Chet Edwards For Congress

Hillsboro Reporter: Edwards Supports PAYGO Legislation

Hillsboro Reporter | January 2010

Edwards Supports PAYGO Legislation

The policy of pay as you go (PAYGO) at the federal level was approved by the House of Representatives last week.

Representative Chet Edwards, D-Waco, was one of 233 House members to vote in favor of the proposal. The nay votes totaled 187.

The legislation incorporated Edward’s PAYGO, making the budget policies permanent law.

The congressman said that the move will begin returning Congress to the fiscally responsible policies that led to budget surpluses in the 1990s.

CQ Politics: Texas: Edwards Has $1.3 Million

By Greg Giroux | January 28, 2010

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) is letting his Republican opponents know they'll have to cough up some cash if they want to take him on.

Edwards' campaign announced Thursday that it began this year with $1.3 million in its account after raising $275,000 in the final three months of 2009.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle: Bryan bridge project on solid ground

Bryan-College Station Eagle
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

By MATTHEW WATKINS

No government official wants to see children walking home from school on a well-traveled, narrow bridge with no sidewalk.

But local leaders have witnessed it and worried for years about the Old Reliance Road bridge that passes over Earl Rudder Freeway in Bryan.

It was such a troubling issue that the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce ranked expanding the bridge as its top transportation priority for about a decade. And on Monday the Texas Department of Transportation finally broke ground on a $4.2 million project to do so.

The new bridge will have four lanes and a sidewalk. It's expected to be completed in the fall.

"It took us perhaps longer than we wanted," said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, who said he worked for years to secure funding for the project.

Cleburne Times-Review: Edwards calls Texas 121 highest priority

Published: January 17, 2010
By Matt Smith

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said Thursday that the Texas 121 project will be his highest priority.

“I think it’s so important for Cleburne and Johnson County,” Edwards said. “It will be in this and coming years number one as far as area projects for me.”

Plans, long in development, have called for extending Texas 121 from its current location in Fort Worth to Cleburne. The toll road will be known as Southwest Parkway in Tarrant County and Chisholm Trail Parkway in Johnson County.

Plans to break ground on the project appeared imminent in late 2008 and early 2009. Local officials became alarmed last year, however, after rumors surfaced that funding for the project might be diverted to other projects in Tarrant County. Cleburne and county officials contacted state Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor, and traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit with Edwards.

“Several community leaders came up to Washington last year and said they were worried about Johnson County getting cut out,” Edwards said. “I try not to throw my weight around very often, but I talked to quite a few people at the North Texas Tollway Authority, Texas Department of Transportation and the Regional Transportation Commission.

Cleburne Times-Review: Edwards receives transportation award

Published: January 15, 2010
Special to the Times-Review

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, received the Texas Transportation Institute’s Director’s Research Champion Award on Sunday.

The award recognizes individuals at the national level who have been strong and effective advocates for transportation research. Edwards is the first elected official to receive the award, which TTI established five years ago.

“The real research champions are the people in this room who make our roadways safer, or air cleaner and our transportation system more efficient,” Edwards said. “I will treasure this award because of my deep respect for TTI and all that you do.”

TTI officials said Edwards has made transportation a priority during his years of serving District 17, which includes College Station, home of TTI.