[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 15, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7425-S7431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          Vermont's Rebuilding

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to talk for a few moments about the 
positive impact next year's Transportation-HUD appropriations bill is 
going to have on my home State of Vermont, particularly as we continue 
rebuilding from Hurricane Irene's destructive forces back in August.
  I want to praise subcommittee chair Patty Murray and ranking member 
Susan Collins. Their hard work and dedication ensures the final bill, 
filed last night, provides both appropriate funding for disaster relief 
accounts and also moves heavy truck traffic out of historic downtowns 
both in Vermont and in Maine.
  As you and the others know, ever since Hurricane Irene, I have spoken 
over and over again on the floor of the Senate but also in meeting 
after meeting of the Appropriations Committee and probably in hundreds 
of hours in discussions with both Republican and Democratic Senators, 
especially on the Appropriations Committee, about the needs to Vermont.
  Irene was devastating to our small State of Vermont. Both my wife and 
I were born in Vermont, and never in our lifetime have we seen anything 
like what we saw--record rains, and flash floods simply washed away 
homes, farms, businesses, roads, and bridges all over the State, 
including some that had been there for 100 years. Of all the body blows 
we suffered when Irene raked our State from border to border, repairing 
the damage to our roads and our bridges and our rail lines is one of 
our most urgent priorities, especially in a State in which we have 
already had substantial snowfalls.
  The huge expense of mending our transportation network is well beyond 
the ability of a small State such as ours. When we tallied up the 
destruction, it became quickly very clear that Vermont is going to need 
more Federal help than the money that is now in the pipeline. In fact, 
we are not alone in that. The same can be said of other States ravaged 
by Irene.
  With many Federal aid disaster programs underfunded, I am especially 
pleased that this bill contains $1,662 million to replenish the Federal 
highway disaster relief fund. That is going to help Vermont and the 
other States that were so badly damaged rebuild vital roadways and 
bridges. Of course, these connections are crucial to distributing aid, 
rebuilding our economy, and serving as a lifeline to small communities, 
and, working with Governor Shumlin, Senator Sanders, Congressman Welch, 
and community leaders across Vermont, it became clear right away that, 
given the mammoth destruction of the storm, certain waivers are going 
to be needed to allow States to have these emergency funds without 
unnecessary burdens or delays. We have made adjustments to these caps 
in the past after major natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina 
and Andrew and tornadoes in the South.
  I traveled around the State the day after Irene. It was hard to 
believe it was such a beautiful day. The Sun was shining. It looked 
like the nicest summer day you could imagine, except that as the 
Governor and I and General Dubie, the head of our National Guard, went 
by helicopter, we would go along and we would see a beautiful road, 
houses, farms, a river running along one side, everything peaceful, and 
we would go about a mile, and all of a sudden the river was on the 
wrong side of the road and hundreds of yards of road had disappeared, 
there were gaping holes 50-, 100-, 150-feet deep and businesses, 
houses, barns in the river, destroyed. These are places that have not 
changed for 100 years but did in this. I remember saying to the 
Governor: We will get the aid.
  I was already getting e-mails from some of my colleagues--both 
Republicans and Democrats--here in the Senate saying that Vermont had 
always supported their States when they had disasters, and they would 
support us. But the Governor and I and everybody else realized that we 
had to have waivers in the final bill to do the things we needed. They 
are essential to ensuring that Vermont can promptly begin work on 
emergency and permanent repairs sooner rather than later. It is the 
middle of November, and they no longer make asphalt after about the 
middle of November. Severe winter weather is right around the corner. 
So it will make it nearly impossible to rebuild before March or April.
  When I proposed the waivers in this bill, I can't tell you how much I 
appreciated the fact that Senators Murray and Collins supported that, 
as did Republicans and Democrats alike, on the appropriations bill. It 
may seem like a small thing, but to our little State, it is the 
difference between economic disaster and being able to rebuild, and I 
can't thank Senators enough for supporting me on these waivers.
  The bill also includes another high priority for Vermont: moving 
heavy trucks off the State's secondary roads and onto our interstate 
highways. Overweight truck traffic in our villages and downtown poses a 
threat to the State's infrastructure, but it is also an unnecessary 
safety risk to both motorists and pedestrians.
  The Leahy-Collins provision in this bill will end the steady parade 
of overweight trucks in Vermont and Maine from rumbling through our 
historic downtowns and small, narrow roads that come within a few feet 
of schools, houses, businesses, and town greens. It will help Vermont 
businesses and communities struggling even more right now because of 
the large number of State and local roads already heavily damaged 
during the recent flooding.
  When we first met in the Appropriations Committee and I first raised 
the needs of Vermont, I have to admit that I got emotional in that 
appropriations meeting, as I did here on the floor. It is because I saw 
my fellow Vermonters, some, people I have known literally all my life, 
who drew from their deep reservoirs of resiliency and resolve in the 
wake of Hurricane Irene; people helping people they don't even know but 
saying, ``That is the way we do it in Vermont''; people moving even 
before FEMA or anybody else came to help with the disaster, moving to 
make sure that people who might need to get to a hospital, even if we 
had to carve a road through woods for them, it would be done. This is 
the Vermont way.
  But I was moved to tears going through the State and seeing things 
that I remembered as a child that had always been there and I assumed 
would be there all my life destroyed in a matter of hours.
  These storms are going to enter the history books alongside the 
horrific floods of 1927 in our State--something I remember my 
grandparents and parents talking about. I remember my grandparents and 
parents saying: We hope we never see something like this again. They 
didn't, but their son did, and I can't tell you how much it hurt.
  But I cannot tell you how much it means to me that, again, Senators 
joined with me in saying: We will find the money Vermont needs. Back in 
1927, the National Government helped our State recover, as it should, 
because, after all, we are the United States of America. The American 
people come together in times such as these, just as Vermonters have 
always been among the helping hands extended to other States at their 
time in need. So the progress this bill makes in helping Vermont and 
other States meet their urgent needs is a testament to the 
determination of many in this body. Again, Republicans and Democrats 
have been willing to set aside ideological differences and partisan 
tensions to accomplish the work the American people expect from their 
government.
  When I first proposed this increase in disaster aid not only for 
Vermont but for every other State, when I first proposed these waivers, 
I hoped they would happen. None of us knew whether they would. I am 
pleased now to see a bill where they have. It came about because 
Senators from all over the country of both political parties worked 
together. You know, I wish we had more of that in Washington these 
days. I would like to think that maybe this is a wonderful step forward 
and we are all going to benefit from it.
  Mr. President, I know we are shortly to vote on the judicial 
nominations. I would ask the Chair how much time remains before that 
vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 13\1/2\ minutes remaining before the 
vote.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, just to notify other Senators, I am shortly 
going to suggest the absence of a quorum. I will then ask us to come 
out of the quorum at noon, and unless I hear that somebody wishes to 
speak on either of the nominees, I will then move that time be yielded 
back. I will

[[Page S7431]]

not do that until 12:00. But I now suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I see nobody on either side who wishes to 
speak. I ask unanimous consent all time be yielded back on the two 
nominations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered on the 
nominations?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, when the first nomination is called up, I 
will ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Sharon L. Gleason, of Alaska, to be United 
States District Judge for the District of Alaska.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and 
the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), and the 
Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 87, nays 8, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 206 Ex.]

                                YEAS--87

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Blumenthal
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown (MA)
     Brown (OH)
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kerry
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lugar
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--8

     Blunt
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Inhofe
     McConnell
     Paul
     Rubio
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Durbin
     Isakson
     Lee
     Risch
     Warner
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, of California, to 
be United States District Judge for the Northern District of 
California?
  Mr. CORKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and 
the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Lee), and the 
Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 6, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 207 Ex.]

                                YEAS--89

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown (MA)
     Brown (OH)
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kerry
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lugar
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--6

     Crapo
     DeMint
     Inhofe
     Paul
     Shelby
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Durbin
     Isakson
     Lee
     Risch
     Warner
  The nomination was confirmed.
  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)


                            Vote Explanation

 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on vote Nos. 206 and 207, the 
confirmations of Sharon Gleason to be United States District Judge for 
the District of Alaska, and Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to be United States 
District Judge for the Northern District of California, I was 
unavoidably absent. Had I been present, I would have supported the 
nominations and voted yea on both.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
stand in recess until 3 p.m. today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator withhold?
  Mr. LEAHY. Of course.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motions to 
reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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