Congressional Record, Volume 160 Issue 77 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)

[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3205-S3210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

WRRDA

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, with all the arguments and debate that
go on around here in a very legitimate way--it is fair. The parties
have grown very far apart--whether you look at the minimum wage, with
the Democrats wanting to raise it, with some Republicans who say do
away with it altogether; with extended unemployment benefits, where we
can barely get a handful of them to go along with us--I could go on
through the list. We are going to have a chance to make sure students
have a fair shot at refinancing their student loans. We do not know
where they are, but so far I have not seen them join Senator Warren in
her very important move to allow students to refinance their student
loans. I could go through a list longer than I am tall. I am not that
tall, but still it is 5 feet of differences.
We finally have come together in a way that I am very proud. As
chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, we have two
sides of our committee--the environment side, which tends to be very
difficult, very difficult, with big splits; and then we have the public
works side. By putting aside our differences--our deep differences--on
the environment and focusing on the other side, we have been able to
come up with a couple of really good bills.
The first one is the Water Resources Reform and Development Act
called WRRDA. It is so important to our Nation, whether you are a
coastal port or an inland port, and it is crucial that this get done.
The last WRDA bill was nearly 7 years ago. I was proud to be involved
in that at that time. This one--7 years later--is long overdue. I am
going to talk to you more about it. We also voted out a highway bill
out of our committee. We are very proud of that. Senator Vitter and I
worked very closely, and Senator Barrasso, Senator Carper, and all the
Members on both sides and their wonderful staffs.
So tomorrow, I believe, we are going to vote on WRRDA, we are going
to vote on the water bill. I know we have a very hectic day tomorrow,
so rather than take the time then, I am going to take the time now, and
I am hoping to be joined by some colleagues today. But if not, I will
lay out why we need to do this bill.
First, I want to say a wonderful thing happened in the House
yesterday when the conference report passed over in the House 412 to 4.
That was really pretty terrific. Everyone pretty much rose above
partisan politics. I am very pleased that Senator Reid is moving
forward with this report and all colleagues on both sides want us to
pass that conference report and send it to the President. He will sign
this bill.
Let me tell you what is at stake: at least half a million jobs--half
a million jobs.
First of all, we deal with ports and waterways. The conference
agreement makes important investments in reforms related to our
Nation's ports. Our Nation's ports and waterways move over 2.3 billion
tons of goods--that is amazing--every year; 2.3 billion tons of goods.
So we need to keep our ports modernized. We need to invest in our
ports. So in this bill we do.
We include a project in Texas, for example, to widen and deepen the
Sabine-Neches waterway, which will have over $115 million in annual
benefits. This critical waterway transports over 100,000 tons of goods
every year. It is the Nation's top port for movement of commercial
military goods. And it is vital to our Nation's energy security.
This bill will allow the Corps to address dangerous cross currents at
the Port of Jacksonville, FL--that is another example--that create
safety concerns for ships entering and exiting the port. It also allows
the deepening of this vital hub of commerce.
The bill also authorizes a project to deepen the Boston Harbor to 50
feet. This will prevent heavier road traffic in the busy Northeastern
corridor by allowing larger vessels coming through the newly deepened
Panama Canal to transport cargo all the way north to Boston Harbor.
Without the access to Boston, these vessels would have to offload in
other ports and put the cargo on trucks to their final destinations in
the Northeast.
Madam President, what I would like to do now is yield to my friend,
the Senator from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu.
I just want to say--and I will finish my remarks when she has
completed hers because she has a very hectic schedule and I am able to
stay on the floor for a while--whenever I see Senator Landrieu she
talks to me about her State. And her State is magnificent. I have been
there. I was there after Katrina, at her urging. I have been there
since to see some of the progress we have made. But Louisiana is a
special place. And this special Senator never forgets what needs to be
done, and part of it is playing a big role in a bill like the Water
Resources Reform and Development Act.
So at this time I will yield, if it is all right, through the Chair.
Am I permitted to do this? Can I yield the time that I took to my
friend for as much time as she may consume?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank you, Madam President.
I thank the courtesy of the chairwoman from California and for her
really extraordinary leadership to bring such an important
infrastructure bill to the floor of the Senate.
Without her dogged determination, we would not be here today and
Louisiana and so many other States that are benefiting from the
projects authorized and green-lighted in this bill would simply still
be waiting, with jobs not being created, people not being employed, and
the future looking a lot less bright than it does today. I thank the
Senator so very much.
Mrs. BOXER. You're welcome.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Not only has she given attention to her home State of
California, but she has been very mindful of several other States in
the Union that have particularly difficult water challenges. Louisiana
would be one such State. Louisiana is not our largest State. It is not
small. It is in the medium size. It has 4.5 million people. But yet our
State is positioned geographically in the country, in the Lower 48,
that we drain almost 50 percent of the continent. The water of this
continent comes through this extraordinary delta almost without peer on
the planet. It is the seventh largest delta on Earth.
While some States are struggling to find water, we normally have too
much of it in the wrong places--or at times we have too much of it in
the wrong places, such as when Lake Pontchartrain breached the drainage
project program. The project collapsed and two-thirds of the city of
New Orleans went under water--some neighborhoods 14 feet. When Isaac
hit or Ike or other hurricanes, we had really been bombarded with
tremendous challenges to the southern part of the United States.
Every region has their challenges. But the southern part of the
United States, what I like to call America's energy coast--Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama--has particular challenges that
need addressing in this

[[Page S3206]]

bill. I thank Senator Boxer for addressing some of them, particularly
as it relates to Louisiana's challenges because our challenge is not
only to keep commerce open for everyone so the entire country can
benefit--especially when the Panama Canal opens; larger ships are going
to be moving across the oceans into our ports. The Mississippi River
port system combines all the four southern ports of the Mississippi
River, and it is the largest port system in the world--not second; the
largest port system in the world--so we have a responsibility to make
sure this commerce continues to move.
So we have to have rivers and bodies of water that are open for
commerce but protected with the right kinds of levees that protect the
people who live there so we do not drown every time it rains heavily.
We are not talking about category 4 and 5 hurricanes. We are talking
about highways that go underwater in a heavy rain because the delta is
sinking due to several factors. The waters are rising due to several
factors. This WRRDA bill is one of the only answers to build a
resilient and sustainable coast. That is why the Louisiana delegation
fights so hard for it, why we are so anxious for this bill, why we do
not like to wait 7 years for a WRDA bill, because we need new
authorizations every 2 to 3 years.
In fact, we need a whole new way of funding some of these projects,
which is a work in progress. I look forward to continuing to work with
Senator Boxer. As an appropriator, I am very anxious to find a new,
more expedited way. I have proposed revenue sharing and will continue
to propose revenue sharing as a way for not only Louisiana but coastal
States to redirect a portion of offshore oil and gas revenues to come
back to the coastal communities, America's energy coast, America's
working coast, and build the infrastructure that helps our economy
continue to grow, create jobs and, most importantly or equally
importantly, protect the people that have to live close to the water
for those jobs and for those jobs to be made real and for the economy
to benefit.
Not everybody can live in Vail, CO, and commute to the coast every
day to work. It is not going to happen. We have to live along these
rivers, and we have been living there an awfully long time--300 years
as far as Natchitoches, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. They will be
celebrating--just three cities in our State--their 300th birthday.
We did not move there in the 1980s to sunbathe. We have been down
there for hundreds of years building the economy of this country. We
are proud to do it. We are happy to do it. But we need help every now
and then. This bill helps us. The WRRDA bill is important.
There are a couple of projects--I am going to finish in about 3 or 4
minutes, and turn it back over to Senator Boxer. First, there is
Morganza to the Gulf, which was originally authorized over 20 years
ago. That is going to provide levee and flood control protection to one
of the fastest growing, most dynamic cities in this country--Houma, LA.
It is an energy epicenter. It is an energy powerhouse for the people of
Houma, the fabrication, the supply companies--such as in North Dakota--
which is really one of the fastest growing communities in our country.
The Presiding Officer can appreciate this. We are like that on the
coast, except that when the hurricanes come, it literally threatens to
wash away the whole place because there are no levees around Houma.
The Presiding Officer had terrible flooding in her State, so she can
appreciate what happens when the levee system fails. But we are not
only along rivers, we are also along the coast, and we are also a
strong energy center. It is not just the people and the companies,
which range from very small mom-and-pop businesses to some of the
largest international energy companies in the world, but it is
international fabricators that have billions of dollars of
infrastructure along this coast that are at risk.
So this Morganza project, it was not originally in the House bill. I
fought very hard to make sure that it was in the Senate version. I want
to give Senator Vitter a good bit of credit for his leadership on the
committee. I do not want to underestimate the role that he played in
securing all of these projects. But we worked together as a team to
make sure that Morganza to the Gulf was included.
I am very proud that it was in the final conference report, a $10.3
billion authorization. The Louisiana coastal area for $2.1 billion is
also included. It is one of the only new starts in the President's
budget. It is authorized at a higher level in this bill. Again, we are
going to have to find some additional funding, which is where revenue
sharing comes in. I hope to convince my colleagues to move in that
direction for the benefit of not just our State but for many coastal
States in the country.
Building this coastal protection for Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas,
Alabama, and Florida is critical, but so are the east coast and the
west coast in great need as well. One of the projects--and I have two
more to talk about that I am particularly proud of--is the
authorization for us to get about the work of dredging the New Iberia
port. I have tried to explain it on this floor because we only think
about ports such as the traditional big cargo ports.
You think about Long Beach, you think about the Port of Seattle or
you think about New York and New Jersey. That is what people think when
they think ports. Those are big cargo ports and big container ports.
They are very important. But also tucked along our coasts are energy
ports that people completely forget about. They do not even know what
an energy port looks like. I am very proud to be taking Secretary Moniz
to his first energy port next week in Louisiana. These energy ports are
not bringing in big containers and big cargo ships, but they are
bringing in liquefied natural gas, or taking it out, or they are
bringing in oil imported from the rest of the world or exporting--when
we can export. But right now they are bringing crude oil in. They are
manufacturing the huge platforms and fabricating the huge platforms
that go out into the Gulf of Mexico.
Without the proper dredging of those ports, without the proper
security of these ports, America cannot be an energy powerhouse. We
just cannot do it. We have to have that port infrastructure. So one of
my big pushes since I have been a Senator is to try to get the Federal
Government to understand that one size does not fit all. There are
certain projects that work well for these big container ports and big
cargo ports, but there are other important ports in our country,
particularly along America's energy coast, which is the Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coast, the only coast that allows
offshore oil and gas drilling, to allow that industry to continue to
grow, so that the country prospers and all the States are benefited by
the work that goes on there.
So the New Iberia port channel will be dredged deeper. Fabricators
will be able to have more projects domestically here and not have to do
so much work in Korea and other places around the world. We can produce
using American steel, American workers, American fabrication techniques
to create jobs right here at home.

Finally, Senator Boxer was so helpful in pressing for the Inland
Waterways Trust Fund, to authorize the trust fund, to basically say
that moneys that are collected will stay in the trust fund and be used
and authorized to help our dams and inland waterways around the
country.
Senator Casey and I have an amendment pending on the floor that would
make sure that the increases in user fees could potentially be applied
this year so that it is not just an authorization but so there is
actually funding in the trust fund to pay for these projects which are
so important to keep our maritime industry moving and growing, which is
a real feather in our cap right now.
The maritime industry is expanding. It pays much above the average
wage. They are really high-paying jobs. Instead of stymieing their
growth, we need to be expanding that part of our economy.
So this WRRDA bill, because of Senator Boxer's leadership, first of
all, has gotten to the floor for a vote. It never would have happened
without her dogged determination. There are wonderful projects,
necessary projects for the whole country, but particularly for
Louisiana, a State that has an awful lot of water. We are happy to have
it, but it has to be directed correctly or it

[[Page S3207]]

can cause many disasters and much heartache and pain.
So getting our rivers dredged correctly, getting our levees built so
they do not fail, and continuing to be diligent in helping our people
live safely along the coast is something that I know Senator Boxer
shares with me. The people of California have some similar challenges
that she is well aware of in the Sacramento Valley. So I want to thank
Senator Boxer. I appreciate her help and her several visits to
Louisiana, particularly after the storm, helping to make a firm imprint
on her about the importance of this. I am excited about looking into
the Netherlands for a possible partner with building even stronger
infrastructure using really first class technology for our States.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Mrs. BOXER. I reclaim my time. I want to again say to the Senator
that she has made this case. This WRRDA bill is life and death. It
truly is in so many of our States. We all saw Katrina. We all saw
Superstorm Sandy. I can tell you--I know it sounds like an
overstatement, but I can assure you it is not--if we have a situation
like that in the Sacramento area, because of the businesses located
there and how many people are there--our State has 38 million people--
the devastation would be worse than we have ever seen because of the
number of people.
This bill takes care of that problem too so we can fix our levees.
That is critical. Our levees are falling apart. The Senator has made
the case so forcefully for her State, but also she calls attention to
the fact that we are experiencing extreme weather. We cannot put our
heads in the sand. I was thinking the other day that if you put your
head in the sand, you are going to get sand in your eye and you will
never be able to see too well.
We have got to get our heads out of the sand. Extreme weather is
here. It is here because of climate change. We have to deal with it. My
preference is to do what we can to avoid climate change. But it is late
in the game even now. So we have to adapt. My friend from Louisiana, I
have to say, has been a stalwart in protecting her State.
We have heard from the Senator from Louisiana as to why WRRDA is so
important. You have heard a little bit from me. I was talking about the
important projects across this Nation. I discussed the one in Texas,
through which they move so many military goods. I discussed the one in
Florida where they have these cross currents that are dangerous. I
began to discuss a project to deepen Boston Harbor to 50 feet. This
will prevent heavier road traffic in the busy Northeast corridor by
allowing the larger vessels coming through from the newly deepened
Panama Canal to transport cargo all the way north to Boston Harbor.
Without that access to Boston, these vessels would have to offload in
other ports and put the cargo on trucks to their final destination in
the Northeast. We really have to think about our ports as the
alternative, in many cases, to putting cars on the road. In our State,
we call it kind of the ``sea highway.'' Our idea in California is to
tie our ports together so there can be a seamless way to transport
cargo.
In addition to authorizing crucial port projects, the bill reforms
the harbor maintenance trust fund to increase port investment. Despite
significant maintenance needs at our Nation's ports, only roughly half
of the fees collected in the harbor maintenance trust fund go to port
activities. These are user funds. They ought to be used for the purpose
for which they were intended. This conference report calls for a full
expenditure of all revenues collected in the trust fund by 2025.
I want to say, I have had some very good talks with the
appropriators, Chairman Mikulski and Ranking Member Shelby. They have
ports in their great States. They know the need to utilize these funds
at the ports. We collect funds for the harbor maintenance trust fund,
and then they are going to every other kind of use. It does not make
sense. It is not right. I believe in user funds, whether it is the
highway trust fund, the harbor maintenance trust fund, whether it is
Social Security, Medicare--they are targeted funds. They should stay
and be used for those purposes.
We do set priorities for our larger ports, smaller ports, for the
Great Lakes, the seaports that are large donors. We say, if you are a
large donor port, you ought to deserve to have some attention. I can
tell you, I represent the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, through
which 40 percent of U.S. container imports pass.
They put so much money into the trust fund and they get so little
back. There are many cases like that. I am particularly familiar with
these because I hear from the folks from those particular ports.
We also have very important inland waterway systems, and this
conference report makes important reforms to those. It is essential for
transporting goods throughout the country. These include efforts to
expedite project delivery and better prepare for future floods and
droughts that can slow or even stop navigation at our inland waterways.
We talked a little bit about extreme weather. In the Presiding
Officer's State, I will never forget, just before your arrival in the
Senate, seeing pictures of what was happening in North Dakota with
floods and fires. It was just the most apocalyptic scene that Senator
Conrad had photos of. It was shocking.
We are seeing more and more of this extreme weather. We need to get
ahead of it. We need to do much needed flood control and coastal
hurricane protection projects around the country.
We talked a little bit about Sacramento, our State capital. It faces
some of the Nation's most severe flood risks.
The bill contains flood protection measures that will allow the port
to strengthen the levees in the Natomas Basin in Sacramento. Here is
how many people will be safeguarded: 100,000 people will be safeguarded
and $8 billion worth of property.
The bill also focuses on lifesaving flood protection for more than
200,000 residents of Fargo, ND, and Moorhead, MN.
We are talking about States all across our great Nation that have to
protect their people.
The bill will restore the reliability of the levee system that
protects Topeka, KS. These levees protect thousands of homes and
businesses in the city, and this project will return over $13 in
benefits for every $1 invested.
The bill will provide lifesaving protection for coastal communities
in coastal Louisiana. We heard from Senator Landrieu. Senator Vitter
was very strong on this as we worked together.
When we are chairmen, we have to do what is right for the country and
also do what is right for our States. The conference report is going to
improve our responses to extreme weather events whether they occur in
Fargo, Sacramento, or New Orleans.
After the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm
Sandy, it became clear that communities needed assistance to protect
lives, property, and to improve infrastructure resiliency. What does
``resiliency'' mean? It means that you build your infrastructure in a
resilient way so that it lasts and doesn't collapse when you need that
protection.
For the first time, this bill allows the Corps to conduct immediate
assessments of affected watersheds following an extreme weather event.
In the old days, before all this extreme weather, the Corps would come
back and fix places and make them just the way they were before the
event. Now we are saying: If there is an extreme weather event, please,
Corps, identify and look at the ability to construct small flood-
control and ecosystem restoration projects, such as levees and
floodwalls, and restore wetlands without going through the full study
process and receiving additional congressional authorization.
We don't waive any environmental laws. We just say: When you have an
emergency and you can show us there are small projects that can work,
just go do it because we want people to have their communities back.
The conference report calls for the Corps to use resilient
construction techniques that are far more durable. I remember I was in
a big debate with a Republican Senator when we had a bridge collapse
after an earthquake--an approach to a bridge--and he said: Well, why
are you spending more money than it cost to build it?
I said: Because we don't want to rebuild it the same way because it
didn't withstand an earthquake.

[[Page S3208]]

It is kind of a ``duh'' moment. You don't want to spend taxpayer
money rebuilding a flawed piece of infrastructure. Make it strong, and
make it resilient. That is what we have to do. For the first time, we
are going to make sure this happens.
We require the National Academy of Sciences and the GAO to evaluate
options for reducing risk. It is not only the Corps going out there.
They are going to depend upon the scientists and they are going to
depend upon the GAO, the Government Accountability Office.
The bill authorizes investment in vital ecosystem restoration
projects across this Nation. These projects not only preserve our
precious natural heritage, they also provide essential benefits to
local communities, such as improved flood protection and a boost to
local tourism.
A lot of people don't understand the function of a wetland. You see a
stretch of wetland and you say: Wow, that is flat land. I can go build
on it.
Frankly, over the course of our great Nation's history, that is what
we used to do. We filled in those wetlands. We ignored the fact that
they were a gift for us to protect. Not only were they beautiful, a
place for wildlife, and they helped the air quality, but they acted as
natural flood control. When we hear Senator Landrieu discuss this--I
went to Louisiana, and I saw how critical that was. The wetlands
restoration is critical to absorbing the floodwaters so they don't
destroy property and lives.
WRRDA continues the commitment to restoring one of the Nation's
greatest environmental treasures--the Florida Everglades.
If you have never seen the Florida Everglades, you need to see the
Florida Everglades. It is called a river of grass. It is extraordinary.
I will never forget it. Senator Nelson invited my husband and me. He,
his wife, my husband, and I went out, saw this river of grass, flora
and fauna, and deer jumping from a little patch of grass in the water.
It is a miracle from God.
What we do is we allow four Everglades restoration projects to move
forward.
We also reauthorize important restoration programs in the Chesapeake
Bay and the Columbia River Basin. I thank Senator Cardin for his
amazing leadership and, of course, Senator Mikulski as well.
We enable the Corps to work with the States along the North Atlantic
coast to restore vital coastal habitats from Virginia to Maine, and we
allow the Corps to implement projects to better prepare for extreme
weather in the Northern Rocky Mountain States of Montana and Idaho.
If you have been following this speech, I think what you will
recognize is how broad a swath we cut with the WRRDA bill. We truly
tried to step back and help everybody. This is one Nation, and we need
to take care of our heritage. That means we have to protect it from
floods and hurricanes, we have to make sure commerce can move forward
from our ports, and we want to restore this God-given environment we
are supposed to protect.
We direct the Corps to give priority to ecosystem restoration
projects that will also provide benefits for public health. This
ensures that projects such as the restoration of the Salton Sea--where
I live--which both restores vital habitat and addresses serious air-
quality concerns, can move forward.
The Salton Sea is amazing. It is an incredible lake. It is the stop-
off point for the most amazing array of wildlife. It is drying up. If
it continues to go this way, it will not only be a disaster for the
wildlife, but it will be a disaster for the people because the odors
that are coming from this drying-up sea float all the way to Los
Angeles, where we have millions of people. And the jobs we could create
there with clean energy and other types of development--we have to move
on that.
So I was excited to see that everyone agrees that if you have a body
of water that is deteriorating, that, if you don't pay attention to it,
could cause a public health crisis, then it should have some kind of a
priority.
The conference report also addresses important ocean and coastal
resiliency issues, allowing the Corps to carry out ocean and coastal
resiliency projects in coordination with a broad range of stakeholders,
including States, Federal agencies, and NGOs.
I compliment Sheldon Whitehouse for the work he put into this
provision. It is very important. Our oceans and our coasts are not only
magnificent gifts, but they truly are important to our economy.
People who come to California like to see the whole State, but people
gravitate to the coast. It is so magnificent, and we have to make sure
we treat our coasts and oceans right. That means making sure that if
they are endangered, we do something about it.
This is a first. This is exciting for Sheldon Whitehouse, and I am
very thrilled to have been able to help him.
I have to give a shout-out to Senator Reid, without whom this
provision wouldn't have made it in the bill. We were down to that one
issue. We had taken care of 150 issues, but we were down to that one
issue. Leader Reid was able to help us. And I thank the House for
working with us.
I don't know how many of you have heard of TIFIA, which is a program
we expanded in the highway bill. What it does is it leverages funds. So
if our States or localities in our States passed a half-cent sales tax
to build transportation, the Federal Government now has a way, through
the TIFIA Program, to come around up front, take a project that has,
say, 20 years of revenue coming in, pay that up-front cost right there,
and build that project quickly.
We did the same for water. We call it WIFIA, and it is a new
initiative. We hope that it will be interesting to folks and that they
will use it. We will assist localities in need of loans for flood
control or wastewater and drinking water infrastructure to receive
those loans from this new funding mechanism, the Water Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act.
WIFIA will allow localities an opportunity to move forward with water
infrastructure projects in the same way TIFIA does in transportation.
Where there is a local source of funding, the Federal Government can
front those funds.
The TIFIA Program is working so well. I just went to an amazing press
conference with the folks from Los Angeles. They have been given an
$800 million TIFIA loan that is enabling them to build a subway. It is
very exciting, and the Federal Government has no risk--almost zero
risk--because the funds will be paid back from the sales tax.
These new WIFIA funding arrangements supplement existing programs to
help leverage more investment in our Nation's aging infrastructure. The
conference report also updates the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to
ensure that our existing sources of water infrastructure funding are
able to continue to meet pressing needs.
Chief's reports: The conference report authorizes 34 critical Army
Corps projects where the Chief of Engineers has completed a
comprehensive study.
This was an absolute necessity for the Senate. The House and Senate
came at this in a very different way. Their priority was making sure
they could hold hearings on all the chief's reports. Our priority was
saying: Look, we are not going to go ahead with any project that
doesn't have a completed chief's report. So that is the ``r'' for
reform--their reform, making sure Congress holds the hearings; our
reform, making sure that we include completed chief's reports.
We are very happy about these chief's reports. They are all over the
Nation. I gave some examples in the beginning of my statement. These
projects will restore vital ecosystems, preserve our natural heritage,
and maintain navigation routes for commerce and movement of goods.
In the future, looking forward, how are we going to continue, because
these WRDA bills come every 7 years. It is very slow. What is a better
way to deal with the future needs of our States?
We developed a system with the House that allows local sponsors--such
as someone from the State of the Presiding Officer, a flood control
agency in the State--to make their case now directly to the Army Corps,
and then the Corps would recommend those projects to Congress.
It is interesting that we took ourselves--because of the earmark
ban--out of the picture. It allows people from Fargo, from Los Angeles,
from Humboldt--wherever they are from--to go and see the Corps and make
the case

[[Page S3209]]

for their project. Then the Corps would say: We sat down with these
local officials. There are 10 or 15 projects we think are important.
That is going to be a new way we are going to give more local input.
I am very excited and happy to be standing on the floor today on this
issue because it was 1 year ago almost to the day that the Senate
passed the Boxer-Vitter WRDA bill by a vote of 83 to 14. It was just
over 1 year ago. It has been 1 year--1 year of being in conference; 1
year of struggling with issue after issue; 1 year of people saying:
That is it, we are done, we are walking out the door--wait, come
back. It has been a year. When you read how a bill becomes a law, it
sounds so simple. It says the House passes a bill, then the Senate
passes a bill, then there are conferees and they get together and they
work it out, and then it comes back and everyone is smiling and happy
and they pass it, and then the bill goes to the President. Well, it is
not exactly that way. It is a lot of give and take.

Sometimes you do have a bill that is not as complex as these here,
and it can go smoothly. But how a bill becomes a law depends on who is
in the room, it depends on what is happening nationwide, it depends on
who the President is, and so many different things. But we were able to
do this.
So 1 year ago we passed it in the Senate, and tomorrow, I believe, we
are going to pass the conference report. The agreement will cost
roughly the same as the Senate-passed bill and well below the last WRDA
bill. One might ask why? Well, it is because as we authorized new
projects, we deauthorized old projects. And that is important. We were
able to go better than one-for-one in deauthorizing and authorizing.
Also, we had a very good talk with the CBO--the Congressional Budget
Office. It is rare I have ever said a ``good talk'' with the CBO,
because while the Presiding Officer is very good at accounting--a
genius at that--I can tell you they do not make any sense to me. But
Senator Vitter and I were actually able to persuade them on this bill
to be realistic in the way we score it. If a State isn't going to be
able to come up with their matching funds for 10 years, don't put this
in as a cost in the first year. So the CBO was very open to working
with us, and for that I thank them. It is a rarity, putting common
sense on the table.
In closing, I thank all of the staff on both sides of the aisle who
put in countless hours to develop this bipartisan, bicameral agreement.
They didn't just work until midnight, 3 a.m., they worked on it 24/7
for all these months. I thank Bettina Poirier, my incredible chief of
staff of the EPW Committee, my chief counsel, our guiding light, our
guiding star; Jason Albritton, who is here with me today, who has
worked nonstop, and will continue to do it until it is over, right, and
get it ready for the President to sign; and Ted Illston, who is on the
floor and is a wonderful, wonderful staffer; and Tyler Rushforth.
These are the key people on my staff. One would think it would be 20
or 30 more, but it is not. It is this handful of people who made this
happen for all of us.
I have to say I got to know Senator Vitter's staff so well, and we
laughed at times. There was some irony involved in all of this. I would
like to thank Zak Baig, Charles Brittingham, Chris Tomassi on Senator
Vitter's staff. And Senator Vitter himself. Again, we were able to set
aside a lot of differences we have on climate, on environment, on clean
air, clean water, safe drinking water, where we go at it--nuclear power
safety. We go at it. But we were able to say for the good of the
people, we have to show people we can set aside our differences and
come together. We did it here, we did it on the highway bill, and now
it is time for the Senate to show the American people we can truly come
together and pass this bill.
I do want to show one more thing before I leave the floor, and that
is some of the organizations that have supported us and that support
this bill. I can't read them all; it would take too long, but I will
highlight some of these: the AFL-CIO, Transportation Trades Department,
the American Association of Port Authorities, the American Concrete
Pavement Association--I am passing over a lot of these--the Associated
General Contractors of America, the Association of California Water
Agencies, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, the American
Road and Transportation Builders Association, the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
Let me give a few more. These are the supporters. The Arkansas
Waterways Commission, the Big River Coalition, the City of Sacramento,
the City of Los Angeles, Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, the
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Fairness Coalition, the International
Union of Operating Engineers, the International Union of Painters and
Allied Trades, the National League of Cities, the National Governors
Association, the National Asphalt Paving Association, and the National
Association of Clean Water Agencies.
The list goes on. Here are a few more, in case anyone is interested.
The National Ready Mix Concrete Association, the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association, the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel
Association, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, The Nature
Conservancy, the Texas Department of Transportation, the United
Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, the U.S. Society of Dams, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Vinyl Institute, the Water Resources
Coalition, the Waterways Council, Inc.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the entire list
of these supporters.
Mrs. BOXER. To those who are listening as I read from this list, it
did include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, it did include the AFL-CIO,
Transportation Trades Department, which is so encouraging, and the
National Governors Association. And I guess I will read this one:

The nation's governors applaud Congress for reaching an
agreement that provides states with the resources to address
their critical water infrastructure needs . . . governors
urge the House and Senate to pass the WRRDA conference report
and send it to the President for signature as soon as
possible.

I want to say how much I endorse what the Governors said. Send this
bill to the President as soon as possible.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Congressman Shuster, who heads
my counterpart committee in the House. Congressman Shuster was a
delight to work with, even when it got tough for me. We had some tough,
tough disagreements, but he stuck with it.
I also want to congratulate him on his victory yesterday, and I want
to tell him, through this statement, how much I look forward to working
with him on the Transportation bill. If we can do this, we can do that.
That is important because we have to keep America moving. We are the
greatest Nation on Earth, but you can't be the greatest Nation on Earth
if you don't have modern water infrastructure, if your cities are
flooding, if your ports can't move products. You can't. And you
certainly can't have a great nation when you cannot have a highway
system that functions, a transportation system that functions. You
can't. There is no such thing. Because if you can't move commerce, if
you can't move people, you can't move America forward.
I will say again, my deepest thanks to staff, my deepest thanks to
Senator Vitter, my deepest thanks to Senator Carper, to my entire
committee, Senator Barrasso, to Congressman Shuster, to Senator Reid,
to all of you, because this was one of those labors of love in which we
all engage. We all wanted a bill, and we put away our little side
arguments, came together, and now we have a bill that is a
multibillion-dollar bill that will build our Nation and that is going
to help our commerce and it is going to put 500,000 people to work. I
couldn't be happier. I look forward to this vote tomorrow.
One more person I will thank: Congressman Nick Rahall, who worked as
the ranking member with Mr. Shuster. The two of them were a great team,
and we were able to cut across the partisan divide, cut across the
House-Senate divide, tough as it was.
It is a great day. It is a great day in the U.S. Senate and in the
Congress, and I look forward to the President's signing this bill.
With that, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coons). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page S3210]]

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

____________________