Paul Offers Gov. Beshear Assistance for Vital Bridge Repairs

Press Release

Following up on his on-site visit last week, today Sen. Rand Paul spoke with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear regarding the Eggner Ferry Bridge collapse in Western Kentucky.

Sen. Paul reiterated his intention to use every avenue at his disposal to expedite the replacement of the bridge. Often in projects of this nature, the obstacle becomes burdensome and time-consuming federal regulations and agencies. Sen. Paul vowed to help the local and state officials cut through this mess of federally imposed red tape.

"From years-long environmental impact studies, to backed-up permit processes, the current state of federal agencies and regulations can often make it impossible to complete a project in a timely and cost-efficient manner," Sen. Paul said. "The people of Kentucky deserve better and need their government to expedite this process, not block it. I will continue to work with local and state officials to give them all the support they need at the federal level to rebuild this bridge and to begin moving on other vital bridge and infrastructure projects around the Commonwealth."

Sen. Paul is not only working for fewer regulatory roadblocks on Kentucky projects, he is also advocating to make bridge and infrastructure project - like those vital to Kentucky - a national priority.

"We need to have a smaller federal government. We need to do less and reduce our deficit. But we cannot ignore vital infrastructure needs. That's why I have proposed prioritization plans that would fill our needs, stop wasteful spending in other areas, and reduce our deficit at the same time," he continued. "Ideas like moving funds from so-called beautification projects to bridge-building. Ideas like repatriation of overseas capital to both an infrastructure fund and a deficit-reduction fund. These are common-sense, bipartisan approaches I will continue to work for in Washington."

Source