[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 107 (Wednesday, July 24, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5894-S5895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THUD APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in favor of the THUD 
appropriations bill that is on the floor this week. I know all of us 
have listened to the speeches and the commentators, and we hear a lot 
of people around Washington say: Cut, cut, cut.
  Well, I am for cutting our spending, and I think we need to tighten 
our belt, but we need to do it in a smart way, and we need to do things 
such as cut programs that do not work. We need to also make smart and 
targeted investments in our future. The question is, how do we do that?
  Well, one of the ways we do that is by supporting this legislation 
today. By

[[Page S5895]]

working together and investing in our future, we can do great things 
for this country, and that is what the THUD bill is about.
  Yesterday, the FAA announced seven airports in our State would 
receive a total of $4.8 million from the FAA for infrastructure 
upgrades. That is part of what the bill is about. Some of these are 
runway rehabilitations, some are new lighting systems, some may be 
drainage improvements. These not only promote safety--and certainly 
they make air travel safer in this country, and that is extremely 
important--but also they are a way to spur economic activity. It is a 
great way to reinvest Federal tax dollars into my State and into the 
other 49 States to create jobs. Let me give Arkansas as an example of 
this.
  In Arkansas--and I know we are only about 1 percent of the 
population, so you can kind of do the math here--commercial and general 
aviation airports actually support 29,000 jobs and contribute $2.5 
billion every year in economic activity.
  Our airports are important, but it is only actually a piece of the 
puzzle. We need to remember that we have other great infrastructure we 
need to invest in, such as waterways and ports and highways, and rural 
communities--we have to make sure they are not left behind--such as 
rural housing, but also rural broadband.
  So there are a lot of ways we can invest to make this country 
stronger. That is why I believe it is very important to support this 
THUD appropriations bill.
  The bill passed in committee on a bipartisan vote 22 to 8. I was 
proud to vote for it. I was glad to see it get such a large bipartisan 
vote in the Senate subcommittee. I certainly hope my colleagues will do 
this again on the floor in a very bipartisan way.
  This bill includes things such as the Federal-Aid Highway Program. 
This is a program that helps support interstate maintenance, bridge 
repairs, highway safety. After all, how many reports do we have to read 
that talk about the distressed infrastructure of our highways? So if we 
want to replace these bridges that are beyond their lifespan, this is 
the way to do it.
  Every $1 billion in Federal highway and transit investment supports 
13,000 American jobs.
  This bill also includes popular programs that have been put to good 
use, such as TIGER. I could go through several of the TIGER grants my 
State has received, but one of those I am proud of is the TIGER grant 
for West Memphis, AR, to develop their port. It is an intermodal 
facility on the Mississippi River, right across from Memphis, which is 
crowded. West Memphis has all the same attributes that Memphis has, it 
just happens to be on the Arkansas side of the river, and that 
investment there is going to explode development and do great things up 
and down the Mississippi River.
  The Airport Improvement Program is also part of this, the Contract 
Tower Program, the Community Development Block Grants. Every mayor, 
every elected official in the counties, the Governors--they all know 
how important the CDBG money is.
  The other great thing about supporting this legislation is that it is 
one step in the right direction headed back to what we call regular 
order, trying to get things done in the Senate the way they ought to be 
done, with us working together, going through the committee process, 
coming to the floor with a bill, having amendments, having debate, 
sometimes fussing and fighting with one another, but nonetheless 
getting it done, and this is a great way to do that.
  I believe moving our country forward with new jobs and a stronger 
economy is something we all should be able to agree on. All of us 
should be able to agree on this, maybe with a little difference here 
and there. But I hope a big number of Senators will support this 
legislation.
  Lastly, let me say a few words about Chairwoman Mikulski and her 
ranking member Senator Shelby. Senator Mikulski has been amazing in her 
leadership of the Appropriations Committee. Everybody on the committee 
knows she is a breath of fresh air. She is so energetic and so 
knowledgeable and so good at what she does. We are so excited to have 
her there as chair of that committee. She is going to go down in 
history as one of the all-time greats. We are so proud she is pushing 
so hard to get these bills out of the committee and get them to the 
Senate floor and, hopefully, get them done on the Senate floor, so we 
can send them over to the House and get them conferenced.
  Also, I have to say thank you to Senator Murray, who is the chair of 
this subcommittee, and also Senator Collins. I think Senator Collins is 
a great legislator. She knows how to get it done. She knows how all the 
bits and pieces work around here. She knows the process. She has great 
relations on both sides of the aisle. One thing I like about Susan 
Collins is a lot of times she will take on the hard items. She gets the 
hard work done. We need more Senators like her around here.
  Certainly Senator Murray is incredible. She does so much good in the 
Senate and for the country and for her State.
  With that, I encourage my colleagues to look at this bill. I know we 
are going to have some amendments, we are going to have some more 
debate. That is part of it. That is great. But let's get up-or-down 
votes and let's get this through the system.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

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