion" so that our nation would endure. every single one of us owes our fallen heroes a profound debt of gratitude. because every time we cast our votes or speak our minds without fear, it's because they fought for our right to do that. every chance we get to make a better life for ourselves and our families is possib

by a voice vote, it's a direct result of chairman bill shuster's leadership. thank you, sir. i obviously rise in support of this wrrda conference report. as a member of the farm bill and wrrda conference committees, it's really good to see congress come together in a bipartisan way to pass very important pieces of legislation. this agreement is going to create infrastructure jobs and provide opportunities that will make our country more competitive. this wrrda bill includes my public-private partnership language which was introduced, along with my colleague, cheri bustos, as a way to fund navigation projects. it will improve navigation along the mississippi river. enyart. thank mr. this will include policies that will help the metro east region in south illinois to recertify this levee system. vote yes on this conference report and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to another member of our conference committee, the gentlelady from california, ms

maybe with his tea party primary challenge behind him now, bill shuster will relent and let your local pothole pavers get to before we all fall in and end up in china. mike simpson facing a primary challenge from his right. the ap just called the race in idaho for mike simpson. he has defeated his tea party challenger bryan smith. over in oregon, associated press says that monica wehby has won the republican primary for oregon's senate seat. she will face democrat theic senator jeff merkley in the general election in november. also we have the rarest of all political dramas in this area. a true blue hotly contested democratic primary. at this hour, incumbent congressman hank johnson appears to be fending off his challenger tom brown in his congressional district in dekalb county. he is the former sheriff of dekalb county. what makes it interesting is incumbent democratic members of congress don't get serious primary challengers in most cases but hank johnson did. we will keep an eye on this one in georgia. in one of the most important senate races in the country, it looks as if the rep

bill shuster gave the republican address, focusing on job opportunities for americans.hi, everybody. this immoral day weekend, chance weekend. memorial day time to kick off the unofficial start of summer. more important, it's a time to remember the heroes who made these moments possible. the men and women who gave their lives to keep our nation safe and free. shots fired at lexington or newest generation of veterans in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, history shines with patriots who answered the call to serve. they put their lives on the line to defend the country they loved. that last, many gave full measure of devotion so that our nation would endure. every single one of us owes our fallen heroes a profound debt of gratitude. because every time we cast our votes were speak our mind without fear, it is because they fought for our right to do that. every chance we get to make a better life for ourselves and our families is possible because generations of patriots fought to keep america a land of opportunity. where anyone of any race come any religion, from any backgro

maybe with his tea party primary challenge behind him now, bill shuster will relent and let your local pothole pavers get to before we all fall in and end up in china. mike simpson facing a primary challenge from his right. the ap just called the race in idaho for mike simpson. he has defeated his tea party challenger bryan smith. over in oregon, associated press says that monica wehby has won the republican primary for oregon's senate seat. she will face democrat theic senator jeff merkley in the general election in november. also we have the rarest of all political dramas in this area. a true blue hotly contested democratic primary. at this hour, incumbent congressman hank johnson appears to be fending off his challenger tom brown in his congressional district in dekalb county. he is the former sheriff of dekalb county. what makes it interesting is incumbent democratic members of congress don't get serious primary challengers in most cases but hank johnson did. we will keep an eye on this one in georgia. in one of the most important senate races in the country, it looks as if the rep

she said he's the most authentic conservative but bill shuster just became chairman of the transportation panel. he's in the middle of trying to push highway legislation through congress. "the washington post" reports shuster has aired almost $700,000 of local tv ads. the congressman's father is the famous bud shuster who headed the same transportation committee two decades ago and he's been campaigning with his son leading up to today's primary. the ninth district is rural, 97% of its population is white, but this is about spending and the tea party. out west we've been covering a serious establishment versus tea party battle in the race in idaho's second congressional district. one of speaker boehner's allies, congressman mike simpson, goes into today's voting with what appears to be a decent lead over his challenger, bryan smith. the center for responsive politics reports this race was the most expensive contest in the country. outside groups bankrolled both sides with ads like this one for incumbent mike simpson. but the club for growth pulled back and haven't aired a tv ad since apri

and conservative art albertson is trying to unseat bill sho shuster, head of the campaign committee. and then we have texas. and don't forget 41% of the gop in the state of texas voted against the senator in march's texas primary. does that tell us things to come in kentucky and south carolina. one other thing to watch on that last tuesday in may, the lieutenant governor race which may end an 11-year career. for the most part, established republicans appear to have the edge and the professional tea party movement has a lot to lose. they talk a big game, put out a ton of press releases and seem to raise a decent bit of money. but there's been new scrutiny on how they spend that money. just a week ago, an analysis says less than 20% of what they spent actually went to candidates. expect questions about those expenditures to get louder and whether the organized tea party movement is dying, even if supporters are as fired up as ever. keep in mind, there are a group of voters that are so aligned with the tea party. even if the establishment beats the organized tea party movement, they sti

bill to the president as soon as possible. i would be remiss if i didn't mention congressman shuster, who heads the committee -- my counterpart committee in the house. congressman shuster was a slight dliet to work with even when it got tough. we had some tough, tough disagreements but he stuck with it. i also want to congratulate him on his victory yesterday and i just want to tell him through this statement how much i look forward to working with him on the transportation bill. if we can do this, we can do that. and why it's important is, we have to keep america moving. we're the greatest nation on earth, but you can't be the greatest nation on earth if you don't have a water infrastructure, if your cities are flooding, if your ports can't move product. you can't. and you certainly can't have a great nation when you cannot have a highway system that functions, a transportation system that functions, you can't. there is no such thing. because if you can't move commerce, if you can't move people, you can't move america forward. with that i will say again my deepest thanks to staff, my deepest thanks to senator vitter, my deep

shuster and ranking member rahall. they exhibited real leadership in getting a house bill done to begin with and then working with us on a productive conference committee. really thank them for all of their work and their staffs. and speaking of staffs, i am deeply indebted to all of the staff work that went into this bill. it was very, very significant. the chair and i personally dealt with probably a couple of dozen issues and semi crises that would crop up over time. our staffs in contrast did that multiple times over. hundreds and hundreds of problems and issues before they developed to the member level. literally, hundreds and hundreds. i want to thank both staffs, but i am particularly indebted to my staff for all of their hard work, particularly charles burningham, zack bay, chris thomasi, sara beach, jill landry, luke bowler and cheyenne steele. they put in enormous hours into this bill, and i really appreciate their work. and i certainly also want to recognize and thank chairman boxer's staff, particularly tina farier, ted alston, mary kerr and kate gillman. in closing, mr. president, i strongly commend this w

the minority, shuster of pennsylvania was chairman of the committee, he and i traveled the country in support of a significant increase in our surface transportation bill that became known as t-21. and then, atlanta. at the end of a news conference, the last question was a reporter who said, why are you a democrat, traveling with mr. shuster, a republican? never seenause i've a democratic road or republican bridge rate -- bridge. undaunted, the reporter turned to mr. shuster and said, why are you traveling with a democrat? he said, jim oberstar and i are joined at the hip. we have different viewpoints, but we reached common ground. when we did, we stuck with it. we forged something better for the country. not everyone has the best ideas. if you find common ground, you reach good ideas and good policy that is workable for the country. throughout 2007, 2000 eight, we passed very significant legislation reauthorizing amtrak. came from one perspective and i came from another. he had an idea of engaging the private sector. i do not think that would be workable. as we talked, as we looked each other in the eye and laid out the specific proposals, there was a

shuster a pennsylvania was chairman of the full committee, he and i traveled the country in support of a significant increase in our surface transportation billat became known as t 21 trans partition equity act for the 21st century. then atlantic, at the end of a news conference were traveled to see the congestion points in atlanta, the last question was a mr. over star,id why you traveling with mr. shuster, a republican? >> because i had never seen a democratic road or a republican bridge. undaunted, the reported turn to areshuster and said, why you traveling with a democrat? he said jim and i are joined at the hip. viewpoints,erent but we reach a common ground. when we did, we stuck with it. we forged something better for the country. not everyone has the best ideas. if you find common ground, you reach good ideas and good policy. that is workable for the country. throughout 2007, 2008, we passed first significant legislation reauthorizing amtrak for example. it had not been done in 15 years. mike came from one perspective and i came from another. talked, as we looked each other in the eye and laid out specific proposals, there was a .rust