If we're going to have an unconventional budget, we probably need an unconventional process to get there.

The tragic thing is that we're letting our transportation system crumble at the exact moment we need to build it up.

As we look at a future where we're going to have to double our freight capacity, how do you create a freight system that's integrated across the country when you have 50 different freight systems that are built one state at a time?

Not every innovation in transportation is going to come from government or even a large enterprise. There are smart people out there with tools and skills to come up with great ideas.

I think public service is a calling and you do it as long as the things that brought you into the office can continue getting you up in the morning and as long as there's still work to get done.

Tolling... has a place. We're not going to toll our way to prosperity as a country. It is a tool that can be used in some instances, for example, to add capacity and to pay for that capacity privately. But I don't think it is a complete solution to how we deal with our surface transportation issues.