Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. 2153.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times and passed; that when the Senate receives H.R. 4105 and, if it is identical to the text of S. 2153, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4105, the bill be read a third time and passed, with no amendment in order prior to passage; that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this is an extremely important piece of legislation we just adopted. It has had bipartisan support and we were able to do it quickly. We had hoped the House--and I am confident they will--would follow our example in passing this bill quickly.

Mr. President, H.R. 1837 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings on the legislation at this time.

Mr. President, 56 years ago it took President Eisenhower a year to convince Congress and the country to make an unprecedented investment in America's highway system. After all, building 47,000 miles of interstate highways across the Nation would require an unparalleled effort and unprecedented investment. The project required enough concrete to build six sidewalks to the Moon at a cost of $50 billion or the equivalent of almost $\1/2\ trillion today.

The project was hugely successful. It created jobs, it connected farms and factories, tiny towns and towering cities, and allowed manufacturers and merchants to ship goods across our country for the first time in our Nation's history. Looking back on this effort to pass the first highway bill, President Eisenhower considered it the crowning accomplishment of his Presidency.

``More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America,'' President Eisenhower wrote in his memoir. ``Its impact on the American economy--the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up--was beyond calculation.''

Fifty-six years after his initial work, Congress once again is considering transportation legislation, an investment in this country's crumbling roads, bridges, and train tracks. But we have the benefit of history on our side. We know from 56 years of experience that investing in America's highways and railways will create and sustain jobs, and we have no doubt that building a world-class transportation system will help us rebuild our world-class economy.

That is why the senior Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Inhofe, and one of the most liberal Members of the Senate, the junior Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer, have joined hands to advance this bipartisan Transportation bill before this body. The bill is comprised of four measures reported out of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Banking, Commerce and Finance Committees--all with bipartisan support. Both sides agreed to a package of 37 amendments in addition to this that is now part of the measure that is before the Senate.

This is the legislation, as I have indicated, that is in the Senate now. If the filibuster ended and we passed the bill before us, it would be a huge step forward. Pass what we have now, vote on it, and we could call it a good day for America, a real good day. But in today's political climate, bipartisan support is not enough to keep good legislation alive. In today's political climate, 85 votes to begin debate on a measure is not enough to guarantee the measure will become law.

The Transportation legislation under consideration is truly bipartisan. It will create or sustain 3 million badly needed construction jobs. Yet Republican leaders have wasted almost a month of the Senate's time obstructing this valuable measure--for political reasons, obviously.

Unfortunately, Democrats cannot keep construction crews working to repair 70,000 collapsing bridges across the country without Republican cooperation. Without Republican cooperation we cannot expand the Nation's mass transit system to accommodate tens of thousands of new riders every year. Without Republican cooperation we cannot create and save 3 million jobs repairing crumbling pavement and building safer sidewalks. It will take bipartisan effort to advance this bipartisan legislation.

Frank Turner, a former Federal Highway Administrator, said work on this country's transportation system ``will never be finished because America will never be finished.'' Although the work is never finished, it is up to Congress to sustain the effort to move it forward. Unless Congress acts this month work on highways, bridges, and train tracks will come to a grinding halt. Unless Congress acts, the American economy will pay the price for partisan bickering.

What we have before the body now is the measure reported out of the four committees I talked about plus 37 bipartisan amendments. We should pass that. We should invoke cloture on it and just pass that and wait for the House to pass whatever they do and go to conference. That would be a tremendous step forward for us.

I am hopeful my Republican colleagues will join Democrats to put American jobs ahead of these procedural games we are having so much trouble with and help us advance this vital transportation legislation.

Mr. President, I am very happy to see you here this morning. It is not often that we get our senior Members to preside, and we appreciate it very much.

Following any leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1813, the surface transportation bill. Today we will continue to work with Republicans and hopefully find a path forward. There will be no rollcall votes today. The next vote will occur Tuesday morning.

Mr. President, this is a new year, and thankfully it has brought new signs of economic recovery--not as vibrant as we would like but some recovery--but it will never be good enough while we have millions of Americans unemployed in this country. As we say in the Senate, those on this side of the aisle, Democrats, we are not going to take our eye off the target; that is, a healthy economy. The bipartisan Transportation bill before the Senate is an important step in that direction. This bill will save or create almost 3 million jobs. Yet my Republican colleagues have caused the waste of about a month of precious time here on the Senate floor in obstructing this very important piece of legislation. So it is with disappointment that I am going to file cloture on this Transportation bill.

It seems 85 votes to begin debate on a measure no longer indicates a smooth legislative path forward. We would think that with 85 votes, we would have timely approval of the bill, but that has not taken place. That is because my Republican colleagues want to waste time on unrelated, ideological, nongermane, nonrelevant amendments instead of talking about the Nation's failing infrastructure.

There is no one, no one thinks--and I say that--no one believes that our roads, our highways, our bridges are up to snuff. They are not. We need significant work to bring them to a better condition. Tens of thousands of bridges are in a state of disrepair. So Republicans, instead of working on this valuable infrastructure bill, have been causing us to waste time on unrelated issues.

We have spent the last several weeks on women's access to health care, and,

of course, amendments they are talking about doing in addition to that would weaken our environmental protection, make our water less pure, our air dirtier--this instead of rebuilding, as I indicated we need to do, our roads and our bridges, even against their better judgment. One Republican leader said yesterday: We have spent enough time this year on trying to repeal the health care bill. But they have had to retract that because the tea party rose and said: Oh, we have to have more votes.

They are meaningless votes. Everyone knows there is going to be no repeal of the health care bill this year. So the Republican leader, who talked about this yesterday, was talking about maybe doing what Senator Alexander and Senator Pryor think we should do: spend our time on things that are constructive, such as getting our appropriations bills done. But, no, the tea party stepped in, and now there are going to be efforts made to repeal the health care bill. In fact, I read in the paper today a complete flip-flop from yesterday. Instead of not dealing with trying to repeal the health care bill the rest of this legislative year, now the word is that the entire month of March is going to be spent dealing with health care.

It is time to move forward on this bill. Hopefully, seven--that is all we need. There are 47 Republicans, and we need 7 of them to invoke cloture on this bill. That vote will occur Tuesday morning. All the nongermane, nonrelevant amendments, let them do them on a piece of legislation that is not so vital to the economy of this country. We are going to move forward on this bill. I certainly hope we can get seven Republicans to join with us. There are 53 of us, seven of them.

I have always said I would be happy to come up with an agreement. If they want to offer amendments that are relevant to what we are doing, that is fine. But that hasn't been forthcoming. I hope the weekend will give my Republican colleagues a chance to reflect on whether they are willing to put ideology ahead of the economy. Three million jobs and what do we spend our time on? An ideological issue to take health care away from women.

Mr. President, I want to make sure the record is very clear what the vote will be on Tuesday morning.

Before the day is out, I am going to file cloture on a work product. It is a bill that has the approval of Barbara Boxer, a progressive Senator from California, and Jim Inhofe, a conservative Senator from Oklahoma. We have now added to that something that came out of the Finance Committee, something that came out of the Banking Committee, and something that came out of the Commerce Committee. All these measures have been relatively without any challenge. I can't understand why people wouldn't approve this. And what we added to this is 37 approved amendments. The staffs, with their respective Senators, have been working for days to come up with agreement on amendments that have been filed but not offered, and these amendments have been approved by the respective chair and ranking members of the committees, 37 of them. So we will be voting on Tuesday on that product--all of it bipartisan, all of it noncontroversial--so that we can complete work on this bill.

If we did nothing else, nothing else on this highway bill, then what we are going to vote cloture on, on Tuesday, would be really a good, strong legislative day for this body. Then we could have conference with the House. The House has already announced they can't do their senseless piece of legislation. Even tea party-driven Republicans in the House recognized that was something that was a figment of someone's imagination that they could get done. Now they are going to do a 2-year bill, like us. It will be easy to conference something like that. They may have some difference in some of the policy efforts, but that is why we have conferences.

This legislation is critical. At the end of this month, the end of March, the highway bill is no more. Projects that are being worked on in Hawaii and Nevada and around the other 48 States will come to a stop. There will be no money. New projects won't be able to go forward. This is a very important bill involving billions of dollars of badly needed construction.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, as I indicated to the Acting President pro tempore this morning, the junior Senator from Hawaii, how fortunate I was to have one of the senior Members of the Senate preside, that doesn't happen often, and here it is again with the Senator from West Virginia.

I was commenting to my friends on the staff who don't know the Senator from West Virginia very well--and they don't know a lot of us because we just whip through here. In a brief synopsis I was telling them what a wonderful man the Senator is and what he has done to contribute to a better society. I have such gratitude to know the Presiding Officer, to know his background and the sacrifices he has made for his country. He has done so much for his State. When the history books are written, there will be a big chapter on what has taken place in West Virginia during the Presiding Officer's service there.

Cloture Motion

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I have a second cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the clerks be authorized to modify the instruction lines on any amendments currently filed in order to match the page and line numbers on the pending Reid of Nevada amendment No. 1761, and that those amendments and instruction line modifications be considered timely filed under rule XXII; further, that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived for the two cloture motions that were just filed; finally, that the cloture vote on the Reid amendment No. 1761 occur at 12 noon, Tuesday, March 6.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each during that time.

Mr. President, I am told there is a bill at the desk due for its first reading.

Mr. President, I ask for a second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar under rule XIV, but I object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until Monday, March 5, at 2 p.m.; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; further, that the filing deadline for first-degree amendments to S. 1813 be 4 p.m. on Monday, March 5, and the filing deadline for second- degree amendments to the Reid amendment No. 1761 and S. 1813 be 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 6.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at 2:15 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 439 and 440; that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on Calendar Nos. 439 and 440, in that order; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative section.

Mr. President, today I filed cloture on the Reid amendment on the underlying Transportation bill. The cloture vote on that amendment will occur at noon on Tuesday. We will continue to work on a path to get this bill done. The quickest way to get it done would be to invoke cloture.

As a reminder, at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday there will be two votes on the confirmation of the Phillips and Rice nominations.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the surface transportation bill.

Order of Procedure

As I indicated last night, I now ask unanimous consent that there be 90 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled prior to the vote in relation to the Blunt amendment; that all other provisions of the previous order remain in effect; and that the time Senator McConnell and I use prior to the vote not count against the 90 minutes.

The vote will be somewhat after 11:00, but it shouldn't be long after 11:00. We hope that when we get rid of this amendment, we will be able to make an agreement with the Republicans on moving forward on this bill. We have been unsuccessful in doing that to this point.

Mr. President, too often cooperation is in short supply here in the Senate, so I was pleased when we began consideration of a truly bipartisan jobs bill.

As I have said here a number of times in the past week or so, if there were ever a bipartisan bill, this is it. Progressive Barbara Boxer, conservative Jim Inhofe--they have agreed on a way to move forward on a bill that will save 1.8 million jobs and create about 1 million more jobs. So this would put millions of people to work right away.

Although our economy has gained momentum, there are still millions of Americans out of work, so it should be obvious why we can't afford to delay efforts to rebuild our roadways, our railways, and our bridges.

Almost 1,000 organizations, including business groups and labor unions that rarely see eye to eye on anything, support this commonsense measure. More than 30 of those groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Automobile Association, AAA, have asked Senators to refrain from offering unrelated, ideological amendments to this bill. As I said, almost 1,000 organizations want this done.

Here is what the U.S. Chamber and AAA wrote recently:

The organizations that we represent may hold diverse views

on social, energy, and fiscal issues, but we are united in

our desire to see immediate action on the Senate's bipartisan

highway and transit reauthorization measures.

We started on this piece of legislation on February 7. It is the first day of March now. These groups don't agree on much, but they do agree this legislation is too important to be bogged down with political amendments, so they spoke as one.

There was a time when this kind of cooperation was the standard in the Senate. There was a time when two Senators who had little in common could still share common purpose. There was a time when groups of Senators divided by political party could still be united in their desire to pass worthy legislation.

One Senator who has always exemplified that willingness to set aside philosophical and political differences and work together is my friend, the senior

Senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe. I have always appreciated Senator Snowe's ability to look at every side of an issue with a practical eye and not a political eye. Her courage, common sense, and moderation will be missed here in the Senate.

Over the last 15 years, I have had the pleasure of working many times with Senator Snowe on an issue now at the forefront of this debate, both across the Nation and on the Senate floor. Beginning in 1997, we worked together to increase women's access to contraception and to make sure insurance companies treated contraceptives the same as other prescription medications. There are plenty of things on which Senator Snowe and I disagree, lots of things, but by finding common ground, we improved women's health and reduced unintended pregnancies--something we should all agree on--and there is no question that it was accomplished by what we did legislatively. Unfortunately, the bipartisan progress Senator Snowe and I made over the years is now under attack.

Today the Senate will vote on an extreme ideological amendment to the bipartisan Transportation bill. This amendment takes aim at women's access to health care. It will allow any employer or insurer to deny coverage for virtually any treatment for virtually any reason. I repeat: It will allow any employer or insurer to deny coverage for virtually any treatment for virtually any reason. I was pleased to hear that Senator Snowe intends to oppose this measure. I read that last night.

Although the amendment was designed to restrict women's access to contraception, it would also limit all Americans' access to essential health care. Here are just a few of the lifesaving treatments employers could deny if this amendment passes. This is hard to comprehend, but here is what some of them would be: mammograms and other cancer screenings, prenatal care, flu shots, diabetes screenings, childhood vaccinations.

To make matters worse, Republicans held up progress on an important jobs bill to extract this political vote. As the economy is finally moving forward a little bit, Republicans have tried to force Congress to take its foot off the gas. Every Member of this body knows the Blunt amendment has nothing to do with highways or bridges or trains or train tracks. This amendment has no place on a transportation bill, but with 2 million jobs at stake, the Senate cannot afford to delay progress on a job-creating measure any longer, so Democrats have agreed to vote on Senator Blunt's amendment so we can hopefully move on. Once the Senate disposes of this partisan political amendment, I hope we will be able to resume in earnest bipartisan work on a transportation bill.