[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2620-2621]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       SURFACE TRANSPORTATION ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, too often cooperation is in short supply 
here in the Senate, so I was pleased when we began consideration of a 
truly bipartisan jobs bill.
  As I have said here a number of times in the past week or so, if 
there were ever a bipartisan bill, this is it. Progressive Barbara 
Boxer, conservative Jim Inhofe--they have agreed on a way to move 
forward on a bill that will save 1.8 million jobs and create about 1 
million more jobs. So this would put millions of people to work right 
away.
  Although our economy has gained momentum, there are still millions of 
Americans out of work, so it should be obvious why we can't afford to 
delay efforts to rebuild our roadways, our railways, and our bridges.
  Almost 1,000 organizations, including business groups and labor 
unions that rarely see eye to eye on anything, support this commonsense 
measure. More than 30 of those groups, including the U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce and the American Automobile Association, AAA, have asked 
Senators to refrain from offering unrelated, ideological amendments to 
this bill. As I said, almost 1,000 organizations want this done.
  Here is what the U.S. Chamber and AAA wrote recently:

       The organizations that we represent may hold diverse views 
     on social, energy, and fiscal issues, but we are united in 
     our desire to see immediate action on the Senate's bipartisan 
     highway and transit reauthorization measures.

  We started on this piece of legislation on February 7. It is the 
first day of March now. These groups don't agree on much, but they do 
agree this legislation is too important to be bogged down with 
political amendments, so they spoke as one.
  There was a time when this kind of cooperation was the standard in 
the Senate. There was a time when two Senators who had little in common 
could still share common purpose. There was a time when groups of 
Senators divided by political party could still be united in their 
desire to pass worthy legislation.
  One Senator who has always exemplified that willingness to set aside 
philosophical and political differences and work together is my friend, 
the senior Senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe. I have always appreciated 
Senator Snowe's ability to look at every side of an issue with a 
practical eye and not a political eye. Her courage, common sense, and 
moderation will be missed here in the Senate.
  Over the last 15 years, I have had the pleasure of working many times 
with Senator Snowe on an issue now at the forefront of this debate, 
both across the Nation and on the Senate floor. Beginning in 1997, we 
worked together toincrease women's access to contraception and to make 
sure insurance companies treated contraceptives the same as other 
prescription medications. There are plenty of things on which Senator 
Snowe and I disagree, lots of things, but by finding common ground, we 
improved women's health and reduced unintended pregnancies--something 
we should all agree on--and there is no question that it was 
accomplished by what we did legislatively. Unfortunately, the 
bipartisan progress Senator Snowe and I made over the years is now 
under attack.
  Today the Senate will vote on an extreme ideological amendment to the 
bipartisan Transportation bill. This amendment takes aim at women's 
access to health care. It will allow any employer or insurer to deny 
coverage for virtually any treatment for virtually any reason. I 
repeat: It will allow any employer or insurer to deny coverage for 
virtually any treatment for virtually any reason. I was pleased to hear 
that Senator Snowe intends to oppose this measure. I read that last 
night.
  Although the amendment was designed to restrict women's access to 
contraception, it would also limit all Americans' access to essential 
health care. Here are just a few of the lifesaving treatments employers 
could deny if this amendment passes. This is hard to comprehend, but 
here is what

[[Page 2621]]

some of them would be: mammograms and other cancer screenings, prenatal 
care, flu shots, diabetes screenings, childhood vaccinations.
  To make matters worse, Republicans held up progress on an important 
jobs bill to extract this political vote. As the economy is finally 
moving forward a little bit, Republicans have tried to force Congress 
to take its foot off the gas. Every Member of this body knows the Blunt 
amendment has nothing to do with highways or bridges or trains or train 
tracks. This amendment has no place on a transportation bill, but with 
2 million jobs at stake, the Senate cannot afford to delay progress on 
a job-creating measure any longer, so Democrats have agreed to vote on 
Senator Blunt's amendment so we can hopefully move on. Once the Senate 
disposes of this partisan political amendment, I hope we will be able 
to resume in earnest bipartisan work on a transportation bill.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is 
recognized.

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