[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 104 (Monday, July 7, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4211-S4213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I have a number of topics to go over, and 
I will do this as briefly as I can because I know colleagues want to 
put forward a unanimous consent request.
  In our work every day something happens, and I feel compelled to talk 
about a few of these things. But before I begin my remarks, I wish to 
send a message of condolence to all those parents who have lost their 
children to violence in our country, in the Middle East, and all over 
the world. Children and all innocents must be protected in a truly 
civilized world. We need to work toward that day, we have to pray for 
that day, and it is going to take people who care in order to make that 
happen.
  When somebody said you have to walk and chew gum at the same time 
when you are a Senator, they were more than right. There are so many 
issues coming at us, and I am going to speak about a few of them.
  I will start off with the crisis we face in the highway trust fund. I 
wish to call attention to a transportation government shutdown which 
will happen in 25 days unless we save the highway trust fund. In August 
we have a slowdown in payments to the States, and it is very serious. 
Unless Congress takes action, billions of dollars in transportation 
funding to the States will be delayed or stopped.
  I see Senator Corker is here and I know he is here on another topic, 
but I thank him for his courage in working across the aisle and saying: 
We need to pay for our roads and our bridges.
  I see Senator Klobuchar is on the floor. She knows what it means when 
a bridge collapses, for goodness sake. You have to be able to pay for 
certain things in this country. We could argue about frills around the 
edges, but I don't think anyone would disagree with you if you went out 
on the street and asked whether the United States of America should 
have a grade A transportation system.
  DOT, the Department of Transportation, sent out letters to all of our 
States warning that the fund is in a dire situation and we have to act. 
In 74 days the trust fund goes completely bankrupt if we don't come up 
with the additional revenue. Here is where we are. In 85 days, we 
actually have to reauthorize the whole program, and in 25 days, the 
payments slow down.
  Why is this happening? It is because Federal gas tax receipts that 
are paid into the trust fund have not kept pace with inflation or the 
rising cost of building our bridges and highways. There are thousands 
of businesses and millions of jobs at risk if we do not act, and that 
is why we have so many people supporting the reauthorization of the 
trust fund and figuring out a way to pay for that.
  We have the Chamber of Commerce, and they are aligned with the AFL-
CIO. This is a rarity. Usually those groups are fighting each other, 
but we have unanimity here: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American 
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Associated 
General Contractors. As I said, the AFL-CIO. The Associated Equipment 
Distributors, the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, the 
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, the American Society of 
Civil Engineers, the International Unions of Operating Engineers.

  We have 70,000 bridges in disrepair, which are called structurally 
deficient. We have 50 percent of our highways which are not up to par. 
What are we doing? I can tell my colleagues what we are not doing. We 
are not doing our job.
  Now, I can brag just for a minute. Senator Vitter and I were able to 
get a bill unanimously through the Environment and Public Works 
Committee--not one dissenting vote. I have to say to my colleagues who 
are listening, that committee is an object in the diversity we bring 
here. We have Bernie Sanders. We have Jim Inhofe. We have Barbara 
Boxer. We have David Vitter. We have John Barrasso. We have Sheldon 
Whitehouse. We have Ben Cardin and we have Senator Fischer. So we have 
a broad diversity. I have to mention Senator Sessions and Senator 
Gillibrand and Senator Booker. This is a committee that represents the 
ideological spectrum of the Senate.
  I will tell my colleagues we passed a bill out for 6 years. We know 
it has to be paid for, but I think we were very reasonable in what we 
said. We said, look, this isn't the time for a giant new increase. We 
kept it at current levels of spending, plus inflation. God bless 
Senator Wyden and Senator Hatch. They are working on a plan to pay for 
this bill. We have colleagues, as I mentioned, including Senator Murphy 
and Senator Corker, who came together and said: Look, the Chamber of 
Commerce makes a good point. We haven't raised the gas tax in a very 
long time. If we do a few cents a year, we will be able to patch up 
this trust fund--and more than patch it up--get it going for 6 years.
  Today, leading groups representing bipartisan State and local 
officials sent a letter urging Congressional leaders to find a fix for 
the Highway Trust Fund and to pass a long-term surface transportation 
bill. The organizations include the National Governors Association, the 
National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, and 
the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
  The Nation's surface transportation system is in a critical condition 
and significant funding is needed to simply maintain the current 
system. Nationwide there are 70,000 bridges that are structurally 
deficient, and 50 percent of our Nation's roads are in less than good 
condition.
  Delaying a long-term bill just prolongs uncertainty. An extension 
into 2015 would create another crisis, just before the next 
construction season. To allow the Trust Fund to become insolvent would 
be unprecedented and further delay simply extends the uncertainty. We 
need a long-term bill no later than December and a short-term

[[Page S4212]]

patch for the Trust Fund now. Failure is not an option.
  I will say this: The clock is ticking, however we look at it. One 
more time: The clock is ticking. There are 25 days until a slowdown of 
payments to the States. In 25 days our States are going to be howling 
because they won't be able to pay for work that has already been done. 
The way it works is they do the work and then we repay them for, in 
many cases, 75 percent of the work; in some cases, 50 percent of the 
work.
  So I call on all of my colleagues: Let's set politics aside.


                Supreme Court Decision on Birth Control

  I wish to speak briefly about two other issues. One of them has to do 
with the Supreme Court decision on birth control. I hope every woman in 
America is paying attention to what this Court did. Five men, all 
Republican appointees, basically said a corporation can put its 
religion above all of its employees. It is just astounding.
  I voted for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and I know why I 
voted for it. It was a very important piece of legislation which said 
that individuals can't have their freedom of religion stepped upon. It 
didn't say corporations. So here we have a situation where one family 
doesn't believe in birth control, and now they are telling every woman 
who works there: Sorry, you are out of luck. It is really unbelievable. 
To me, the Court siding with the corporation over the thousands of 
people who work there is just shocking. What happened to individual 
freedom here?
  We are going to try our best to fix it.
  Let's remember this: 99 percent of women have used birth control at 
some point in their lifetime. Let me say that again: 99 percent of 
women have used birth control at some point in their lifetime, and 1.5 
million women take birth control solely for a painful condition. Sixty 
percent of the women on birth control take it in part for painful and 
difficult conditions.
  So the Supreme Court, in an ideological, political decision, in my 
view, said to the women of America: Corporations are more important 
than you.
  We are going to try to fix this. We are going to do everything we 
can. I hope we can reach across the aisle. I have hopes that we can, to 
fix this.


                          Political Blame Game

  Now I will conclude my remarks on another topic. The week we were 
away I was working in the State. I went to some highway projects. I 
went to a national park. But all through the time I was working in the 
State, I was hearing a continuum of the blame game going toward our 
President.
  Republicans blame President Obama for every single thing that 
happens. Not enough jobs? They blame the President, even though since 
his policies have been in place, we have had 52 straight months of job 
growth. Last month alone, 288,000 jobs were created. Remember, at the 
end of George Bush's time in office, we were bleeding 700,000 jobs a 
month. The unemployment rate has dropped from 10 percent to 6.1 
percent, and we could be doing even better if Republicans hadn't 
blocked the President's jobs bills.
  The Obama recovery even includes a record-breaking stock market which 
helps everybody. Everybody has a 401(k), a retirement account. When the 
President took office, the Dow Jones average was under $8,000. Now it 
has more than doubled, and the Dow hit 17,000 for the first time last 
week. Yet and still the President is to blame for not enough jobs.
  Deficits. Republicans blame the President, even though since he took 
office, the deficit has been cut by more than half, and deficits would 
be lower still if our friends on the other side stopped fighting with 
us when we try to close tax loopholes such as ending the tax policy 
that rewards companies for shipping jobs overseas or passing more 
equitable income tax rules which would allow people such as Warren 
Buffett to pay the same effective tax rate as his secretary--not a bad 
idea--and would really help us. We would get rid of that deficit. 
Remember when Bill Clinton was President. We wound up not only not 
having a deficit, we had a surplus. When George Bush came in, he 
started a couple of wars, put them on the credit card; tax cuts to the 
rich, put that on the credit card, and we have been battling it ever 
since.
  Now we have an influx of immigrants from Central America. Republicans 
blame the President, even though it is House Republicans who are 
blocking immigration reform the Senate already passed in a bipartisan 
way which will greatly enhance border protections, spends tens of 
billions of dollars on that, and sets out clear and fair rules for 
immigrants. And they blame President Obama even though the guidelines 
for how we treat unaccompanied immigrant children from countries such 
as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, those guidelines were sent to 
and signed by George W. Bush.
  Then we have the civil war in Iraq. Republicans blame President Obama 
even though he opposed the disastrous Iraq war. I have to say that 
Senator Paul is not in that category, and I appreciate that. For the 
most part, Republicans blame President Obama, even though he opposed 
the disastrous Iraq war which sowed the seeds for the sectarian warfare 
we are seeing today. How proud I was to vote with then Senator Biden, 
chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and along with 74 of my 
colleagues, we voted to say there ought to be a federation in Iraq--
semi-autonomous regions--the Kurds, the Shias, the Sunnis. Seventy-four 
of us voted for that, and the Bush administration laughed it off, 
including Condi Rice and Dick Cheney. We have them all on record. Now 
this thing happens and who gets the blame? The President gets the blame 
from the Republicans.
  How about Benghazi. We have heard about Benghazi. Republicans blame 
the President and they continue to politicize this tragedy, even though 
under President Obama's leadership the United States has captured the 
suspected terrorist who is believed to be one of the masterminds behind 
the killing of these four extremely brave Americans. Benghazi is a 
tragedy. It is not about a scandal.
  Now, how about the release of Sergeant Bergdahl. Republicans cried 
foul when the President got him released, even though many of them 
right in this Chamber--and they are on videotape--were calling for 
Sergeant Bergdahl's release. And they also have insisted that no 
soldier ever be left behind.
  I have to say, it is just getting old. Republicans blame the 
President for everything, including issuing Executive orders. The 
Speaker of the House is suing the President for abusing his Executive 
power. President Obama has issued the fewest Executive orders per year 
of any President since Grover Cleveland. It is just getting to be too 
much.
  I wouldn't be surprised if the Republicans blame President Obama for 
America's recent loss in the World Cup or even for their own six 
consecutive losses in the annual congressional baseball game.
  Enough. We all need to work together. Stop the finger pointing. The 
people need us to work together, not to play the blame game. I am very 
hopeful that we will have a little introspection around here. It might 
be a little too much to ask for. But I think if we did it--there are so 
many good people here on both sides of the aisle, and if we just 
decided once and for all to put politics aside--the President won 
election twice. It wasn't even contested. So deal with it. Work with 
him.
  I have served with five Presidents--a couple of Republicans, several. 
I battled with them, didn't agree with them. I remember Ronald Reagan, 
if we beat him in the conversation, would say, OK, let's move on. So, 
yes, sometimes Democrats win; sometimes Republicans win. We have to 
work together and move forward and solve the problems of this great 
Nation because the people expect it of us.
  I thank my colleagues very much, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2265

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I don't believe that foreign aid should go 
to countries that persecute Christians. I also don't believe that 
foreign aid should go to countries that host terrorists within their 
government. I have had this belief for some time, but I have met with a 
great deal of resistance in the Senate.
  Last week, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I introduced an 
amendment which said that any country that persecutes Christians by 
law--Pakistan has a Christian woman

[[Page S4213]]

named Asia Bibi; she is on death row for the crime, some say, of 
blasphemy. Others say she never said a word. She is really on death row 
for being a Christian. She has been there for 5 years. I say Pakistan 
shouldn't get any American money and that no taxpayer money should go 
to countries that are persecuting Christians.
  In the Sudan, another country that receives money from the American 
taxpayer, Meriam Ibrahim is on death row for the crime of changing 
religion. She married a man who is a Christian. She is now being 
detained. She tried to escape recently. She was redetained.
  The only thing that is consistent about foreign aid is that it 
continues to flow, regardless of restriction, regardless of window 
dressing to say, Oh, if a country does this, we will take it back. It 
never happens. Our foreign aid, our hard-earned American tax dollars 
continue to flow to these countries, no matter what their behavior is.
  So two weeks ago I came to the floor and I said, in Israel Hamas is 
now joining with the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is a terrorist group 
that does not recognize Israel and attacks Israel on a routine basis. 
Now that they will be part of a unity government, they will be 
receiving foreign aid from America. So I said, for goodness sakes, 
would we not want restrictions on this aid? Would we not want to say 
that our money shouldn't flow to Hamas?
  They should have to recognize Israel's right to exist. They should 
have to renounce violence. On a daily basis they lob missiles from Gaza 
into Israel. Yet in the Foreign Relations Committee only one other 
Member had the guts to vote against this foreign aid, because foreign 
aid is so entrenched in our national psyche that it goes on regardless 
of the behavior.
  Now, some will say: There are rules. If Hamas becomes a big part of 
this government, they won't get any money. Guess what. Hamas can read. 
They have read our legislation. They are purposely setting up their 
unity government to evade our restrictions.
  There are already people who say the President has a waiver. So in my 
legislation, the Stand With Israel Act, we would get rid of the 
Presidential waiver and say that if Hamas joins a government with the 
Palestinian Authority, they should get no American taxpayer money. I 
said this two weeks ago. The Democrats said: No, President Obama 
doesn't want to give up the authority to continue sending money to 
these countries.
  A week ago we had another disaster. In Israel three young teenagers 
were killed: Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrah, and Naftali Fraenkel, who was 
also an American citizen as well--killed in cold blood.

  Do you know what the response of Hamas was? To stand up and cheer. In 
fact, I can give you the direct response of Hamas. Khaled Meshal, their 
political director, said: ``Blessed be the hands that capture them.'' 
They stood with glee and cheered when these three teenage boys were 
killed in cold blood. These were not soldiers, these were civilians.
  The news reports are that Hamas has joined this unity government 
precisely because they are bankrupt. They want to get our money. That 
is why they are joining the unity government.
  What is ours? Ours is the tepid ``oh, please don't behave that way.'' 
But we have no teeth. The same thing has happened in Egypt, the same 
thing in Pakistan, country after country. The only consistent is the 
money never stops and the behavior never changes.
  Some will argue that foreign aid is a way to project American power. 
Well, if it is, we ought to be projecting American values. We should 
project what America stands for. We should not be saying: Here is some 
money. Do with it what you will.
  So this has real teeth. This act is called the Stand with Israel Act. 
It says: No money to terrorists, no money to Hamas unless they are 
willing to give up the war and begin to find peaceful means of 
coexisting.
  So this evening I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign 
Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 2265 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask consent 
that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I want to say that I appreciate so much 
the point of view the Senator from Kentucky brings to the committee and 
his focus on foreign aid. No doubt there are issues relative to aid to 
many countries around the world that we need to be looking at. This is 
an issue, though, that I really believe the committee itself should 
deal with first.
  While I appreciate his desire to deal with this and bring it directly 
to the floor, on behalf of myself and the chairman of the committee, I 
am going to object, but I am going to object because I really would 
like for this issue to be heard in an appropriate way--this issue and 
many others the great Senator has brought forth on the floor today.
  I thank him for his concern. I thank him for the issues he has 
brought up. I hope the committee itself will deal with this important 
issue, as it should, through regular order. For that reason, I object 
to this particular unanimous consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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