Michelle Obama

“ I want to thank you for your sacrifice, because many of you who were public servants have been sacrificing every year, sacrificing within your own families, coming to work when it's hard, and working even harder. So just know that we value you, that America values you, and together we can get this country moving again. ”

“ Throughout our history, from early railway workers, who laid the first tracks, to the sleeping car porters whose unions became an organized trailblazer in civil rights -- my uncles were Pullman porters -- to the men and women today who manage ports, who drive trucks, and repair roads and bridges, our nation's transportation system has been a vital source of well-paying jobs and a backbone of America's middle class.
So that's why your management, the work that you're doing here in transportation to manage the investments in the economic recovery plan, is so very important. ”

“ There isn't a day that goes by that the work of the Department of Transportation doesn't touch the lives of every single person in America. You all know that. Sometimes people forget. We get to work, we drive our children to school, and to basketball, or to ballet, or to soccer, in my instance, because of the roads and the highways that are entrusted to your care.
We rely on the airlines, the trains, the buses, that are under your supervision, to reach loved ones and to conduct business in distant places all over this country, because of your work. ”