[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 137 (Thursday, September 15, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5650-S5653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATION ON HOLD

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I come to the floor frustrated, angry, and 
disturbed that our Republican colleagues are holding up three crucial 
bills. And America needs to hear this. They are stopping us from 
completing our work on our emergency FEMA bill, which contains the 
monies needed throughout this country to rebuild and repair storm 
damage, a lot of it infrastructure--sewer plants, waterplants, roads, 
bridges, and highways.
  We see pictures of what is happening in places such as Vermont, 
where, as Senator Leahy told us yesterday, a woman he talked to has to 
drive 1-hour-plus for her chemotherapy because the road is gone, and it 
used to take her 5 minutes. We need to fix that road. We need to fix 
the roads, the bridges, the highways, the sewer systems, the water 
systems, the schools that get harmed in these natural disasters, and 
the Republicans are holding up the bill to let us do that.
  We have holds--more than one--on the highway bill, known as the 
Transportation bill, and the FAA, our Nation's aviation bill. And here 
is the real shocker: The FAA and the Transportation bill, which have 
been merged into one bill, have come over from the House of 
Representatives, and the House relented on the numbers. They are at 
current levels of spending. They are clean extensions, which we wanted, 
but the Republicans over here will not let us get to those bills.
  Tomorrow, the FAA authorization to fix up the airports, rebuild the 
airports, expires. So there will be no fee as of tomorrow, and we have 
to stop, midstream, our airport improvements that are going on. It is 
called the airport improvement fund. They already shut that down once. 
I went around my State and saw safety projects stopped midstream. Now 
they are doing it again right over here--the Republicans right over 
here--holding up the FAA bill again. It means 70,000 jobs lost on 
Friday night.
  They are holding up the highway bill, the Transportation bill, 
which--I am so proud--in our committee, we got the extension. Everybody 
agreed to it, Republicans and Democrats, in the committee. Republicans 
are holding it up now on this floor. It is a clean extension. It is 1.8 
million jobs, everybody. There are 1.8 million jobs relying on that 
extension. It has come over here from the House. Take it up and pass 
it. Oh, no. Oh, no. There they go again, stopping progress in this 
country.
  I will tell you why I am so particularly frustrated. It has to do 
with the rebuilding that is going on and that has gone on in Iraq and 
Afghanistan with American dollars. Not one Republican ever objected. 
Let me show you the pictures. Let me show you the pictures.
  This is a picture of a new water treatment plant that has been built 
in Nassiriya, Iraq, at a cost of 277 million American dollars. Not one 
Republican said: Stop this. Not one Republican said: Pay for it by 
cutting some other program. What is going on?
  Let me show you the picture of a water treatment plant near the 
border of Mexico in my State of California. It is old. I visited this 
treatment plant. It got hurt in an earthquake, and FEMA--the bill they 
are holding up--will pay to finish this water treatment plant, which 
has to be fixed before another earthquake hits us. And we know that is 
what is happening.
  So they were fine with building a water treatment plant in Iraq--not 
a complaint, not a murmur, not a word, not an amendment--but we have to 
fix our water treatment plants here with the FEMA bill, and they are 
holding up the bill, and everybody knows that because we could have 
taken care of that yesterday. So that is an example.
  Here is another example. This is a picture of road construction in--
and I want to say this right--Kapisa Province, Afghanistan. Everyone is 
very proud that America has built a road there. We have spent a lot of 
tax dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I am

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happy for the people there that they have a road, and, God, we pray 
that nobody blows it up. But I have to tell you, if you are going to 
build roads in Afghanistan, you had better build roads here in America 
or the American people are going to rise up and say: Who are you 
fighting for?
  I have never heard one Republican say: Oh, they are building a road 
in Afghanistan. That is an earmark. That is an earmark. Let's stop it. 
That is a problem. Let's stop it. We are spending X number of dollars. 
Let's cut another program. Never a word. But now we have our highway 
bill right now coming over from the House. They changed their mind over 
there. They did not cut it. It is current levels of funding. It is a 
good bill. It will last for 6 months' funding. It will preserve 1.8 
million jobs. And the Republicans are holding it up right now.
  Why do you think this Chamber is empty? Why do you think I am here 
letting off steam? Because we are not voting. Let us vote. If you don't 
like the highway bill, vote against it. If you don't like it, that is 
fine, vote against it. Let us vote. Ninety people will vote for it, 
probably. Let us vote.
  So here you have a picture of the excitement around a new road. Let's 
take a look at another picture of a road in my home State.
  In January and February of 2010, California was hit by terrible 
winter storms and flooding and mudslides. This picture shows a road 
that was blocked after these storms. These storms hit us in many 
counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Riverside, Calavaras, San Bernardino, 
Siskiyou--all of these counties declared emergencies. They are all 
waiting for the funds to rebuild a road that looks like this. It is 
impassible, shutting people down--a lot like the roads in Vermont now 
and other places.
  They are holding up the FEMA bill, they are holding up the highway 
bill, they are holding up the Federal Aviation bill, and it is wrong. I 
have never heard them say: Strike that road we are building in 
Afghanistan; it is an earmark. But they are holding up, they are 
holding up the three bills we need to do.
  So now I am going to show you another program. This is a brandnew air 
traffic control tower being built in Mosul, Iraq, at a cost of $10 
million. You can see it is almost ready. The scaffolding is on it. It 
has been built. I never heard one Republican say: Oh, wait a minute, 
let's strike some other money somewhere else to pay for this air 
traffic control tower. I never heard one Republican object to building 
this air traffic control tower in Iraq--not a word--but when it comes 
to our air traffic control towers, you hear plenty.
  They stopped us from moving ahead with the FAA reauthorization before 
we left for the summer break. It resulted in 70,000 people being laid 
off. And here is one of my towers in Palm Springs, stopped in the 
middle, shut down in the middle. The workers had to leave. They lost 
money, the contractor did. The workers--some of them went off to other 
jobs, and they had to hire new workers. I stood in front of this tower. 
I stood in front of the tower in Oakland. I went to Los Angeles and saw 
the work stoppages that occurred on the new Tom Bradley terminal 
because the Republicans shut us down.
  Now, today, we come back. We all think we have a new attitude around 
this place, but we are shut down again. And we have 24 hours to get 
this FAA bill done or 70,000 workers will be out again. And we have 
until September 30 to pass the Transportation bill or 1.8 million 
workers will be out of work.
  Now, we have heard complaints from the other side as to why they are 
holding it up, so let me give you some of that argument.
  One of our Senators from Oklahoma, Senator Coburn, says he wants to 
hold up the Transportation bill, which includes Transportation and FAA, 
because he doesn't like one part of the program. Two percent of the 
funds go to things he doesn't like. Well, he has every right to that 
opinion and every right to work with us on an amendment and get it 
done, but he is holding it up. We could have had that amendment 
yesterday.
  He doesn't like the transportation enhancements program. For the 
record, there are a number of things in that portion--which is a 
relatively small amount of the bill, 2 percent of the bill--and we are 
reforming that section next year when we get to the new bill, but he is 
holding it up. Now, he is wrong to hold it up because of what I told 
you. He is putting at risk all of these safety improvements at our 
airports, he is putting at risk 1.8 million jobs on the Transportation 
bill, and he is putting at risk 70,000 jobs at FAA because he doesn't 
like this program.
  He also misled people. He said we spend 10 percent of our 
transportation money on this transportation enhancements program. We do 
not. We spend 2 percent. Ten percent is not 2 percent.
  He went on to say that safety should be a top priority. And we agree. 
But he doesn't understand what the transportation enhancements program 
is. It is about safety. It is about safety. The transportation 
enhancements program is mainly about saving lives by preventing 
bicycle-and-pedestrian fatalities. That is what it does. It says to the 
States: We have a pot of money here. If you want it, you need to make 
sure you make safety improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists.
  Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 13 percent of traffic 
fatalities nationwide, with more than 47,000 pedestrians killed in the 
9-year period 2000 to 2009. That is the equivalent of a jumbo jet 
crashing every month. So the safety enhancements supported by the 
program Senator Coburn wants to eliminate are needed to prevent these 
deaths.
  Bike paths and pedestrian walkways are important. Fifty percent of 
trips are 3 miles or less, 12 percent of all trips are made by 
bicycling and walking, and bicycle commuting has increased by more than 
40 percent between 2000 and 2008.
  So why on Earth does he want to hold up this critical bill and the 
FAA bill--because they are married together--to say he is for safety 
when he wants to eliminate this whole program, which is dedicated to 
safety for our pedestrians and our bicyclists, 47,000 of whom perished 
because we don't have these safety enhancements in place? All Americans 
benefit from the program he wants to eliminate.
  We strengthen local economies, we improve the quality of life, we 
protect the environment, and he is willing still--because that is what 
he is doing by holding this up--to risk shutting down our Nation's 
entire surface transportation system as well as critical FAA programs 
and more than 1 million jobs because he doesn't like this program.
  Well, do you know something, every one of us here has a pretty big 
ego. You get here and, yeah, it is important. Set it aside. You don't 
like something? Offer an amendment. Don't hold up all of these bills. 
It is wrong because if we do what they did--shut down the FAA--it makes 
a rough economy rougher, and it stalls us from doing the work we have 
to do. No one stalled the airport improvements in Iraq. No one stalled 
over there, on the Republican side, the road improvements in Iraq. No 
one stopped improvements in Afghanistan. No one stopped water system 
improvements in the war zones. But somehow, when it comes to America, 
well, we had better cut this and cut that and offset this and offset 
that.
  We have a budget. We are going to live by it. We have an emergency. 
If we look at the explanation in Webster's dictionary of an emergency--
here it is, an emergency:

       No. 1, an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the 
     resulting state that calls for immediate action

  Webster's dictionary has it right. This ought to be put on the desk 
of every one of my Republican colleagues. Another definition:

       No. 2, an urgent need for assistance or relief.

  When there is an emergency, one steps to the plate and solves the 
problem. Just ask Senator Landrieu, who has been leading the battle on 
this FEMA bill. We cannot tell people out there that they only have 30 
days' of funding because they have to enter into a contract. It may 
take 3 or 4 months to rebuild a bridge. It may take 6 or 7 months to 
rebuild a water treatment system. But that is the way they approach it 
over there--when it comes to America.
  When it comes to funding wars and rebuilding the war zones, I don't 
hear a peep out of them, not a peep. I say it is time for America. We 
have a choice.

[[Page S5652]]

We can stand up for America right now, today. We can pass these three 
bills.
  The FEMA bill gives our Governors and our people in the States the 
assurances that FEMA will team up with them and do what it takes to 
rebuild after these horrifying emergencies--which, by the way, are 
becoming more and more frequent because of climate change. But that is 
another matter for another day. That is another battle for another day.
  Unfortunately, in this body science takes a back seat to politics and 
the special interests that want to say: Oh, climate change; no big 
deal. We need to protect our turf. That is what they say. And we have 
done nothing.
  The President has done what he can, and bless him for it--fuel 
economy, all these things. But it gets worse and worse. We have done 
nothing. I have four grandkids, and I am so hoping in the rest of the 
time I have to be in this body and on this Earth that I can get us 
moving on this climate change. But, oh, no. So I guess we sit back 
while we see more and more extreme weather emergencies, while we see 
extreme weather emergencies.
  If the other side doesn't want to do anything about the cause of it, 
fine. That is their choice. They have to live with themselves. They can 
at least help us adapt to these problems, and that means paying to fix 
our roads, bridges, highways, our water systems, our sewer systems, all 
these things that get exposed to these weather emergencies.
  Do you know 70 percent of our bridges are deficient? I thank my 
ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator 
Inhofe. He and I don't see eye to eye on the environment. That is an 
understatement. But when it comes to the infrastructure, we agree. He 
talks about the tragic death of a young woman who was walking and a 
bridge literally fell apart. It fell and killed her.
  This is America. Seventy percent of our bridges are deficient, and we 
have colleagues holding up this bill? I say shame on them. Shame on 
them for doing that. It is outrageous. We finally got the House to come 
to us, to come to our number to freeze spending. I thank them for that. 
They came to their senses. They realized we need to build our highways. 
We need to maintain our airports. They sent us a bill that is good.
  On FEMA, they are not so good. On FEMA, they are doing a bad thing 
over there. They are trying to cut programs that create jobs to pay for 
these emergencies. That is a whole other deal. But today we have a bill 
for FEMA that would do the job.
  I said in my last talk about FEMA and the emergencies that we face: 
If your neighbor's house is on fire, don't waste time and fight about 
the cost of the garden hose. You will get that later. Your garden hose 
helps them, and you feel they are a part owner. You can discuss it 
later. Get out the garden hose, put out the fire, and everybody is 
going to be OK.
  Playing games with these things is not right. It is beneath the 
dignity of the people of America who think we are a bunch--let me 
rephrase that--who do not rate us very highly. That is an 
understatement too. How much lower can you go than 13 percent?
  I would say this: If we cannot do these bills we do not deserve to be 
13 percent popular. We do not. We have certain basic responsibilities, 
and I am sick and tired of paying for roads and bridges and embassies 
and buildings and everything else in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have 
given those people our finest. They have bled, they are still bleeding, 
and they have to take responsibility for their own nation. We have to 
take responsibility now for our Nation.
  Time is short. If the Senate does not pass that highway bill, 1.8 
million highway and transit jobs are at risk. If the Senate does not 
pass the FAA bill by tomorrow, 70,000 jobs are at stake.
  We saw what happened. I visited the airports. It was tragic to see 
people saying: I had no job--because these are all private sector jobs 
mostly. There are some government jobs. For example, the FAA 
inspectors--some of whom paid on their own dime to fly across the 
country and inspect some of the projects. God bless them, and we better 
pay them for what we did.
  My understanding is this bill does not do that, but Congressman Mica 
claims he is going to take care of that. But we are about to do it 
again over here if Republicans do not come to their senses.
  In summing up, this is a day for us to make a clear point that 
America has to start taking care of its people. We all read the papers. 
We know what is happening to the middle class. We know what is 
happening to the poor. We know what is happening to our roads. We know 
what is happening to our bridges. We know our airport system is from 
the last century. We have to have NextGen. We need to move to a GPS 
system, away from a radar system. They say: No, no, no.
  The message has to go out to the American people. They blame 
everybody, and I don't blame them. But right now it is clear: The 
Democrats in the Senate want to pass three bills right now. They are 
all very important. One of them is the emergency FEMA bill to pay for 
these terrible disasters that have been hitting us. Those are 
emergencies, and we need to go ahead and respond.
  No. 2, a highway bill to fix our deficient bridges, to fix our 
highways and our roads that are 50 percent deficient. In other words, 
half of them are not up to standard. We are living off our 
grandparents' investments at this point. We have to invest in our 
infrastructure and all the jobs that come with it.
  So we have those three bills. FAA and highway have been merged, and 
then we have the FEMA bill. We are sitting around not voting. 
Everybody, look at this Chamber. No one is here. No voting is taking 
place because we are the subject of a filibuster, which means a big 
stall.
  Again, I ask my friends on the other side: Where was your outrage 
when we were building roads and highways and bridges and airports in 
Iraq and Afghanistan?
  Where was your outrage about the money?
  Where was your outrage about cutting something else to pay for that?
  Where was your outrage?
  I tell you I never saw it. I never felt it. I never heard it. It is, 
in a way, humiliating for the American people that somehow they are 
just not as important.
  I am here to tell them they are important. Their jobs are important. 
Their work is important. America, as an economic leader, is important. 
So I will be back on the floor to debate any one of my colleagues on 
the other side who disagree with anything I said--and that is fine.
  They may disagree. They may defend why they allowed projects to go 
through abroad but not here. They may say why they want to cut safety 
programs from the highway bill that will save lives. By the way, that 
transportation enhancements program they want to do away with was a 
bipartisan idea that came from Republican John Chafee and Democrat 
Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1991. That sounds like 20 years to me. 
Twenty years we have had that program.
  Can we look at it? Can we reform it? Can we make it work better? Of 
course. But don't just stand here.
  By the way, one of our Republican friends said just cut it, and we do 
not even need a vote. Just take it without a vote.
  No. If we are going to vote on that, we are going to fight about it 
and have a vote. But let's have a vote. Every minute this Chamber sits 
idle, let me tell you what happens outside in the real world. This is 
the fake world out there. In the real world people are calling one 
another: What are they doing over there? We have a chance to get these 
bills done fast. What are they doing?
  Finally, we get a bill that comes over from the House that is 
bipartisan that is a freeze, that has everything intact, that sends a 
message we can move forward with FAA for 4 months, 6 months on the 
highway bill, and we cannot get it done.
  I urge my Republican friends to change their minds and change their 
tune and stand up for America. Let's get on with the business of taking 
care of this country: its highways, its bridges, its roads, its 
airports, its emergencies. If they do that maybe we will see the 
American people have a little more faith in us because right now

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they have lost faith. And I don't blame them one bit.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded and to speak as if in morning business for up 
to 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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