[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5367-5368]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2011--MOTION TO PROCEED

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1925, 
which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to S. 1925, a bill to reauthorize the 
     Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California.


                       Surface Transportation Act

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am very pleased with what just happened 
at the desk. For those who didn't follow it, the majority leader, 
Senator Reid, and Senator McConnell, just named the conferees so we can 
get moving with the House and settle our differences and move forward 
with a very important transportation bill.
  We all know how hard it has been on the construction industry. We all 
know the housing crisis has made it very difficult for our construction 
workers to get work. We all know at the same moment we have had this 
real problem in the construction industry--where we have well over 1 
million construction workers out of work and tens of thousands of 
businesses that want to do construction work--70,000 of our bridges are 
failing, half of our roads are in disrepair, and the American people 
expect an infrastructure that meets the needs of the strongest economy 
in the world, our economy.
  So I am very pleased with what just happened. I am very pleased we 
see the continuation over here of bipartisan support for a 
transportation bill. We have Senator Reid working together with Senator 
McConnell to name the conferees, and we had a unanimous vote in our 
committee last year on this bill. It has been a very tortured path to 
get to where we are now because, for some inexplicable reason, the 
Republicans over in the House have insisted on just going to their own 
party to reach agreement rather than going to the Democrats so we can 
have bipartisanship over there. But I am very hopeful, with the naming 
of these conferees today, the House will now do its job and name 
conferees. I have been reading in the press that perhaps that will 
happen tomorrow. So I am very hopeful.
  Mr. President, it is 10:20 in the morning on Tuesday, and I want to 
call attention to the fact we are now on the path we need to be on, 
starting at this moment, to get to conference. There is no reason we 
can't do that very soon when so much is at stake.
  The Senate bill is a reform bill. There are no earmarks in that bill. 
That bill is fully paid for. It doesn't add to the deficit. It protects 
2 million jobs and creates another 1 million jobs. What good news will 
it be for this economy to have this bill pass.
  I know there are those who predicted this could never happen; that, 
A, we would never get a bipartisan bill out of our committee, but we 
did it; that, B, we would never get it to pass on the floor, but we did 
it with 74 votes; and, C, that the House will never act, and the House 
actually did act to move to conference. It took them a long time, but 
we are there. So there is no reason we cannot work together to get this 
done.
  If Senator Inhofe and I can agree, then I think we should be able to 
get a very strong bill through both Houses. On my committee--the 
Environment and Public Works Committee, which I am so privileged to 
chair--we have very conservative members, such as Senators Inhofe and 
Sessions, and very progressive members, such as myself. We have Senator 
Vitter on the other side and Senator Sessions, and on this side we have 
Senators Sanders and Cardin. So we have members who reach the entire 
ideological spectrum, and if we can all vote for a bill, then this can 
happen and it will send a great signal to this country.
  I thank all the groups that have worked so hard to bring pressure on 
all of us to keep this moving forward. It starts with a coalition that 
includes the AFL-CIO and the chamber of commerce. Good for them. They 
do not always agree, but they agree on this one. Then we have all the 
business community that is behind us--the granite people and the cement 
people and the general contractors. The list goes on and on. There are 
many groups that have come together to push forward on this bill.
  So I want to mark this moment. I am happy I was able to be on the 
Senate floor when the conferees were named. It is a great list of 
conferees.
  We have in this bill the RESTORE Act, which will rebuild the gulf 
after the terrible BP spill, and we have people on this conference who 
were very instrumental in writing the RESTORE Act, including Senator 
Bill Nelson and Senator Richard Shelby. Senator Vitter also was 
involved, and I want to take a moment to thank Senator Landrieu, who 
was a driving force on this bill. There is no question that without her 
insistence this wouldn't have happened. So what an opportunity we have.
  Now, there are certain things I think we should keep out of this 
conference,

[[Page 5368]]

and that is things that tear us apart. There is no reason to have 
controversy built into this conference. We can save those battles for 
another day. I think, with this conference, we should just all rally 
around the consensus of what has to be done. If it is something outside 
the scope of the conference, if it is unanimous and everybody thinks it 
is a good idea--such as the RESTORE Act--then let's do it.
  There is a provision in the bill that helps our rural counties use 
the proceeds from timber sales for their schools--this is so critical--
and for their local governments. One could argue it is not part of the 
transportation program, but it is a consensus. It is a coming together, 
and where we can do that it is very important we stick with those 
consensus items and stay away from the highly charged controversies. We 
have plenty of time for that. We don't have to put that into this 
conference. So I look forward to the House naming their conferees so we 
can get this done.
  I also want to say how important it is that we pass the Violence 
Against Women Act. This bill, which has 61 cosponsors--it is my 
understanding that is the case--is a strong bill, and it makes sure 
people who are the victims of violence are taken care of, and it 
continues a great program that was put together by then-Senator Joe 
Biden.
  I remember it well because I was in the House at the time and then-
Senator Biden, now Vice President Biden, doing such a great job, spoke 
to me and said: Congresswoman Boxer, would you be willing to carry the 
House version of the Violence Against Women Act? This was in the early 
1990s. I looked at the bill, read the bill, and said I would be honored 
to do so. I was so proud to work with Joe Biden on this issue. We had 
worked together on coastal issues and now we worked together, at that 
time, on violence against women.
  I was able to get a couple of the provisions passed--a couple of, I 
would say, smaller provisions passed: safety on campuses, campus 
lighting, and some other things. But the heart of the bill did not pass 
until I actually was over here in the Senate, when Senator Biden really 
picked up steam and drove that bill through. My understanding is that 
Senator Schumer--at that time in the House--picked up the bill and did 
the same in the House.
  This has been the law of the land--the Violence Against Women Act--
since the 1990s, so we don't need to have any arguments about it. I was 
very glad to hear Senator McConnell say he didn't intend to have any 
arguments about it because in this bill we cover even more people: 
people who were brutalized, women who were brutalized, and it is very 
key.
  I see my colleague, Senator Harkin, has come to discuss a very 
important matter, a labor matter, and I would tell him I will finish in 
about 3 minutes, if that is OK with him.
  I want to conclude by saying that the Violence Against Women Act is 
what we call a no-brainer. It is a serious problem in our Nation. 
Senator Reid said three women are killed every day because of violence 
against women.
  The shelters in our States are doing incredible work. They take in 
women and children. They make sure there is protection and crack down 
on the violators and there is no reason to argue about that.
  The last thing I wanted to talk about in the last couple minutes goes 
to the heart of what Senator McConnell said in his leader time. I have 
noticed that almost every time Senator McConnell has a chance on the 
Senate floor he comes and attacks President Obama and he goes after 
President Obama and blames him for everything under the sun. I have to 
say I support Senator McConnell's right to say whatever he wants to 
say. He has every right to use his leadership powers to attack the 
President and do it as much as he wants. So I am not complaining about 
that. But I am just saying it is very unfortunate for this country that 
the Republican leader in the Senate said, and I quote--I am not quoting 
directly the words, but this is what he said--that his highest priority 
was making President Obama a one-term President, and he is carrying it 
out on the floor of this Senate.
  The things he blames this President for are unbelievable. The way he 
attacks the President for being out around the country--he doesn't 
attack the Republican candidates for President for traveling around the 
country. Let's face it, it is a few months to the election. Does he 
expect the President to stay in the White House? I am glad the 
President is getting outside. I am glad the President is making 
speeches. I am glad the President is fighting for students. I am glad 
the President is fighting for senior citizens. I am glad the President 
is fighting for small business. I am glad he is fighting for fairness. 
Why should a billionaire pay a lower tax rate than a secretary? I am 
glad this President is doing all that. To hear him attacked day after 
day after day is absolutely discouraging when we have so much work we 
can do that we can talk about in our leader time. But I have decided I 
am going to follow this, and every time Senator McConnell does this I 
am going to use my privileges as a Senator to come down.
  Let's never forget, this President inherited the worst economy since 
the Great Depression from a Republican President who left us bleeding 
800,000 jobs a month, who left us with an auto industry flat on its 
back, who left us with a credit system that was frozen. This President, 
through his leadership, stepped up and led us out of that mess. The 
other voices, the naysayers, said: Let Detroit go bankrupt. Stay out of 
everything. This President didn't listen because he is a fighter for 
change.
  If this floor is going to be used to attack this President, count me 
in to stand and make sure the record is set straight. I hope we can go 
back to the work we need to do instead of using the floor of this great 
body to attack our President, the President of the United States of 
America. Everyone has a right to do it. Believe me, I don't argue that. 
But I also have the right as a Senator--and so do others--to come to 
clear the record on that, and I intend to do that.
  I yield the floor.

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