[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 130 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6993-S6996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COLORADO FLOODING
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak
once again about the floods that were of biblical proportions that
afflicted our State just a couple of weeks ago and the necessity of
passing a piece of legislation, as we have done in the past on the
heels of such natural disasters, that will allow my State to access
existing emergency transportation funds more efficiently.
This is legislation my colleague and my friend and fellow Coloradan
Senator Bennet and I have introduced.
It is critically important because it will allow us in Colorado to
begin rebuilding our battered roads and bridges and highways without
having to wait years for relief. In Colorado, hundreds of miles of
roads and approximately 50 major bridges have been damaged. I want to
display one photograph to give you a sense of what happened in
Colorado.
I know Senator Bennet is here. I think he and I would agree that this
is moderate damage represented in this photograph. There are many, many
other scenes in our State where the roads are completely gone. You
would not even know there was a road in the canyon like this one here.
But this gives you a sense of what we have to do to repair all of this
infrastructure.
Many towns, as I am implying, have seen the roads which provide
access in and out of their communities severely limited. In fact, there
a couple of communities that have been cut off. But the good news is
that there are emergency relief dollars for transportation projects
that have already been appropriated. They are available right now.
Why do I come to the floor, then, if that is the situation? There is
an arbitrary statutory cap of $100 million per disaster that applies to
those funds. This could limit the flood relief that we receive and then
unnecessarily delay repairs, not necessarily this year or next year,
but for decades. But historically, this is the good news, this
opportunity we all have, as Members of the House and the Senate, to
lift this cap. It has routinely been recognized by Congress as an
unwise impediment to helping States recover, particularly when they are
hit by the size of this disaster.
We have made exceptions to this cap for nearly every natural disaster
in recent years. We waived it for Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Sandy, as
well as for the Missouri River Basin flooding in 2011. In other words,
when States are devastated, as we have been by natural disasters, we as
a Congress have said that putting arbitrary impediments in the way of
relief efforts just does not make sense, especially--and this is really
important to understand--when no new funds need to be appropriated.
The good news is, as I have alluded to, we are not asking Congress to
appropriate any new money for transportation projects, nor does our
bill increase budget authority or increase spending by the Federal
Government. We are simply making sure that Colorado has fair access to
the program that was created for the very purpose of helping States
such as Colorado rebuild after a natural disaster.
In fact, if we do not raise the cap, then we may be in the
situation--not just Senator Bennet and I--but the Congress may be in a
position where we have to pursue something more serious that does
require money--in other words, additional appropriations.
This is critically important. We have to do this. We need to. We must
provide Colorado with certainty and relief as soon as possible. I want
to again underline what happened in Colorado and what we are facing.
Beginning on September 11, historic rains poured down. We had had a
heat wave. We had been in the 90s, a very warm spell of weather.
Literally overnight, beginning on September 11, historic rains poured
down on our State without cessation.
Rivers overtopped their banks from Rocky Mountain National Park,
which is our crown jewel in the National Park System in Colorado, all
the way out onto the eastern plains. It washed away highways, it
drowned family homes, and it transformed entire farms into lakes.
Creeks such as South Boulder Creek, which runs right behind my home,
swelled. My neighbors were evacuated. I could not get home for 24
hours.
Culverts such as those near Commerce City quickly filled with rushing
water. Rivers such as the Big Thompson near Estes Park turned into
walls of water that devastated entire communities.
Let me give you another set of metrics. The affected area covers
nearly 200 square miles and over 80 percent of our State's population.
If we counted--Senator Bennet and I would agree--5 million Coloradans
that we represent or 80 percent of our State's population has been
affected.
For a sense of scope--I did not know Senator Murphy would be
presiding--the floodwaters cover an area the size of Connecticut. Nine
counties are considered major disasters. At least 9 Coloradans have
died. Thank God it was not more. We had a lot of missing people, but we
think we have identified where all of those people are. We lost 9
Coloradans. Nearly 20,000 homes are damaged or destroyed.
Nearly 2,500 people were evacuated by the Colorado National Guard,
the most since Hurricane Katrina. Some bit of good news: The muddy
waters have begun to recede. That has given us a better look at the
vast extent of the damage: 200 miles of State highways and 50 bridges
are damaged or destroyed. Preliminary estimates are that the
infrastructure repairs could cost up to $475 million.
I come with a heavy heart when I think about all of that. Then I have
to also confess that this is a natural disaster that is beyond our
capacity and Colorado's ability to address alone. We need help. We need
support from our Federal partner.
I have always supported disaster aid whether I was serving in the
House, as the presiding officer has, and when I have been in the
Senate, for Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina and for all of the natural
disasters that have hit our country since I began serving in the House
in 1999.
I have to say that Coloradans now need our Federal partner to support
our rebuilding and recovery efforts. I want also to say, though, in the
face of this historic disaster, that I have been so heartened to see
our Federal partners in the administration, led by FEMA, team up with
our State leaders, who have been tireless, with the mayors, the council
members, the county commissioners, our Governor, local communities,
nonprofit organizations, and with countless friends and neighbors who
have begun the hard work of recovery.
Our strong sense of community will allow us to recover and to rebuild
stronger and more resolute than before. But we want to get going. We
want to access these dollars right now. Those dollars are sitting in
this account, waiting to help States such as Colorado rebuild and
repair in the wake of a disaster. In fact, the U.S. Department of
Transportation--I see our chairman of the EPW Committee, Senator Boxer,
who is such a leader on infrastructure and knows infrastructure policy
backwards and forwards--the U.S. Department of Transportation projects
that Colorado, New York, and New Jersey, plus the 11 other States that
have projects in the queue, could receive every single dollar they need
and there would still be $221 million in remaining funds in this
account available for future emergencies across our country.
That is right. Everyone who has disaster-related infrastructure needs
can receive relief, and we will still have significant funds to help
other areas that may find themselves in need such as Colorado, New
York, and New Jersey.
I want my colleagues to know that we have a real opportunity here.
Coloradans need these dollars. These are legitimate uses of these
dollars. Senator Bennet and I are going to be working every minute
today, this weekend, next week, to make sure that Colorado can recover
as quickly as possible. Perhaps in light of the challenges that we face
in Congress, moving the government forward and doing what is right for
the American people, maybe this is an example of how we can work
together and do the right thing not just for Colorado but for the
United States.
Mrs. BOXER. Would the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. I would.
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Mrs. BOXER. I wish to say to both of my friends, coming from a State
that has experienced too many moments like the one you are going
through, I have never seen anything quite like this in terms of
flooding. But we have the most devastating fires, droughts, floods,
mudslides, and earthquakes and the rest.
I wanted to be supportive of what you are doing. We all need to come
together and help each other here. So I will do whatever I can to make
sure that happens.
I ask unanimous consent that when my friend Senator Bennet completes
his time I be recognized.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. BOXER. My question to my friend is: Is it not critical that we
avert a government shutdown? Because if we go into a shutdown phase,
people who want to apply for help--businesses and all the rest--are
going to be experiencing far more pain. This is just a terrible time to
even consider a government shutdown. We have so much we have to do. I
wonder if my friend had thought about that when he voted to keep the
government open?
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. I certainly did. I so appreciate the point the
Senator from California is making. We have been assured that a shutdown
would not affect Colorado. But as we all know there are unintended
consequences. Just in the last 24 hours, Senator Bennet and I came to
understand that the Utah National Guard, which was sending over a unit
that has engineers and experts in flood recovery, probably cannot come
to Colorado because their funds are going to be limited by the
government shutdown.
For all of the assurance that this is emergency aid and emergency
support--there are always situations where the full weight, if you
will, and the focus of all of those good people who serve us, it is
local, county, State, and Federal Government--they will be affected by
this shutdown.
It is all the more important. We feel it in Colorado. The other thing
I would add, and I wish to cede the floor to my good friend Senator
Bennet, but what has been remarkable in Colorado is the partnership
between the local, county, State and Federal governments. It has been
seamless, for the most part. Then you mix in the NGOs, the Red Cross,
the Salvation Army, and citizens who would hear the call and come to
work to muck out basements, cut up debris. The spirit of community in
Colorado has never been stronger. We ought to reflect that here. We
were sent here to reflect that approach. That is America at its best.
I thank the Senator. I very much look to hearing the remarks of my
friend and colleague Senator Bennet.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. I wish to first say thanks to the great Senator from
California at this time for her words. We need to pull together for
other places, Sandy and other things. Now it is time for the country to
embrace Colorado, as my senior Senator so eloquently said. I know he
may have to leave the floor, but I wish to say how much I have
appreciated his leadership in all of this. It has made a huge
difference.
The work that is really being done is the work on the ground, as
Senator Udall was saying. That is the most important work--the first
responders, neighbors helping neighbors. But it also has been a time
when our political leadership has come together in a way at least for
once not to get in the way and actually try to support the people who
are just trying to serve their friends and neighbors. I wish to say
thank you to Senator Udall, my senior Senator and my friend, for his
leadership.
As he mentioned, our State is a long way from recovering from the
floods that have inflicted so much damage over this month. The damage
has been historic. Based on the latest estimates, over 16,000 homes
have been seriously damaged. Thousands have been destroyed. The
floodwaters consumed more than 2,000 square miles across Colorado's
Front Range--an area about twice the size of Rhode Island. To give some
sense of scale, it would be as if Rhode Island were completely
underwater twice or, as Senator Mark Udall said, as if it covered a
State the size of Connecticut. The floods have tragically killed at
least nine Coloradans. We hope that number won't go up, but we don't
know if it will.
Over the weekend I went to Jamestown, which is a small community
about 14 miles northwest of Boulder, CO. Tara Schoedinger, the mayor of
the town, showed me around. The damage to this one town was simply
unbelievable. It was as if a bomb had gone off in the middle of this
community. The flooding destroyed over a fifth of Jamestown's homes,
half of its roads, both of its bridges, a central fire hall, and much
more.
The storm killed Joe Howlett, age 72, a beloved pillar of the
Jamestown community. The mayor's house is right next to Joe's house.
The mayor's house is fine. Joe Howlett's house was destroyed by a
mudslide that came down from the very top of the hillside, the very top
of the mountain behind his house, killing somebody who had been the
glue of that community.
I have a couple of photos from the visit that I wish to share to give
a sense of scale of this damage.
This used to be Main Street in Jamestown. We can see it passing
between these two utility poles on either side of what is now a raging
river. Main Street is gone. It is not the asphalt that is gone; the
whole street, the roadbed is gone. All that remains is a torrential
river that ran in a completely different place than it does today.
This photo shows the end of Main Street in Jamestown. My deputy chief
of staff took that picture. This is what Main Street used to look like.
This is what Main Street in Jamestown, CO, looks like as we stand on
the floor of the Senate today.
I will say, as the senior Senator is still here, it was amazing, the
resilience of the people of this community, the sense of humor people
had, and the sense of community they had. There were probably 30 people
or so left out of a town of 300. They had come back to see their
belongings and to secure what was left of their homes. What they were
talking about was how they were going to rebuild this community
together. There were tears from time to time, as you naturally would
expect there to be, but what really came through, as it always does at
the back end of these disasters, was the human spirit we see in each
one of our States. We are particularly proud of the Coloradans who are
struggling together to get through this incredibly difficult time.
In my mind, these are the most heartbreaking pictures, people who
have dedicated their lives to being able to secure homes for their
families.
They, by the way, had no expectation there and in other parts of the
State that they would ever be affected by a flood and see everything
lost.
One woman came up to me while I was there and said, ``this was our
house.''
It was in reasonably decent shape compared to some of the others I
had seen. She also had a rental property down the road in which she had
invested her life savings. She had no flood insurance.
She said: I just don't know how we are not going to go broke as a
result of this piece of bad luck.
I also saw in Evans, CO--a rural community near Greeley in the
northeastern part of the State--two trailer parks that had been
entirely destroyed by floodwaters from 1 mile or 1\1/4\ miles away. In
the middle of these trailer parks, there was a cement pipe that was
about this tall sitting underneath a carport. The thing must have
weighed tons. It was a huge culvert pipe that had come from 1\1/2\
miles away through these raging waters to position itself in this
trailer park.
The people who live there work in agriculture in our State, clean
hotels in our community, and work in our oilfields in northeastern
Colorado. When I went to the trailer park, the people were assessing
the damage. They have lost everything. Because they couldn't qualify
for financing for those trailer homes, they bought them with cash.
One person there said: Senator, it is awfully lucky this happened
during the day and not at night because our kids were at school during
the day. If they had been there at night, we don't know how many of
them would have been killed by these floodwaters.
In addition to the human dimension of all of this, which is the most
important dimension, the flooding also inflicted enormously costly
damage to
[[Page S6995]]
Colorado's infrastructure. Over 200 miles of roads in Colorado have
been affected by this flooding. The mountainous terrain in the State is
going to make repair work exponentially more expensive and
exponentially more difficult. I salute our Governor and everybody who
is working to make sure that at least temporary roads are built to
these communities in the next 90 days, which would otherwise be
completely cut off.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from
the Colorado Department of Transportation that estimates the total
damage just to Colorado's federally maintained roads and highways.
These are not our State and local roads; federally maintained roads and
highways will exceed $400 million.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
State of Colorado,
Department of Transportation,
Denver, CO, September 25, 2013.
Hon. John Boehner,
Speaker, House of Representatives
Washington, DC.
Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
Minority Leader, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Harry Reid,
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
Minority Leader, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader
Pelosi, and Minority Leader McConnell: As you know, this week
Colorado begins the process of rebuilding. Over a dozen
Colorado counties were devastated due to record-setting rains
and heavy flooding. Today, thousands of our neighbors are
without homes, power, or drinking water. For us to begin the
rebuilding process, we must repair our roads, bridges, and
culverts that were swept away by the floodwaters. We need the
help of Congress to begin this process.
Multiple counties received over a foot of rain, which
turned to floodwater. Those floodwaters destroyed many
critical transportation connectors throughout our state. This
week, the waters are receding and the Colorado Department of
Transportation (CDOT) has begun to assess the damage. At this
time, we have identified a number of bridges in need of
significant repairs or replacement, and approximately 200
state highway lane miles that washed away. In the interim,
CDOT is working with the National Guard to restore access to
communities severed from the rest of the state. This includes
installing temporary crossing structures and gravel roads.
Although cost estimates will certainly change as we
continue to inspect our infrastructure, CDOT's early estimate
indicates that approximately $475 million is needed to
rebuild our highway system. This estimate includes materials,
maintenance, reconstruction, and contracting costs. Last
week, the Colorado Transportation Commission directed over
$100 million--CDOT's entire contingency funding line--to
begin reconnecting critical roadways and communities. The
Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) also acted swiftly to
release $35 million in emergency funds. While these
contributions provide critical initial repair funds, CDOT has
already secured 19 contractors and have dedicated the
advanced funding from the FHWA. It is clear that existing
resources are inadequate to fix highway damage of this
magnitude. Furthermore, CDOT's $475 million estimate does not
include costs to rebuild destroyed city and county roads that
are also eligible for FHWA emergency funds.
Approximately $1 billion is available from the FHWA
Emergency Relief Program. States rely on this program in
times of crisis and disaster to provide needed funding to
repair federal aid highways. Unfortunately, although adequate
funds are available, under the Disaster Relief Appropriations
Act of 2013, Colorado may receive no more than $100 million
in program relief. This is a significant hurdle for Colorado
as we anticipate damages to exceed this limit by four times
or more. In recent years, Congress raised the $100 million
cap for the most severe disasters. For example, the cap was
raised by Congress to $500 million for those states
devastated by Hurricane Sandy. And, for Hurricanes Gustav and
Ike, the cap was waived entirely for affected states. This
flood was of a magnitude that Colorado will likely never see
again and the total devastation will easily surpass several
billion dollars. For this reason, we urgently need help from
Congress.
I join Governor John Hickenlooper and the Colorado
congressional delegation in asking for your leadership in
raising the program limit to $500 million for Colorado.
Before Coloradans can begin rebuilding their homes and lives,
we must rebuild the roads to their communities. Increasing
this cap swiftly is of the utmost importance so that we may
restore Colorado's transportation network. Please contact
Kurt Morrison at (303) 757-9703 or me should you have
questions. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Donald E. Hunt,
Executive Director.
Mr. BENNET. Earlier this year Congress passed funding for Federal
Highway Administration emergency relief. States such as Colorado that
have been hit with significant natural disasters are eligible for
funding. Our State will be in desperate need of these funds, as New
Jersey and New York were in desperate need. The scale of the damage far
exceeds what our States and local governments can cover.
As my senior Senator said, there is a catch. There is a cap of $100
million per incident, per State, on this Federal highway assistance.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from
Gov. Hickenlooper urging Congress to raise the current cap on emergency
funding and explaining why this is something Colorado desperately needs
to have done.
State of Colorado,
Office of the Governor,
Denver, CO, September 23, 2013.
Hon. John Boehner,
Speaker, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Harry Reid,
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader
Pelosi, and Minority Leader McConnell: As you may know, this
month massive rains and heavy flooding left over a dozen
Colorado counties in devastation. With the rains, highways,
bridges, and culverts were washed away. As a result, even now
many communities still are cut off and isolated from the rest
of the state. Colorado is in dire need of help.
Communities across Colorado's Front Range and Eastern
Plains are starting to deal with aftermath of the flooding
and destruction. The affected counties include Boulder,
Adams, Larimer, Weld, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek,
Denver, El Paso, Fremont, Jefferson, Logan, Morgan, Pueblo,
and Washington--an area so expansive, that it surpasses that
of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island combined.
Early analyses show that the flooding was so severe that it
may not occur again for 500 to 1,000 years.
Thousands of Colorado families are without homes, potable
water, or power. Before the state can fully restore essential
services to impacted towns and cities, and allow residents to
permanently return home, we must repair our devastated
highway system. Early estimates are that at least 50 bridges
will need significant repair--30 of which must be fully
replaced. Approximately 200 highway lane miles must be
reconstructed. Temporary crossing structures are needed in
the interim. And, today, numerous state highways and local
roads remain closed, cutting off primary, and in some cases
the only, access to Colorado cities and towns. Assessing the
damage to Colorado's highway system is underway. But early
assessments are that the damage will be several hundred
million dollars.
Under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013,
Public Law 113-2, the U.S. Federal Highways Administration
(FHWA) Emergency Relief Program (ERP), received over $2.02
billion to help states rebuild and repair damages to their
highways and bridges. In this bill, states impacted by
Hurricane Sandy could receive up to $500 million per disaster
in ERP funds; however, all remaining states--including
Colorado--were capped at $100 million per disaster.
Given the widespread devastation to our state highway
system, we are respectfully asking that Congress raise this
$100 million cap for Colorado as well. As the Colorado
congressional delegation stated in a letter to the House and
Senate Appropriations Committees, there are precedents for
waiving or raising this cap. For example, the $100 million
was waived in response to damage caused by Hurricanes Gustav
and Ike, and Hurricane Irene and the Missouri River basin
flooding. Recently, the cap was raised to $500 million for
those states devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
Based on Colorado's anticipated highway needs and the
precedents mentioned above, we ask that you raise this cap
for Colorado. Time and again, Congress has answered the call
to help communities during times of disaster and loss. The
September 2013 floods may prove to be the worst natural
disaster in the history of our state, and is likely the worst
we shall ever see in our lifetimes. Before we rebuild our
homes and businesses, we must rebuild our roads to reopen our
communities. On behalf of all Coloradans, please raise this
cap to $500 million, so that we may begin this process.
Sincerely,
John Hickenlooper,
Governor.
Mr. BENNET. Senator Udall and I have a simple bill that would raise
the $100 million cap for Colorado for emergency funding for our
highways, matching what Congress has done, as Senator Udall has said,
many times previously--in fact, as far as I know,
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every time an issue like this has arisen.
We have already talked to the Congressional Budget Office about this.
They have looked at the bill. They have told us that it will not cost
the Federal Government one dime because the money is already there. It
has already been appropriated. It just needs to be used for the purpose
Congress laid out--to help States with major disasters that inflicted
cost damage on that State's highway system.
Colorado needs this Congress to act, and act now, to get this done so
that Colorado can access the highway aid we will clearly need to
recover in the coming months.
This $100 million cap on emergency funding from the Federal Highway
Administration, as I mentioned earlier, has been lifted many times
before. It has been done routinely and swiftly by this Congress
following other major disasters when it was obvious--as it is in our
case--that federally maintained highway costs would exceed $100
million. We lifted it for the Sandy States, as I have pointed out,
earlier this year when we passed the Sandy supplemental on January 29,
2013. We lifted it on November 18 for Hurricane Irene and the Missouri
River basin flooding. We lifted it on September 30, 2008, for
Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. We lifted it on May 25, 2007, for storms in
the State of California. We lifted it on December 20, 2005, for
Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. All told, Congress has
waived this $100 million cap 14 times in the past 25 years. It is
routine, and it is normal when there is a major disaster that causes
major highway damage in excess of $100 million.
Senator Udall and I have been working with our colleagues in the
Senate. Nearly all of them have indicated a readiness to work with us
to pass this bill. I am very grateful for that.
I also wish to thank my colleagues for working with us to get this
done quickly for Colorado in recognition of how badly we need this cap
lifted and this Federal funding made available.
I urge my colleagues to pull together to work with us to quickly
clear this bill in the coming days so we can get Coloradans the help
they need.
If you will indulge me a few more minutes--and if the Senator from
California would as well--I wish to take a quick moment to tell you why
this is so important.
A picture tells a thousand words--especially when I am the one who is
speaking. I want to show the damage to Colorado highways as a result of
this historic flooding.
This photograph was taken during a helicopter tour by Vice President
Biden, Governor Hickenlooper, and FEMA officials of flood damage in
Greeley, CO, earlier this week. We can see that a huge portion of the
road has washed away and water has breached a dam.
I would like to say that FEMA has been doing a tremendous job with
our local and State officials.
This is a section of Highway 72 that collapsed and washed away after
a flash flood tore through Coal Creek near Golden, CO, which is outside
of Denver--maybe in Golden they would say Denver is outside of Golden.
This is what the road looks like there.
A bridge on the south side of Lyons is gone. Huge portions have
broken off. This is a photo of the bridge that is missing. Here is
another shot of large portions of U.S. 34 washed away.
This is a very clear example of the way these mountain roads work. In
this case, when the prospectors first came to Colorado, what they would
do is pan for gold in the bottom of the rivers, near the plains. They
would see whether there was gold leaf there. That would lead them to
walk up these valleys--very steep valleys--to see where the gold was
coming from. They founded towns in these places. That is the way the
river came, then the road followed the river, and that allowed them to
get to their town. You can see in this case this road has been
completely washed out by the river.
This is just another instance of mountain roads where we can see the
dropoff below is what used to be road but no longer is.
Here is a roadway that, when this photo was taken, is completely
submerged and with extensive damage. And then this, what used to be a
ribbon of pavement, is now in fragments in the remaining water.
In times of disaster in this country, we have stood together time and
time again. Working on behalf of the people of Colorado, along with
Senator Udall, that is what we are asking for again. We have pulled
together with all of our colleagues and we are going to need all of you
to pull together with us.
The Founding Fathers had a lot of work to do and they are often
quoted around this place, but they were engaged in founding a country,
not dismantling one. This is a reminder of why this vision was so
important and why people, frankly, are counting on us to carry this on
for this generation of Americans and for the generations that will
follow us.
With that, I thank the Chair for his indulgence, and I yield the
floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The Senator from California.
____________________