September 12, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 153, Pt. 17 24249 SENATE—Wednesday, September 12, 2007 The Senate met at 9 a.m. and was conclude action on this Transportation Coburn amendment No. 2813, to ensure that called to order by the Honorable BEN- appropriations bill, which is so vitally no funds made available under this act shall JAMIN L. CARDIN, a Senator from the important to this country. be used to carry out any activity relating to State of Maryland. Through the hard work last night of the design or construction of the America’s Wetland Center in Lake Charles, LA, until the managers, Senators MURRAY and the date on which the Secretary, in consulta- PRAYER BOND, the last remaining amendments tion with the Administrator of the Federal The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- will be disposed of this morning. Those Emergency Management Agency and the fered the following prayer: are an amendment by Senator DEMINT, State of Louisiana, certifies to Congress that Let us pray. amendments by Senator COBURN, and all residents of the State of Louisiana who O God, Your presence fills us with then final passage. There is a period of were displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina or Rita in 2005 are no longer living gratitude. Thank You for life’s moun- 20 minutes of debate with respect to the DeMint amendment and then a in temporary housing. tains and valleys, for the seasons of Coburn amendment No. 2814, to prohibit joy, and for the challenges that de- rollcall vote following the DeMint the use of funds for the construction of a mand our best efforts. amendment, if the participants so de- baseball facility in Billings, MT, and to re- Today, as many prepare to celebrate sire, and then there will be 2 minutes duce the amounts made available for the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, of debate on the Coburn amendments. Economic Development Initiative and the draw near to our lawmakers and So Members should be prepared to vote community development fund. strengthen them. Give them more than around 9:25. There will be three rollcall The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- human wisdom to act wisely as they votes—DeMint, Coburn, and then final pore. Under the previous order, there face national and global challenges. In- passage. They will be the only votes will be 20 minutes of debate with re- fuse them with humility, civility, pa- today. spect to the DeMint amendment, with tience, love, unity, and peace. Help When Members return next week, the time equally divided between Sen- them to save time by taking time to there will be no rollcall votes on Mon- ator DEMINT and Senator KENNEDY. seek You in silence and meditation. day, September 17, as I had previously The Senator from South Carolina is Remind them that quietness in Your announced a long time ago. But on recognized. presence leads to righteousness, jus- Tuesday, we may have votes in the AMENDMENT NO. 2844 tice, and peace. morning. I haven’t worked that out yet Mr. DEMINT. Mr. President, I call up We pray in Your sovereign Name. with the distinguished Republican amendment No. 2844. Amen. leader. We do have some things we The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- have to try to dispose of prior to mov- f pore. The clerk will report. ing to the Defense authorization bill. The legislative clerk read as follows: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Maybe today, if not on Monday next, The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. we will have a consent agreement re- The Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN DEMINT] proposes an amendment numbered led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: garding how we are going to move for- 2844. ward on the Iraq amendments and the I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Mr. DEMINT. Mr. President, I ask United States of America, and to the Repub- Defense authorization bill. So next unanimous consent that the reading of lic for which it stands, one nation under God, week will be an action-packed week. the amendment be dispensed with. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have the Jewish holiday—we have The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- f Yom Kippur—which will begin next pore. Without objection, it is so or- Friday, 9 days from now, at sundown. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING dered. That being the case, we will have no The amendment is as follows: PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE votes after 1 o’clock on Friday next. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The (Purpose: To provide a system for better con- f struction and maintenance of America’s clerk will please read a communication RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME aging bridge infrastructure by spending to the Senate from the President pro American tax dollars more effectively and tempore (Mr. BYRD). The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- efficiently) The legislative clerk read the fol- pore. Under the previous order, the At the appropriate place, insert the fol- lowing letter: leadership time is reserved. lowing: U.S. SENATE, f SEC. ll. NONAPPLICATION OF PROVISIONS. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPOR- None of the funds made available by this Washington, DC, September 12, 2007. TATION, HOUSING AND URBAN Act may be used to implement the provi- To the Senate: sions, or make payments subject to the pro- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED visions, of subchapter IV of part A of chapter of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS 31 of title 40, United States Code, with re- appoint the Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, ACT, 2008 spect to a contract for the construction or a Senator from the State of Maryland, to The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- maintenance of any bridge which, as of the perform the duties of the Chair. pore. Under the previous order, the date of enactment of this Act, is classified ROBERT C. BYRD, under the Federal Highway Administration’s President pro tempore. Senate will resume consideration of bridge inspection program as ‘‘structurally H.R. 3074, which the clerk will report. deficient’’ or ‘‘functionally obsolete’’. Mr. CARDIN thereupon assumed the The legislative clerk read as follows: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- chair as Acting President pro tempore. A bill (H.R. 3074) making appropriations The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- for the Departments of Transportation, and pore. The Senator from South Carolina pore. The majority leader is recog- Housing and Urban Development, and related is recognized. nized. agencies for the fiscal year ending Sep- Mr. DEMINT. Mr. President, I thank f tember 30, 2008, and for other purposes. my colleagues for the opportunity to Pending: speak on my amendment. I do have an SCHEDULE Coburn amendment No. 2812, to remove an amendment to the Transportation bill Mr. REID. Mr. President, fortu- unnecessary earmark for the International that I would like to talk about for a nately, this morning, we are going to Peace Garden in Dunseith, ND. few minutes this morning. ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 11:19 Jul 17, 2017 Jkt 059102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\FDSYS\BOUNDRECORD\S12SE7.REC S12SE7 ejoyner on DSK30MW082PROD with BOUND RECORD 24250 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 153, Pt. 17 September 12, 2007 I have listened to a lot of the debate tation bill, earmarks for bridges to no- States and municipalities around this this week. Obviously, transportation is where or a Big Dig in Boston, and these country can take the Federal money a key issue for this country, and it has earmarks usually have to be matched that is provided and make it go further become clear that because of the trag- at a higher level to get those dollars, to fix these bridges—to build new ones edy in Minnesota, many of us are con- and they have to then be used in the in some cases—and to allow them to cerned about bridges and those that are way the earmark prescribes. move quicker and not wait for some deficient. We have talked a lot about We have looked through a lot of past Federal bureaucrat to tell them what how to fund those, and I am afraid, as bills and found very few earmarks that to pay their employees in order to get Congress often does, we ignore a seri- are to maintain and improve bridges. a job from the city. ous problem until it is too late, and They are for new projects and things Anyone in business, particularly in then we decide we want to throw a lot on which we can do press releases. But the construction-related business, of money at it and we come riding in the bottom line is this: Less than 40 knows that it sometimes is feast or on white horses to fix the problem. cents on a dollar that we send to Wash- famine; you either have too much work I think we do need to look at the ington actually ends up helping to or you don’t have any. Many times, a problem and what we can do at the maintain roads and bridges. That is a municipal government or State govern- Federal level, and I have an amend- problem. ment can get a lot lower bid and get ment that I think will make the dol- Now, there are a lot of things we can work done much quicker if they are al- lars we spend go a lot further that I do, and I have identified one I would lowed to take those low bids.