Floor Statements

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

Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until noon. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes, and the majority the second 30 minutes.

At noon the Senate will resume consideration of the Jordan nomination to be a circuit court judge for the Eleventh Circuit. Following that vote, the Senate will resume consideration of the surface transportation bill. There could be additional rollcall votes on amendments to the bill today.

Madam President, we are here today as a result of stalling by my Republican colleagues. We have a judge for whom the vote was overwhelmingly in his favor. It was 89 for him, with 4 or 5 against him on a motion to proceed. But now we are being forced to eat up 30 hours of valuable time, just sitting around and doing nothing. It is really unfortunate.

We have not confirmed the judge yet because under the rules I have had to file cloture on this noncontroversial judge. After I file cloture, and cloture is invoked, and then the Republicans get 30 hours under the Senate rules. This has happened scores of times--scores of times--during the past year, all last year, and certainly it is already happening this year. We can't move to anything unless we file cloture.

Early in this Congress, Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico, Merkley of Oregon, and others suggested the rules be changed, and in good faith a number of Senators believed: Well, let's see how the system works if we make a few minor changes--hoping things would get better because they were told they would get better. We were told the other side would not make us file motions to proceed to every piece of legislation that came up. Absolutely untrue. We have virtually had to file cloture on everything. We have wasted weeks of this Congress, months of this Congress, on dilatory tactics.

We have a bill before this body that is so very important, creating 2 million jobs. Is it something that Senator Boxer, the chairman of the committee, and Senator Inhofe, the ranking member, just dreamed up and said let's try something new for a change? No. The legislation allowing us to have a highway system expires at the end of March. So we have to do something.

This isn't something where Senator Boxer said: Well, I think this is a great idea. Her idea is not unique, nor is Senator Inhofe's idea unique. It goes back to when Eisenhower was a major in the Army, and he was asked to bring a caravan of vehicles across the country. He was struck with this idea when he saw that the roads were awful. So after his successful tour of duty in the military and he became President of our country, he decided he wanted to do something about it.

Here is what President Eisenhower did: He got the Congress to appropriate $50 billion. In today's dollars, that would be $\1/2\ trillion. He got that through Congress. He wanted to build about 50,000 miles of roads in this country so that when another young major was directed to bring military vehicles across the country, he would have roads, highways, and freeways to do

that. Eisenhower said it would free the Nation from the ``antiquated shackles of secondary roads.'' That is what General Eisenhower said. It would give America a modern highway system for moving people and goods across the country.

Presidents since that period of time have recommitted to this idea. Johnson did it. Someone who spoke about it as much, if not more, than anyone since Eisenhower was President Reagan. Reagan said:

Common sense tells us it will cost a lot less to keep the

[transportation] system we have in good repair than let it

disintegrate and have to start over.

Since those 8 years of President Reagan, here is where we are today. We have 70,000 bridges in this country that are in a state of disrepair. They are unsafe.

I was in a meeting yesterday where they talked about a bridge in Reno, NV, that was built during the Depression by the Works Progress Administration. I was meeting with a flood control district from Washoe County, NV, and they said they have a bridge--a beautiful bridge--that is so unsafe they will not let schoolbuses drive over it anymore with kids in it. The bus can go without kids in it. There are hundreds and hundreds of bridges in our country in this same state of disrepair.

It is time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and this bill does it in a good way. We talk about this system as if it didn't have any bearing on individuals, but people's lives depend on it--not only on the bridge I just talked about, but the highways I talked about and the sidewalks. We have a person injured or killed as a pedestrian every 7 minutes in the United States. Why? Because they are walking in unsafe conditions. There are lots of roads back here in Washington and lots of them in Nevada where there are no sidewalks. So investing in our infrastructure, as I have said, and I continue to say, will create 2 million jobs.

The Republican caucus is not doing this all in one big band. There are a few Republican Senators over there who are ruining it for everybody. No one can accuse Jim Inhofe of being some radical liberal. He represents the State of Oklahoma. So what do we have here? We have 100 amendments that have been filed already on this bill. Very few of them are related to the bill. We have an amendment that some refer to as an abortion amendment, we have some referring to an amendment dealing with contraceptives, and we have an amendment to cut off aid to Egypt.

Now, tell me, what in the world does aid to Egypt have to do with this highway bill? We have a Foreign Relations Committee. They have TV cameras there. Let them have a hearing in that committee, and the person offering the amendment can make his speech before the Foreign Relations Committee. There is no chance of this amendment passing. None. Zero.

Senator McCain is going to Egypt next week. Why? Because he is a person who is an expert in foreign affairs. He is respected around the world, and he is going to go there to try to work with the Egyptians to resolve some of these problems. He does not even want this amendment to be voted on. He has told me that.

We have an amendment to keep poisons out of the air. It is called Boiler MACT. It is to keep arsenic and mercury and stuff out of the air--excuse me, to keep it in the air. I thank the Senator from California, chairman of that committee.

We have an amendment that takes us back to Keystone--building a pipeline from Canada to the southern part of our country. I would consider that or take a look at it. If they were going to use American products in doing that and the oil would be used in the United States, I might even consider that. I am not sure, but I would consider it. But that is not where we are.

So we have a handful of Republican Senators holding up what we are doing.

I would be glad to yield to my colleague.

I say through the Chair to my friend from California that yesterday I gave some remarks, and the outline of the speech mentioned there were scores of organizations supporting this bill. I looked at that and said to myself: There are hundreds and hundreds of organizations supporting this bill. So I recognize that, I say to my friend, the chairman of that committee.

To rub salt in the wound of what we are going through, the House of Representatives, led by the Republican caucus--which is overwhelmingly tea party--decided they were going to do some legislation.

That is dandy. Their legislation is so bad that the Congressional Budget Office said it would bankrupt the trust fund. We are trying to replenish the trust fund; they are bankrupting the trust fund. But as I hear on the news this morning, the Republican caucus over in the House is fractured, and now they can't figure out what to do with that bill. They are thinking, maybe we will break it into three different pieces. Even with the power of the tea party, it is so obnoxious and so out of control, that piece of legislation, they appear they are not going to allow a vote to take place on that bill itself because it is so bad.

There is a simple way to avoid this headache; that is, Democrats and Republicans work together. We are here. We want to do this. Let's assume that I decide to file cloture on this bill. What I would do is have a substitute amendment. Let's say I decide to do that. I can't imagine why the Republicans wouldn't join with us in doing that. If there is something in the substitute that I disagree with, the amendment process is still there. To not allow the bill to go forward is repulsive. I can't imagine how a majority of the Republicans who say they want this bill done wouldn't allow us at least to get on the bill itself and move forward with amendments.

I am terribly disappointed where we are. I hope the House will take a page out of our playbook over here and work together, as Boxer and Inhofe have done, to come up with a bill that is a good bill. That bill we are trying to get through was passed unanimously out of committee. So I am cautiously optimistic that the American people will see what is going on and put some pressure on my Republican colleagues to get this bill passed. It is just unfair what is happening on this and other pieces of legislation.

Madam President, there is a bill due for a second reading,

Madam President, I object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill at this time.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

I withdraw the pending amendment No. 1515.

I have a first-degree amendment, which is a perfecting amendment, at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

I ask that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I now have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk that I ask to be reported.

Mr. President, I have a motion to recommit the bill with instructions at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

Mr. President, I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent further reading be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading be waived.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each, until 6:15 this evening.

Mr. President, has the Chair announced that we are resuming legislative session?

Mr. President, I was going to ask a number of consent requests which I thought were important to present to the Senate, important issues that have not been resolved. I decided not to do that.

We have made some progress in working toward an end of the issues that are preventing us from moving forward on this bill. I hope we can continue to do that in the next 24 hours. There is certainly enough importance in this legislation to do just that. We are talking about more than 2 million jobs with this legislation, so I hope my friends, the Republicans, will figure out a way to help us move forward on this legislation.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, we all know the inconvenience of a few potholes as we drive down the street. It is an inconvenience. But for companies that ship $10 trillion worth of goods across the country every year, these disintegrating roads are more than an inconvenience or more than a nuisance.

A crowded train ride to an office or a broken escalator at a station where someone is trying to pick up a subway--or what we call here Metro--may be a hassle, but for 51 million Americans who have disabilities, most of whom rely on some type of public transportation to get around, outdated stations and overcrowded trains are more than a minor inconvenience.

Mr. President, this country's deteriorating infrastructure is something we should be very concerned about. This great Nation of ours has an infrastructure that is falling apart. Our highways, our roadways, our bridges, our dams, and railways are more than an inconvenience; they are a drain on our economy. Twenty percent of America's roads don't meet safety standards.

As the Chair heard me say yesterday when I talked about some of these issues, 70,000 bridges need to be replaced or overhauled. We have bridges in America, I am told, where schoolbuses stop when they get to the bridge, have the kids walk across the bridge, then the bus comes across without the kids in it, and then off they go. They do this because they are afraid the bridge will collapse.

Our public transportation system simply can't keep up with the pace of growing ridership. Nine out of ten Americans say rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges is important--90 percent. Democrats in the Senate agree. Modernizing our transit system--rebuilding the roads American families and businesses depend upon--will help fuel our economy.

The legislation now before the Senate is too important to be bogged down with unrelated ideological amendments. Senate Republicans should not divert this bill to try to take away women's access to health care services such as contraception--something we have been dealing with over the last week--or mammograms and other cancer screenings.

Late last night we were told one of the Republican Senators wants to offer an amendment that deals with something totally unrelated to this bill, dealing with the country of Egypt. A debate on Egypt may be the right thing to do, but shouldn't we maybe start in the Foreign Relations Committee? Maybe we should start there. TV cameras can be there, and then it would not hold up this Transportation bill that is so important.

This bill will create or save 2 million jobs. It has broad bipartisan support. I have said here before, and I say it again, I so admire and respect and appreciate the work done by Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe on this bipartisan bill. Unfortunately, our Republican House colleagues have gone in the direct opposite direction. They

have a bill that is a love note to the tea party. The House bill didn't get a single Democratic vote in committee, for reasons that are very clear, obviously. The Senate bill, on the other hand, passed out of committee unanimously. Even some Republicans don't support the House bill and the way it is paid for--drilling in ANWR. Mr. President, that issue has a beard that has turned white it is so outdated--drilling in

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The majority will control the first half, the Republicans will control the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume executive session and consideration of the Jordan nomination postcloture.

The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings.

We hope to confirm the Jordan nomination today and will then resume consideration of the surface transportation bill at the earliest possible time.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m. today. Following morning business, the Senate will go to executive session to consider the nomination of Adalberto Jordan to be a circuit judge for the Eleventh Circuit. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a cloture vote on the Jordan nomination. We hope to be able to yield back postcloture time and confirm this nomination this evening.

Mr. President, in the 1950s, America embarked on the largest public works project in its history: a new web of interstate highways. This came about as a result of then-President Eisenhower reflecting upon a time when he was given an assignment as a young major to bring a caravan of vehicles across the country as part of his duties in the Army. It was a terrible experience--roads were dilapidated, rutted--and it was something he never forgot.

When he became President of the United States, he decided something should be done about that. This was a tremendous undertaking; 47,000 miles of highways would, for the first time, connect businesses and communities from sea to shining sea. President Eisenhower--of course, a Republican--said the investment would pave the way for a new era of American growth. He said:

America will be a nation of great prosperity, but will be

more than that: it will be a nation that is going ahead every

day. . . . The expanding horizon is one that staggers the

imagination.

President Eisenhower said a new highway system was essential to our economy, our safety, and our progress as a nation. That is just as true today as it was in 1954.

Today, America depends on more than 4 million miles of roadways to keep our economy humming. We use those roads to take the kids across town to school and to take products across the Nation to market. But the system of highways, roadways, railways, and bridges upon which the American economy depends--and in which we invested our great resources during the last century--has fallen into a state of disrepair.

This is hard to comprehend, but more than 70,000 of our bridges are structurally deficient. They need major repairs or need to be replaced completely--70,000 bridges. Every month in America enough pedestrians are killed to fill a jumbo jet. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by proper sidewalks and crosswalks. Bus and train ridership grows every year while public transportation dollars shrink every year. One of every five miles of American roads is not up to safety standards.

Let me repeat: We have 70,000 bridges that are structurally deficient, and we

have 20 percent of our roads not up to safety standards. Crumbling infrastructure is a terrible drag on our economy. But this crisis is also an opportunity. By rebuilding our transportation system, we can put 2 million Americans back to work and boost our economy right away.

The surface transportation bill that is on the Senate floor this week is one of the most important pieces of legislation we will consider the entire year. It will help modernize our transit system, rebuild America's roads and bridges, and create or save millions of middle- class jobs. And, it will do it in a fiscally responsible way.

Democrats and Republicans agree that making America's transportation system great again will boost our economy, and that is what this bill is all about. It is a bipartisan bill sponsored, of course, by the chairman of the committee Barbara Boxer and the ranking member of the committee Senator Inhofe.

President Reagan called a world-class transportation system an investment in tomorrow that we must make today. So it is no wonder this strong bipartisan surface transportation legislation passed the committee unanimously. I am cautiously optimistic that spirit of cooperation will continue this week.

I hope the junior Senator from South Carolina did not speak for the majority of Republicans last week when he said, ``We don't have shared goals with the Democrats.'' I would like to believe Republicans share our goal of strengthening the economy and creating millions of jobs for American workers. I would like to believe they share a goal, as Eisenhower and Clinton and Reagan did, of rebuilding a world-class transportation system to support a world-class economy.

This week Republicans have an opportunity to prove they share these goals. The surface transportation jobs bill is too important to get bogged down with ideological amendments. Unrelated legislation that would limit women's access to health care has no place on a transportation bill. So let's stay laser-focused on our most important task: putting 2 million Americans back to work rebuilding our roadways and railways. Together we can keep this Nation, as President Eisenhower said, ``moving ahead every day.''