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"This is close to $3 billion, and will bring over half a billion in the next five years," Shays told the Minuteman. "It is a huge amount."
In addition to key projects and programs for the Fourth District and State of Connecticut, the bill includes $100 million for the Cross Harbor Tunnel, which will connect New York and the East-of-Hudson region with the nation's rail freight system, taking as many as a million trucks off the Interstate.
Shays is Co-Chair of the East-of-Hudson Task Force with Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and has long advocated for this important congestion-mitigating project.
"Southwest Connecticut has serious transportation needs and this funding for our key projects and highway programs will help us address many of those challenges," Shays said. "Working closely with Senators Dodd and Lieberman, we have spent an enormous amount of time and energy educating the Transportation Committee about the importance of our infrastructure projects and highway and transit systems throughout the District."
Shays said one key project in the bill is the $28 million authorization for the Intermodal Transit Center in Bridgeport, the huge project under way along I-95 in Bridgeport which encompasses trains, the ferry, and the bus system, and envisions a connection to downtown Bridgeport and high-speed ferry service to downtown Manhattan. Stamford also will receive $22.8 billion for its Urban Transitway, another key transportation complex in Stamford.
"By helping Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford, we help the entire District," Shays said. "Westport will do just fine if the cities do well."
As part of the package, $10.7 million has been earmarked for Bridgeport's Seaview Avenue, for the proposed Lake Success Business Park. While there is some grass roots opposition to creating an industrial complex there, Shays said, "We don't need a recreational park in Bridgeport. We need an industrial park."
Opposes closing sub base
Shays said he was opposed to the threatened closure of the submarine base in New London, and called it a serious economic loss to that part of the state of Connecticut should it occur. "I'm doing whatever I'm asked and then some to help out," he said.
Shays remains a staunch advocate of the Bush administration's position in Iraq, and a behind-the-scenes player in the decisions there. Shays is chairman of the National Security Subcommittee of the Government Reform Committee, which covers all matters relating to national security, including anti-terrorism efforts. He has traveled to Iraq nine times in the past three years and said it is those
trips which have convinced him of the necessity of the United States
presence in Iraq.
"Churchill was called a buffoon, but he took a stand against dictatorship," Shays said. "We must as well."
"I know I have made a significant difference in improving our policy," he said. "I learn firsthand what is happening in Iraq and interface with the State Department and the White House."
Shays said he was able to bring Arabic speakers and Iraqi Americans to the American presence, and realized on his second visit that there was no emphasis on the rebuilding of Iraq after the invasion. "I said this is crazy," he commented.
Traveling with Save the Children, Shays also recognized the need for an increased number of experts to take apart explosive devices which were taking innocent lives, and was able to meet with President Bush to work on that issue.
Shays argued that the importance of elections in Iraq cannot be underestimated. "More people voted in that election that in ours - over 60 percent of the population voted," he said.
Shays also called for a strong condemnation by the Muslim community of terrorist acts. "The rise in fundametalism has been there and now it's out in the open," he said. "If you add up all the wealth of the 21 Arab states, who control two-thirds of the world's oil, their gross domestic product is equal to that of Spain. They exclude women from participating in the economy. They are losing ground with the West. They are offended and concerned about it and they blame us for their failures."
"We have $300 billion in Iraq. We will not get that back but we will ultimately see a changed Middle East," said Shays.
Despite strong support for Bush on the Iraq war, Shays criticized the administration for its policies on energy conservation. "They lost a huge opportunity after the election," he said. "We could be working to conserve energy, but the push has to come from the president. He has to use his moral authority."
Shays also opposed the administration's position on the Terry Schiavo issue. He disagreed with the administration's backing of a federal intervention on what he said was a state matter. "That to me was an example of the conservatives losing their good sense of judgment," he said.
Shays said the adminstration's position on stem cell research parallels the opposition that existed with Copernicus and Gallileo. "It's just basic sound science," he said. "To deny all the good that can happen because of someone's religious beliefs is in my judgment like what we saw centuries ago."
Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell, a Democrat, has established a committee to raise funds to run against the Republican Shays in the 2006 election. She ran a strong campaign against the 18-year incumbent in 2004. Shays said he won't be focusing on the election until next year,
