pray the lord god almighty creator and sustainer of the universe accept our praise and thanksgiving  you have done for us bother on this anniversary of nine eleven continue to comfort those for whom this day a sense of sadness and loss console those whose lives are imprinted with the shocking images of that season of distress and grief today may all citizens of this land inclined their hearts to you in prayer as you release your continuing mercies over us lord we acknowledge that in spite of challenges we still have much for which to thank you thank you for our senators who daily give themselves to you and country thank you for family and friends and for loving care which surrounds us on every side above all we thank you for your gift of salvation and for the opportunities you have given us to honor you with our lives to you the glory september eleventh two thousand and seven to the senate under the provisions of rule one paragraph three understanding rules of the senate i hereby appoint a animal john tester a senator from the state of montana to perform the duties of the chair by robert c byrd on this morning regarding dorgan amendment and any so called alternative amendment to that it's my understanding that senator coburn is going to bribe here about ten thirty this morning to start offering amendments the problems he has with this legislation as i mentioned last night he tends not to speak for long periods of time now but he does have a number of amendments he hasn't decided how many that would be we hope that we can proceed on that as quickly as possible at twelve noon today mr president the senate will observe a moment of silence commemoration of the sixth anniversary of september eleventh both the republican leader i would create would encourage members to come to the floor for this observance also the senate will recess from twelve thirty to two fifteen for the regular party conference meetings yesterday indicated that today would be a late night as work toward completing this legislation there is no reason we can't complete this bill tonight we completed tonight of course there would be no votes tomorrow as indicated there would be no votes after one o'clock anyway so we should do our best to complete this legislation tonight it could be a very light not a late night but we have two of our most confident experienced legislators doing this bill sanders murray and center buys and we do hope that we can move forward on this legislation mr president following the statement i'm sorry at noon following choosey the moment of silence i would ask consent that the two leaders be recognized following that moment of silence or whatever time they may consume without the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time h r nineteen zero eight an act i'm entitled thirty five united states code to provide for patent reform i would now object any further proceedings objections or the bill be placed in again as president i ask consent that if the senate receives a message from the house and h r fifteen thirty eight the wounded warrior legislation with a request for a conference with the senate that the senate a he was diverted momentarily because i said that if the senate receives a message from the house on h r fifteen thirty eight i want to wear a veil with a request for conference at then the senate agreed to the request i appreciate the the clarification however i know the objection still stands in as much as it's premature to oppose a unanimous consent request this time r thirty seventy four which the clerk will report now number two eighty six h r thirty seventy four an act making appropriations for the department of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes as a senator from texas mr president i have an amendment which i sent to the desk and as i ask unanimous consent first confirmed general david petraeus as commanding general multinational force iraq by a vote of eighty one to zero on january twenty sixth two thousand and seven to general petraeus graduated first in his class at the united states army command and general staff college three general petraeus earned masters of public administration and doctoral degree in international relations from princeton university for general petraeus has served multiple tom back tours in iraq including command of the hundred first airborne division air assault during combat operations throughout the first year of op operation iraqi freedom which tours included both major combat operations and subsequent stability and support operations by general petraeus supervised and developed and craft and of the united states army and marine corps counterinsurgency manual based in large measure on his combat experience in iraq starlee study and other professional experiences six general petraeus has taken a solemn oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states of america seven during his thirty five year career general petraeus has amassed insisting wish and unvarnished record of military services to united states as recognized by his receipt of a defense distinguished service medal two distinguished service eight recent attack through a full page advertisement in the new york times by the liberal activist group move on dot org and punches the honor and integrity of general petraeus and all members of the united states armed forces the senate sense of the senate in a sense of the senate want to reaffirm its support for all men and women of the united states armed forces including general david petraeus commanding multinational force iraq to to strongly condemn any effort to attack the honor and integrity of general petraeus and all the members of the united states armed forces and three to specifically repudiate the unwarranted personal attack on general petraeus by the liberal activist group move on dot org mr president every generation has defining moments when you know in an instant the world as you knew it moment moments when you know when it in an instance of the world and you knew it has forever changed some of these moments are cause for celebration like the moon landing or the fall of the berlin wall but some like the bombing of pearl harbor or the assassination of president john fitzgerald kennedy are moments of intense grief when the entire nation holds its breath in shock and disbelief the morning of september the eleventh two thousand and one was one such defining moment many of us closed our eyes pleading with the reality that what we saw not be true many of us sat and cried reeling from the loss of so many of our friends and neighbors many of us crowded into houses of worship across the country looking for comfort and for answers we watched as average americans finding extraordinary courage became heroes firefighters police officers and other emergency personnel responded with remarkable bravery and determination and many gave their lives so that others might live the strength the generosity of ordinary americans was the sole bright spot on that dark day but what defines our generation is not just what we do in such moments but what we do the next day and the next week and the next year here we stand six years later remembering that day and reflecting back on all that has happened since that time and here i stand mr president more proud of america than ever and especially its response over the last six years in the weeks following september the eleventh our country was faced with several choices we could crack under the weight of the tragedy and the threat of the terrorist mindset we could unite against the ideology of fear and hatred would we were treat from the dangers of global terrorism or would we work to create a safer world over the last six years we faced terrorism and extremism head on we store stood firmly against those who would attack innocent civilians and push an agenda of fear as a result our country is safer and terrorism is being combative across the world of course we  attitude to the brave men and women of the united states military their continued service and dedication to our country has literally helped preserve the american way of life and made the world safer i might add for everyone their strength and courage is an example to all of us and we should always remember and honor their sacrifices but the fact of the matter is while we are safer than we were on september the eleventh two thousand and one mr president we are not yet safe recent renewed threats from al qaeda and arrests of terrorist suspects in germany have proven that the danger is still looming large fighting terrorism means that we have to be right all the time while the terrorists only need to be right once we have to stay on the offensive taking the fight to the enemy and always look for ways to improve our national security here at home now yesterday and today congress has received a report from the general in charge of the multinational forces general david petraeus and from our ambassador to the region ambassador crocker all of us will recall that when general petraeus was was nominated to this high office as a professional military man his confirmation came to the united states senate and as a member of the senate armed services committee i was proud to vote for his confirmation in the senate in the armed services committee and as you can see by this chart on january the twenty sixth two thousand and seven the senate unanimously confirmed this professional soldier as the head of the multinational forces in iraq unfortunately when general petraeus report was received yesterday by for a joint hearing in the house there was all too common partisanship and shrill rhetoric but in contrast this report represents an honest nonpartisan assessment of conditions in iraq both political and marshall and you know the fact of the matter is and it bears note that general petraeus report along with ambassador crocker is exactly in line with what the director of national intelligence issued in august in the in his report as well as the report of the independent commission created by this congress headed by retired marine corps general jim jones who testified just last week as a result of these reports we will now be faced with a choice will we heed the advice of our generals particularly in the case of general  s a counterinsurgency expert unanimously confirmed by the united states senate or we close our ears and our minds to the facts and cave into special interest groups who claim to know better which contradicted their ideology move on dot org sponsored this ad which shamefully appeared in the new york times claiming that general petraeus this distinguished military warrior claiming that he was a traitor and he would lie in his report mr president lest anyone be misled ed into thinking that this is a product merely of an individual organization move on dot org i would refer my colleagues  article that appeared in the new york times magazine on sunday in client entitled can lobbyists stop the war what that article pointed out and i would commend it to all of our colleagues is that attacks like this are not an isolated event on behalf of a anti war organization like move on dot org it is part of a concerted strategy composed of some twenty outside special interest groups consulting with democrats on the hill as the article reports doesn't work only through the media by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for ads like this they coordinate extensively with democrats on capitol hill as the article points out mr metsi who's the head of this organization actually is the washington d c representative of move on dot org and he himself the article says meets with speaker nancy pelosi or harry reid the senate majority leader maybe once a month he says adding that he talks to their staffs once a day or at least a couple times a week mr crowley in the article notes that some senior democratic aide and sometimes even join in conference calls this might entail discussions of political strategy or more substantive policy briefings by experts from the think tanks that are part of these outside interest groups as part of this organized or effort on behalf of the those who want to tear down the good name of a distinguished patriot like david petraeus this smear campaign consisted of an entirely unwarranted inflight fallacious attack impugn the name of a highly respected man of integrity i've seen this kind of attack before and i suspect all of us have at one point or another that sometimes is called just simply poisoning the well it's a simple principle when you can't refute someone's reports try to discredit them before they in fact even make it indeed mr massey tom massey the washington director of move on dot org who heads up the organization that is referred to in the new york times magazine article entitled can lobbyist stop the war was quoted in the politico as saying this he said we have to frame his statements before he makes them he's the same article that i mentioned a moment ago quotes an anonymous democrat senator no one wants to call petraeus a liar on national t v the expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us mr president i hope that all of my colleagues in the senate will join me in condemning these disgraceful attacks against the good name and character of this of this general instead of making wild allegations we ought to actually listen to what he has to say it's always i've found to be a valuable tool to listen to what someone has to say before you try to argue with it and of course what he has to say in the house yesterday will be and is currently being repeated i expect in large part before the senate arms her this is committee this morning and before the senate seat of the foreign relations committee this morning the armed services committee this afternoon the fact th general petraeus has reported that these groups find so reprehensible is that we've actually made progress in iraq in communities like or in areas like al anbar province and in other places around the country al qaeda in iraq is losing popularity and with that they're losing ground for every person that abandons the doctrines of terrorism we take another step toward a stable iraq and a safer america unfortunate or colleagues on the other side of the aisle even before general petraeus gave his report and in the face of the national intelligence estimate and the jones commission denied the fact of the violence actually going down in iraq this is just one comment made by the senator from new york who said the violence in anbar has gone down despite the surge not because of the surge this claiming that our hundred seventy thousand american uniform service members in iraq have made any difference you know the problem is mr president is when you bet against the men and women of the united states military you're going to lose and those who bet against the united states military and claiming that their efforts would have no effect in iraq have lost that bet because it has and they just can't seem to handle another statement by attempting to undermine the credibility of this of this general senator reed said general petraeus has made a number of statements over the years that have not proved to be factual the chair of the house democratic caucus raman then you will on september the seventh two thousand and seven said we don't need a report that wins the nobel prize for creative statistics or peerless or prize for fiction suggesting that this this general who we confirmed just last january by unanimous vote in charge of multinational forces in iraq would write a report that could be described as fiction is an insult mr president we should make no mistake about the fact that success in iraq is inextricably linked to our safety here at home let us not forget that only two months ago the senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution declaring that the dangers of a failed iraqi state and expressing our intent not to pursue any strategy which might lead to that failure passed by a vote of ninety four to three i agree with senator reid back in january of two thousand and seven when he said our our prayer is that the president will finally listen listen to the generals that's what we're asking senator reid and our friends on the other side of the aisle to do today is to simply listen to this good man who wears the uniform of the united states military and give him a fair hearing we passed the measure i mentioned a moment ago about taking no act which would likely result in a failed state in iraq because we recognize that iraq is the frontline in a much larger war a global war on terrorism when the confederate and union armies met it near a small shoe factory of gettysburg they could not have known that that battle would be a turning point in our civil war but as we stand now looking at the situation in iraq we must acknowledge that our success or failure there will be a turning point one way the other in the global war on terror this present already we've seen islamic terrorism spread across the globe from syria israel lebanon afghanistan the philippines jordan india and bali all of suffered from islamic terrorism in europe countries like spain great britain and most recently germany have all had to face the growing threat of suicide bombers and terrorists and even here at home recently we've seen two terror plot foiled thank goodness at fort dix and at j f k airport were we to close our ears and our minds to what general petraeus and ambassador crocker have to report and abandon our effort to provide an ability for the iraqis to govern and defend themselves were we to leave the region to head jimminy of iran an enemy of this nation which is developing nuclear weapons we would leave not only the iraqis but the people in the region indeed ourselves here at home at the mercy of terrorist organizations and countries that give safe haven to those terrorists a base of operations from which to serve as a launching pad for further operations into europe and america but if we create a stable self sufficient iraq we can begin to push back the terrorist organizations in the middle east we can stop their spread mr president and we can push back as the american military has and bar problems recruiting local local people the shakes tribes there to be part of the fight on our side and do eliminate qaeda from that region just as transparency is the enemy of corruption free and stable nation the achilles heel of terrorism today six days to the six years to the day when we were first attacked we must redouble our efforts we must combat terrorism throughout the world starting with a liberated secure iraq we should make sure that we give general petraeus and our troops everything they need to win the battle and turn the tide of the larger war not undermine them by condoning the kind of scurrilous attacks reflected in this in this new york times advertised by new york move on dot org we should also remember that the war on terror is more than a military engagement is a battle of wills which we all fight every day we meet in this chamber we fight that battle every time americans gather to worship without fear we fight that battle every night we go home to our families and find comfort with our loved ones we are fighting that battle america's determination to continue our way of life is a powerful statement to the terrorists that you may threaten us that you may attack us but you will never break the american spirit we will always cherish freedom and we will always pursue peace and justice throughout the world mr president over the last six years we've had to make many changes in order to adapt to this new threat but one thing will never change america will always fight against fear and extremism and we will always stand up for a peaceful more that senate democrats approve this kind of trash that we've seen and the new york times in this paid ad which i gather cost over one hundred thousand dollars last sunday this organization move on dot org is claiming that it controls the democratic party i don't believe that's true but this is what they had to say back in two thousand and four someone named ellie parachuter move on an employee of move on talking about the democratic party said quote now it's our party now it's our party we bought it we on it and we're going to take it back they're claiming move on a slimy they control the democratic party of our democratic senator i'd be offended by that suggestion move on dot org claims as senator cornyn pointed out in his comment that they communicate on a near daily basis with senior democratic members here's a quote i called over there and said quote you guys better have a strategy on this there matt see who i guess is the head of move on dot org meant the offices of democratic leaders on capitol hill with which he or his staff communicate on a near daily basis according to mattie mattie has personal relationships with several senior democratic members of congress in short it strikes me saying to the senator from texas and reading the article in the new york times myself sunday that this are going to organization this radical left wing organization attacking the patriotism of general petraeus with this ad accusing him in effect of treason betray us it's  is claiming they control our good colleagues on the other side of the out believe that i don't believe that for a minute and the corn resolution is an opportunity for the senate to go on record hopefully unanimously objecting to this kind of dialogue certainly they're free to do whatever they want to separate country the first amendment allows everyone to say whatever they please but you don't have to go endorse this kind of nonsense this organization strikes me as a severe threat to the reputation of the democratic party and so this is an opportunity the senator from texas has offered here for all of us to go on record in opposition to this outrageous outrageous and unacceptable ad that was run in the new york times on sunday general petraeus or general be trade outrage are we not offended by that do we not condemn giving us this opportunity and i hope when this vote occurs that it will be a unanimous expression regardless of how we may feel about the war and i know that is a a deeply divisive issue in this body we understand that but regardless of how we may feel about the war some kinds of rhetoric are simply unacceptable and here you have an outside organization claiming to basically control  the democratic party i don't believe they do and if i were a member of the democratic conference and sitting on the other side of the aisle in this chamber i'd be offended that organization climate controlled me and to speak for me such as this group apparently does so i thank the senator from texas i think it is a perfectly timely amendment as general petraeus is testifying here in the senate today in the house yesterday and of course next week we'll be dealing with the iraq issue again and i hope we can discuss it discuss it in a typical responsible senate debate and not have these extreme organizations on the far left who apparently wish for america's defeat have a disproportionate influence on this body or the outcome of our debates we ought to be able to rise above that i think we have the possibility of doing that the american people would like for us to do that they want us to engage in a civil debate about the way forward in iraq we'll have an opportunity to demonstrate that again next week and i hope we'll demonstrated this morning by overwhelmingly and hopefully on a unanimous senator from texas in order for the senator from minnesota to send her amendment to the death and the speaker a couple of minutes and then to return she's a senator from texas and a member i mean is there objection as president senator from texas amazing response when the bridge collapsed in minneapolis so i came back senator coleman and i went there immediately the morning after the bridge collapsed on ox august first and saw firsthand what happened there and i came back and reported the bravery of our citizens the emergency responders immediately diving in people who were off duty coming to the scene ordinary citizens running in to with saving people among shards of steel among rebar diving in risking their own live there was a miracle school bus there mr president where little kids could have died but one man who didn't even know those kids opened the door and let them out this is what happened in minnesota that day then we returned to this body and work with our fellow senators and not one center objected to this idea that when a federal bridge falls in the middle of america that we must rebuild it when a federal highway overpass falls in the middle of america that we must rebuild it at that time when we only had sixty hours to get the authorization for the two hundred fifty million dollars that we requested to rebuild that bridge we were told to wait until the dust settled to figure out the details of the appropriation and that seemed like a good idea where i can tell you now mr president that the dust has settled and what we've learned in our state in our in our community was that thirteen people died in that tragedy just ordinary people coming home going to work people like patrick holmes who is driving home to his young wife jennifer and their two children people like cindy s a hall a pregnant nursing student and her two year old daughter hannah who were headed to a relative's home when the bridge crumbled beneath them many many people were injured many people died that's what happened when the dust settled we also now have a gaping hole in the major bridge in the middle of minneapolis st paul as you know a major metropolitan area i think anyone any of our members or anyone who's listening today thinks about their major metropolitan areas in their states if there was suddenly a gaping hole the bridge basically buckled into the mississippi river it's eight blocks from my home so i see it every day it is costing an estimated four hundred thousand dollars a day four hundred thousand dollars a day in lost business and lost time there are a number of other bridges but they are very small the traffic is built up the the emergency response from the federal government has been strong the response from the state has been strong within twelve hours after this tragedy billboards were up about emergency bus service people responded in the right way including this united states senate and this congress but on that day sixty hours after this happened a promise was made that we would rebuild that bridge and i appreciated the amendment to build bridges and to help repair bridges across this country i supported it as did my colleague senator coleman but we knew that this was not the money that had been allocated to fix our bridge in minnesota i think oftentimes when these tragedies happen it does lead to a help across the country where we realize that levees need to be looked at when we realize that flood control systems need to be built after the grand forks flood a lot of things happen that help other people in the country but we always first help the people or the tragedy occurred so that is what our amendment center coalmines co sponsoring it is about is to make sure that we fund this bridge repair that we fix this bridge as i said that day a bridge in the middle of america just doesn't fall down and we will get to the bottom of what happened but when it does fall down mr president we rebuild it we fix it we rebuild it i think the senate for their consideration which mr president could i ask for missouri senator from minnesota couple questions number one obviously we are all very much concerned about this collapse we know the burden we want to make sure that we provide the responsible helped which necessary and i'd like to say and i know that coleman indicated he wants to speak on this he's asked about senator it is my understanding that it is emergency funds we did get some transit money designated early on but i will tell you this we have secretary of transportation has been very good in working with us believe we've received about fifty five million dollars of the two hundred fifty million dollars that's why what this amendment does is ask for up to the remaining one hundred ninety five million dollars to be appropriated and we will work with your staff on the details of this we want to make sure that we cross the t's and dot our eyes but i will tell you that we just can't continue to let this interstate a gaping hole in the middle of our metropolitan area when it's clearly the intent of congress to fund this and to authorize this money and we're simply trying to receive the rest of the funding that can be immediately given us to us by the department of transportation mr president then we need to senator coleman wants to be added is as a co sponsor and we will we may get further information on this as we go to as we go to conference but we will try to get this resolved today and if you would add senator coleman appreciated thanks very much i have speciate that thank you thank you center and center common was a original co sponsor in the original bill we met just made some modifications after speaking with senator biden and of course he would be included in this one as well i also wanted to thank senator murray for the work that she did immediately after this disaster sending a staff member out to to observe the bridge and work with us  getting that immediate funding senator coleman will be added as it goes beyond president democratic whip i ask unanimous consent to return to the amendment offered by the senator from texas that objections or mr president i'd like to speak t meme if i if i could first let me stop you lady that i have said publicly and believe in my heart that general david petraeus is an honorable man who has served this country with distinction it has been my good fortune to meet with him in iraq on several occasions two and a half years ago when his job was an important job in training the iraqi army to prepare it to take over for american soldiers most recently in august i met with patriotism his competence and his record of serving america that is something that i'm happy to stipulate for the record and i believe is beyond question and reproach i will also tell you that i voted for general petraeus to be head of our military effort in iraq and did so without reservation i believe that he is extraordinarily compton as a military leader there are no questions to be raised about that yesterday before a joint session of the house armed services committee and the house foreign affairs committee general chase appeared with ambassador crocker the morning news reports suggest that virtually every single member of congress from both sides of the aisle preceded their remarks about general petraeus testimony by giving credit tribute to this man for service to our nation and so that's why this amendment that's been offered by the senator from texas strikes me as a little unusual first in that it's being offered on the transportation appropriation bill someone said kind of jokingly is it because general petraeus was transported over american highways to make it to the  hearing it's a good question that's being raised here about the general but it certainly is not a question relative to a transportation appropriations bill which includes many serious and important issues as well i mean we just heard  comment from the senator from minnesota i can tell you that her concern about her state and the terrible tragedy that occurred there is heart felt and i'm glad that on behalf of senator coleman and herself she's brought it to our attention and i hope that we will take it up as we should i during the course of debating this bill secondly though there's a time and place for this debate it's an important debate because having conceded all of these important personal qualities of general petraeus the fact is that i disagree with the conclusions that he presented to that committee joint committee yesterday and that of course doesn't reflect on him personally it just reflects on the fact that he and i have a difference of opinion differences of opinion are pretty basic to our style of government not only in congress but among the american people and so for someone to take exception to the remarks of general petraeus is not unusual in fact it's expected that is the debate that characterizes a democracy a government where we're not afraid to stand up and disagree even with people at the highest levels of government even will who have excellent reputations who can from time to time be wrong i would remind the senator from texas that it was a gentleman from his own state who became attorney general and recently resigned after serious questions were raised about his judgment i didn't vote to confirm alberto gonzales i had serious doubts about whether or not he could serve as attorney general expressed those during the confirmation hearing him during the vote and afterwards and that is a fact that is what we're here for that is part of the debate which is part of our american conversation that goes on on the floor the senate and the floor of the house the same was true for secretary rumsfeld i introduced him to the committee when the president first nominated him to be secretary of defense and did so with pride because i had known of his service as a congressman from illinois over the course of several years i came to disagree with many of his policies and feel that he made some serious mistakes which we're still paying for that kind of disagreement is also part of this debate on capitol hill now what the senator from texas suggests is that the democratic and also the senator from kentucky the minority leader suggest is that now the democratic side of the aisle has to be held accountable for all the critics of general petraeus in fact they've gone so far the senator from kentucky said that what we're about here is not a resolution relative to move on dot org or about it's quote restoring the reputation of the democratic party he went on to say that the actions of this organization or quote a severe threat to the reputation of the democratic party perhaps senator from kentucky overstated a little bit when an organization runs a full page ad i didn't notice at the bottom anything that said endorsed an approved by the democratic national committee organizations make their statements stand by their words and are held accountable for those in or occasionally there's a poor choice of words and i think in this particular ad there was a poor choice of words to suggest that there was any b trail involved in the testimony of general petraeus but i might remind my colleague and friend from texas even the best of us can occasionally get tangled up in a poor choice of words it's happened to both of us on the floor of the senate and that is a fact and occasionally if stand up and say i didn't quite mean it the way it sounded well let me say at this point that if we are going to be held accountable for every organization that opposes the war and the language that they use if the democratic party has to come to the floor and be asked up or down vote on every comment and phrase made it standard that might consume a lot of time here in the united states senate i don't recall a legion of republican senators filing in here to complain about swift boat veterans for truth in the middle of that presidential campaign john kerry a decorated vietnam war hero had his our his reputation attacked and criticized by a texas argan veterans for truth who suggested that he wasn't deserving of the combat decorations which he received i thought their attack was an outrage most americans felt the same we understand that many men and women have risked their lives and given their blood in service to this country and receive recognition from our government that they deserved and to have the scurrilous attacks from the swift boat veterans for truth i thought were an outrage i don't recall resolutions on this side of the aisle saying well now the republican party has to repudiate those but if this is going to be our stock in trade now instead of dealing with issues like rebuilding the bridge in minneapolis instead of facing the reality of bridges across america they're dangerous instead of dealing with highway funds that are critically important we're going to set all that aside and ask first the democrats then the republicans to respond to every ad that's published in the newspaper then we better set up a special committee to deal with that it would be the committee on headlines a guess and we could have a bipartisan group and each day have a list of headlines that we all object to in vote on a regular basis is that why we're here is that why we were elected it would set aside the transportation bill for america to deal with an ad purchased by a private organization i don't think so let me just say i think it was a poor choice of words in that ad i don't subscribe to that point of view about betrayal at all i will defend the right of that organization and others to speak up against the war or for the war whatever their position might be that happens to be part of the american opportunity to stand up and speak your mind whatever it may be and to take the time of the senate on a regular basis to come through here and to hold us accountable for purchased advertising by organizations will become a full time job now before i close let me say this i don't believe this amendments germane if the senator once offered some other bill some other context that says his choice if he wants to do it that way but i'd like to get back to the business of the transportation bill but before i leave let me make it clear i disagree with conclusions general petraeus i've been there i've met with him i've seen it it is true that the surge is by us at least temporary security benefits in some parts of iraq but the general has said and many others have said we will never win this war militarily it has to be won by the iraqi government making important political decisions to bring their country together and to stabilize iraq no matter how many soldiers we send in that political responsibility will still be there and even the most optimistic fans of the bush administration could not say at this moment in time that there's a government of national unity in iraq there is not for all of the lives that have been offered up by americans three thousand seven hundred seventy four of our best and bravest who have died as of this day in this war in iraq twenty seven thousand one hundred eighty six who have been wounded the fact is that the political situation in iraq is a disaster even with the additional surge troops it is a disaster and for general petraeus to suggest that he will try to bring home the surge forces thirty thousand by sometime next year from this senator's point of view is not good enough that will not move the iraqis forward to accept responsibility for their own country to respect accept responsibility for their own defense and so though i respect general petraeus and will continue to respect him i respectfully disagree with the conclusions he reached before those joint committees in the house yesterday that is my right it is the right of every american if people in disagreeing make a poor choice of words an unfortunate choice of words i am not going to be standing here and defending  but i will stand and defend the right of every american to question and challenge this government and its policies that is not a reflection on the general's good work or on the fine contribution by the men and women in uniform i hope that this amendment president always enjoy listening to this thing with senator from illinois he's a one of the most gifted speakers in the united states senate and he's a he's a brilliant lawyer we served together on the senate judiciary committee  i agree with him that sometimes people say things that they later regret and he's right both of us have been in that barrel and we've asked for forgiveness and hopefully and i do believe actually we have received that but i do think he protests too much this simple amendment which would take us just fifteen minutes to vote on if the if allowed to do so  is more than just a has to do with more than just a simple disagreement with what general petraeus has said this is a direct attack impugning the character of this distinguished member of the united states army and it's not simply just a poor choice of words the senator from illinois said i don't subscribe to that point of view if we would just have an opportunity to vote on my m his vote in favor of my resolution would in fact confirm what he has already said here on the floor that it's a poor choice of words and he doesn't subscribe to that point of view at the same time he asked we're on the transportation appropriation bill why are we talking about this now well frankly there are a lot of people who think that the global war on terrorism and our success or failure in iraq are just as important i would submit more important then an appropriation bill but the fact of the matter is we can do both and we can get this amendment voted on in rather short order so i  i really do think that this is timely general petraeus testified yesterday before a joint committee of the armed services committee and foreign relations committee in the house he's testifying even as we speak before the senate foreign relations committee and will testify this afternoon before the senate armed services committee and i think this is a timely timely matter where we should express our repudiation of the kind of despicable attack on the character of this good man that this ad represents this ad reportedly cost roughly one hundred sixty thousand dollars in the new york times by move on dot org i've already spoken to the coordination between these outside groups including the move on dot org reported in the new york times sunday magazine in an article entitled can a lobbyist stop the war talking about regular consultation and coordination between these outside groups and democrats on the hill i agree with the distinguished republican leader our friends on the other side of the aisle to to show some separation between the irresponsible rhetoric of these groups like move on dot org and their own position and all i'm asking is that the  distinguished majority whip has already said this is a poor choice of words and he doesn't subscribe to that point of view to allow the amendment to be voted on and by voting for the amendment he will basically confirm what he's already said here on the floor mr president senator from washington mr president we have about twenty six hours left to complete the transportation and housing subcommittee appropriations bill i'm majority leader is now ready said we're going to return to a debate on iraq next week very few days away from now i have a great deal of respect for a gentleman to experience but i remind my colleagues this is the transportation perforation family tree are attempting to complete and has transportation companies now under the president under the president of may seventeenth two thousand the chair must rule on the germane this of sense of the senate amendment to appropriation bills the chair finds that this amendment is not germane t point of order sustained in the amendment falls this present center from texas this president is disappointed that the senator from washington has chosen to make a point of order against this timely amendment this amendment is not delaying the underlying bill contrary to the sting with sen statements of the statements of the majority whip we are prepared to set a vote on this amendment at any time this week i understand the rules and precedents and i'm certain that we've considered other amendments previously when similar points of order could have been made in the senate chose not to raise the point of order it's not self executing someone must raise it  that the other side believes that the senate should not speak on this what i believe is the most important issue of the day ago and we were prepared to set an immediate vote and move on to other issues having said that i would alert my colleagues in the senate will speak on this issue at some point will come back and the senate will weigh in on this despicable ad mr president i would ask unanimous consent that the time determined by the two leaders today that the senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the resolution and the text of which is a resolution the text of which is the exact language of the memo which i have offered further i ask consent that if the resolution is agreed to then the preamble be agreed to in the motion to reconsider be laid upon the return to the ever act within just a few days this is and we are trying to work our way through a very difficult transportation down today and therefore i checked the objections heard senator from rhode island mr president i would like to make some general comments on the legislation that is before sedate a transportation housing urban development appropriations bill fiscal year two thousand and eight this legislation by it's critical funding for our nation's infrastructure and it supports programs essential to create vibrant neighborhoods and communities throughout the united states i particularly want to commend senator murray and senator bond for their leadership on this very important legislation that they have been longtime supporters not only transportation projects but also the they housing and urban development projects which are inherent in this bill we're all aware of the nation's aging infrastructure center clothes are pointed out very eloquently the terrible situation and then a sort of the collapse of the bridge over i thirty  five this bill provides forty billion dollars in federal aid to highways to that program that help state local governments maintain bridges build roads reduce congestion improve their quality the funding level of six hundred thirty one million dollars more than the ministrations requested more than one point one three billion dollars than was provided in two thousand and seven but frankly even this robust amount is probably not adequate to deal with the crisis we face across this country after the tragedy in minnesota every state look very closely at the bridges the roadways and it turns out that in my state or island we have one of the highest percentage of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges in the country so we need increasing the allocation for this type of work on bridges to an additional one billion dollars frankly i get i think the transportation hud provisions in this legislation are critically important to the future of the country but the other aspect of the legislation is the housing and urban development programs and here again we have to be terribly concerned about what's going on in the united states we're all aware of the unfolding sub prime mortgage crisis we're aware of the fact that many individual already suffering foreclosure because of these exotic mortgages it is also rippling over into our larger financial institutions in terms of the equator t a crisis these two huge problems  economy is facing in facing a very difficult day over the last several weeks but what is happening and what will happen in the next several weeks is the fact that many additional sub prime mortgages will reset their interest and everyone is projecting looking forward to additional pressure on homeowners one of the important aspects of legislation before us is that this legislation includes one hundred fifty million dollars for housing counseling assist and that will help address some of the subprime foreclosure problem by allowing not for profit groups to reach out to people facing foreclosure give them help and assistance act is in it to meet area between the financial institution and the borrower this is very important very timely and i hope we move aggressively to pass this legislation as a result the bill also provides sixteen point eight billion dollars to section eight accounts we all understand that section eight is a vital component revive housing for elderly housing for low income americans without this we're literally going to force people out of safe secure affordable house and they have today because the bulk of this money goes just to maintain those individuals who are in says that i was housing today so many of them are seniors low income seniors this is the least we can do and i'm particularly proud to support the seventy five million dollars that center mari has included for the veterans affairs supported housing program this is a new incremental vouch a program that would be job at least funded by the department of veterans affairs and hud to provide section eight vouchers for homeless veterans there is nothing more deplorable and if you want to talk about deplorable we have been hearing a lot of rhetoric about  what about the the thousands of veterans combat vets in this country that are living on the streets literally we had a hearing a gentleman from durham north carolina talked about the veterans program he's running we have veterans of the armed forces  united states that are living behind the bicycle rack at the local kinko's because they can't get housing so if you want to talk about a shame and a insult to the americans men and women in uniform look closely at we're treating some of these homeless veterans this bill at least attempts to try to reverse that measure most of pleas that were brought in one point six billion dollars for overall homeless assistance grants because we have a logic problem population of homeless americans that deserve help and assistance and there's a additional grid here a pilot program twenty five billion dollars to give the secretary of hud the ability to put a program together that will provide for rapid we how single homeless famil homelessness at one point was perceived as just a problem of principally men on the street perhaps stretches back to our next step not just alger but our recollection of the hoboes of the great depression men moving around without homes today homelessness is a family problem in this country and this program is going to provide we hope limited resources but matrix if you will to help these families move for this legislation  also deals i think very effectively with the community development block grant funding which is so necessary to all our local leaders this is bill represents i think wise policy and robust funding beyond the president's request and i hope very sincerely that the president will not carry out his threats of the of this bill this bill addresses infrastructure problems housing problems this goes to what makes this country work the economic infrastructure of passage and send this bill forward for an act and at this point mr president i would before press center from sir i must present i thank senator from rhode island he has been a very effective advocate on housing in the wide range of things that he's discussed his assistance and support for the bill  very important we work with him on many things and appreciate the opportunity to do so yesterday we had some very interesting discussions i'm sorry the senator from north dakota is not here but i'm hoping that he will perhaps be watching because i do have some answers to the questions he raised about the department of transportation's inspector general report the first thing he asked was how could the department of transportation d o t act so quickly  when they received the i g report on thursday night the sixth and came out with their kruk order for the pilot program on friday the seven well the fact is that the d o t like congress had been fully briefed on the contents of the report on august twenty seventh i think everybody's from a with audits knows it before the audit is released   checked all the trucks since that time however d o t is actually agreements with customs and border protection so that every truck every time is checked that's a departmental policy motor carrier d o t tells us that's not true motor carriers want to participate in the program willingly and promptly turn over all records pertaining to their proposed operation if the federal motor carrier agency feels there is a need for more in depth data the mexican government will provide it that is exactly the same process that isn't a put in place for canadian carriers canadian drivers who come from north of the border was dated june sixth i think it's one they had previously issued but it says the undersigned u s food nagma groups are deeply disturbed by congressional efforts to block the agricultural exports which have grown dramatically under nafta and could inflict serious harm on u s farmers ranchers and agribusiness they go on to say that nafta is a huge success story for us farmers s exports of food and ag products to mexico have crippled under nafta climbing from three point six billion in one thousand nine hundred three to ten point nine billion and two thousand and six and it is now the top value added export market for u s beef dairy rice corn sweeteners soybean meal soybean oil apples dry edible beans and the second largest export market for pork corn would signal to the world the united states is willing unilaterally to renegotiate terms renegotiate terms of existing trade remits second it hansen's the likelihood that mexico will disregard commitments made in nafta in your state the people supporting it id american bankers association cotton shippers farm bureau federation frozen food institute meat institute soybean association corn refiners association  international very foods national barley growers cattlemen's beef association chicken council corn growers producers oil processors pork producers potato council sorghum producers turkey federation north american equipment dealers export grain association millers produce marketers sweetener users fertilizer institute us apple association dairy export wheat associates d  if they are concerned about what nafta has done for us agriculture i think this is a fairly impressive a list of agricultural associations touching almost every facet of american agriculture who sees the amendment pending on the floor as a great threat is the trade that keeps agriculture strong and provides revenue that not only farm families but rural approved f one the honest leadership and also open government act of two thousand and seven clearing that measure for the president when that is signed by the president this ethics reform legislation will significantly improve the transparency and accountability of the legislative process now while the president hasn't yet signed that legislation i do want to assure our senators that we intend to abide by the requirements of that legislation during the consideration of this bill the legislation requires that the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction certify that certain information related to congressionally directed spending be identified and that the required information be available on a publicly accessible congressional website in a searchable format at least forty eight hours before a vote on the pending bill the information required includes identification of the congressionally directed spending and the name of the senator who requested such spending this information is contained in the committee report numbered one ten dash one thirty one dated july sixteenth two thousand and seven and has been available on the internet now for eight weeks in addition pursuant to standards of stablish by chairman burton senator cochran for consideration of the f twenty two thousand and eight bills letters from each member with a congressionally directed spending item in this bill or company report are available on the internet certifying that neither the senator nor his or her spouse have a keen area interest in such spending i senator from oklahoma i thank you and let me first think senator murray and senator bond for their hard work on this bill that's vital for our country and and as the tragedy in minnesota showed priorities are important i notice that senator bond referred earlier to the i g report that i had requested on the department of transportation and i must thank both the inspector general as well as secretary peters for their forthrightness and plainspoken this in this report  the report is pretty significant and i want to spend a few minutes talking about it but first i'd like to show the american people the significance of where we stand on the national highway safety system this is that having to do with states this is national highways designated national highways or interstate highways in terms of the structurally deficient bridges in this country and  this is from the u s department of transportation this these are my numbers but as you can see throughout the country and emphasized more properly in the most populous states with the exception of florida we have significant problems when it comes to bridges and i would pretend that it's not necessarily too low of a gas tax that has created this it has been a lack of priority and i have several amendments that i plan to offer to this bill however probably will limit those amendments if my overall first amendment passes and let me talk for a minute about earmarks i'm not against authorized earmarks and i want to say that again to my colleagues earmarks that have been vetted that have been looked at by committee are in the best judgment of that committee and then when accepted by the senate the senate puts a stamp of approval on those earmarks and i understand the difference between authorized earmarks and unauthorized  s and so most of what i'm going to say does not apply the authorized earmarks but i would put forward that the earmarking process through the years has limited our ability to truly solve this problem and there were several key points that the i g made and that secretary of commerce commented on when it comes to earmarks and probably the most important of those that earmarks when they're made don't fully account for the cost of those earmarks and the fact that i g found substantial reduction in all the other programs throughout the department of transportation because of the under allocation of the monies necessary to complete an earmark what does that mean what it means is when we put an earmark in authorized around authorized and we say it cost one hundred dollars what the department of transportation's finding is often it doesn't cost one hundred but because it's mandated by law we spend one hundred fifty dollars on that fifty dollars goes out of the rest of the programs  at the department of transportation bank so therefore it cuts so they talked about this is over earmarking not in terms of numbers but you're marking a result without putting the dollars to do it and i think there's a comment on o another point i'll make this will come back to then ninety nine percent of the earmarks reviewed by the inspector general by past merit review now what does that mean that means earmarked they would not have been a priority in the state transportation projects and they wouldn't have met a priority of the standards that the department of transportation on highways and bridges has five and they would not have met that so only one percent of the earmarks authorized or placed in the appropriations bill actually passed to actually meet review the very thing our state set up and say this is how we want to prioritize spending in our states for safety and infrastructure in terms of transportation and these are my words these are the inspector general words of the department of transportation seven thousand seven hundred twenty four out of seven thousand seven hundred sixty transportation earmarks in two thousand and six were not subject to the agency's priority ranking review of or selection processes or bypass the state's normal and planning and programming processes so it comes back to the point why do we have all these bridges why do we see a tragedy in minnesota is because we face the bridge didn't fail we failed we failed to put the pro proper amount of monies we here's the other another point that the i g may recent department transportation reauthorization have included a significant number of specific projects with associated funding directed to specific state local agencies or locations for example the current department of transportation authorization for surface transportation accounted for six thousand four hundred and seventy four eighty percent of the department transportations eight thousand and fifty six earmarked projects for two thousand and six so what's happening is we're taking money away from the priorities that are states have from the priorities that the department of transportation have which are out there they're transparent and we're moving them away what that means is there's less money for the tremendous number of bridges that are structurally deficient right now are highly system so how do we solve that how do we meet the needs proceed needs matter fact the state of north carolina has somebody up here full time to make sure that when an earmark is requested it meets the state's guidelines the state department of transportation north carolina has to lobby its own members to make sure that the requests are within the guidelines of the priorities of the state of north carolina how do we get to that point that we disconnected priorities so the fact that we want to help a certain group that is outside the priorities of our state but inside the priorities mark political purposes i think we need to reexamine what we're doing and i think we need to re prioritize the fact is is a lots of been said a lot has been said about the tragedy that happened in the soda i honestly believe that president reagan was right in one thousand nine hundred two when he vetoed a transportation bill that had eleven earmarks and this point was as these take away from the priority those eleven earmarks have grown to over eight thousand they'll so what we've done is each year we have lessened the priorities of safety and efficient transfer for patient to help us politically better planning and fired zation of existing transportation funds could improve road safety and bridge safety you realize that thirteen thousand people a year in this country die because of inadequate or poor quality roads federal roads not state roads federal roads in this country thirteen thousand people die now what are some of the things we do with transportation dollars we build transportation museums we build park bike pass we build parking garages we have multiple uses of earmarks that are anything except a priority for safety for transportation in this country is your objection without objection the report the senator from oklahoma mr coburn proposes an m m a number twenty eight ten on page seventy between lines twenty and twenty one insert the following section one ninety four a except as provided under subsection be none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available under this title may be used for any earmark until all bridges in the united states that are classified under the federal highway administration is grades inspection program as of the date of the enactment of this act as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete have been sufficiently repaired to no longer meet the criteria for such classifications the funds appropriated under this title may be used for an earmark that is designated to repair one a bridge that is classified as structurally deficient or amendment does not get rid of earmarks what this amendment does is it delays earmarks what it says is for all the earmarks that we've had both authorized and through the appropriation process that unless they're going to build and fix the structurally deficient bridges in this country or they're going to improve a highway that makes it up to standards that makes it say we ought to delay the employment haitien of those earmarks until we have solved this problem we've solved this problem how many more bridges have to collapse until we get the message how many more people have to die until we get the message the minnesota bridge that collapsed was noticed in one nine hundred ninety s being structurally deficient in one thousand nine hundred nine the state department of transportation minnesota said there needs to be a priority on this bridge and yet we didn't respond the earmark that should have been made was for the repairs for that bridge and yet it was in may so this is very simple i know it goes against the grain of a lot of the processes that we use here but it makes common sense that if we're going to forego another minnesota tragedy we have to change our priorities and all this says is the priorities ought to be safety of the american people and quality so that thirteen thousand people don't die this next year on roads that are not within the quality classified as good or acceptable all we do is we say let's put our priority where it needs to be right now let's set the priority for making sure there's not another minnesota my state leads the nation in the percentage of bridges that are classified as deficient oklahoma as a state has never received back what it is paid into the transportation matter fact there's over a billion eight hundred million dollars that we've paid in that we've never say back but we have disproportionately shared that in other areas it's not a grudge meant for my stay the fact is is our state  small compared to the northeast and the west coast in terms of structurally deficient bridges so the point ought to be how do we change the priority how do we respond to the concerns of the american people over what in fact has to be the right priorities for transportation now couple things can happen with this amendment we can vote it down and we can say safety and bridges and safer roads no priority but museums and bike trails and theaters and parking garages are because they help us politically or we can pass this and send  to american people as we hear you we understand what you're saying and we agree that your safety ought to outperform and be above our political necessities and our directed spending this does not limit any directed spending for any of these bridges or any of the federal highways that will move them to good or acceptable so in terms of transportation it will not eliminate anything that is important to our safety important to repairing the infrastructure in this country the third thing it can happen is we can pass this bill and because it's not like it'll get trashed in conference so we can all look good by voting for this amendment but if we don't insist on this amendment when we get to conference we will have winked and nodded to the american people again we will have brought our numbers down by not paying attention to what their concerns are and most importantly we will keep and drivers and pedestrians and passengers at risk i would hope that the and the ranking member would agree to this m m what except and fight for it in conference i believe we should vote on this i think this is a memo we ought to have a vote on in the senate believe it's about time we start getting our priorities right and with that i would yield back for the present time and wish to speak on this amendment later and present it is very present i always enjoy these discussions with our colleague a neighbor from oklahoma i would say that his comments that earmarks have caused bridge deficiencies  and tragedies is a bridge too far i believe that as well intentioned as this amendment is it fails to understand how these states go about rehabilitating their bridges and maintaining the bridges in their state there are many things i can say about this but i think it's important to note that according to the conditions and needs report  of the department of transportation in two thousand and six we need to invest approximately twelve point four billion dollars annually to eliminate existing backlog and correct other deficiencies and  are currently spending over ten billion a year and as secretary major mary peters has said in testimony on september five before the house transportation committee the number of structurally deficient bridges has been declining significantly from eight point seven percent in one thousand nine hundred four to twelve point zero percent now obviously that's still too much but it it is not just deficient bridges hearing on highway fatalities and we kill about forty three thousand people a year on our highways we went back and asked the department of transportation  how many people were actually killed on bridges either bridges that collapsed or bridges that were too narrow and over a five year period it came out to about four hundred so we kill four hundred a year on bridges and a roughly forty three thousand on highways now why is this important well as the occupant of the chair my colleague from missouri knows we have done a study of  what causes highway fatalities and our missouri department of transportation has estimated that approximately one third of the deaths on highways are caused by an adequate highways outmoded old fashioned highways we've got two lane highways that are carrying traffic that should be should be four lane and those two lane traffic jams get people to take unnecessary chances so when we're talking about the problems of safety we cannot forget the fact that the biggest safety dangers are the inadequate highways and not just the bridges now in our state our department of transportation as embarked on an ambitious program to bring eight hundred bridges to standard and every department of transportation in this nation realizes that they've got bridge problems they need to inspect them and as i said yesterday i think it's important that we find out what caused this particular collapse was it  of the inspections adequate was the design adequate were there unusual loads that were put on the bridge these are the kinds of things that we need to deal with immediately but we also have money going under the bridge program to the state to deal with these deficient bridges so earmarks are not taking away money from the bridges i can tell you about earmarks in the state of missouri every single earmark in our state everything that has been earmarked is on the state implementation plan it is a priority and most of them are highly significant priorities for safety whether it's bridges or whether it is whether it is highways now i'm not surprised that an executive branch agency doesn't like earmarks way way long time ago in the damn past i was an executive and i didn't like the legislative body issue exercising its power of the purse matter of fact i really i had all kinds of problems when the general assembly would pass something and i vetoed a couple of them so legislative a legislative earmarks or efforts to exercise their legitimate control over the purse are always resisted by the executive let's just take a look at what happened in the in last year's transportation appropriations bill there were about eight hundred fifty three million took that money it took the money from high priority projects all across this cross the nation and put it into something called urban partners they're going to reduce congestion in one city they're going to have they're going to use the money to start having rush hour traffic driving breakdown lanes what happens when somebody breaks down in the breakdown lane you've got a tremendous jam there are many things going on of urban partners eight hundred fifty three million dollars went to miami new york minneapolis san francisco and seattle now as far as oklahoma missouri places like that we were left out frankly i think i can do a better job of helping work with my colleagues to determine where some of that money should go rather than what i think is a not very well thought out urban partners program just to five cities by colleague from oklahoma says he really likes authorized projects well i've been  authorizer too but the bridge to nowhere which gained such infamy was an authorized project it was put in by the chairman of the conference committee on safe three months later the transportation appropriations bill that year on earmark that earmark and we're pleased to say that it was no longer federal earmark and i know the i know our colleague from oklahoma doesn't like putting in money for a bike pass may surprise you know i'm not a fan of that either i voted against it but it was an highways i think that the danger on highways and bridges probably should not be putting twenty five million and i when i did since the money was in there i did in the authorization project get twenty five million for by pass that has been spent if you want to change that i think need to change the underlying authorization and i would certainly vote for that but  in fact been reviewed by an authorizing committee but to make a couple of points this year the appropriators will spend one hundred eighty eight billion dollars appropriating money for something that's not authorized that has not been an authorized so it's you can use that as a debate tool but the fact is the authorizer have limited influence over the appropriations committee because they'll spend twenty percent of our discretionary budget on items that aren't authorized by the authorizing committees the other when i would make is that the senator will get a chance to vote against bypass because i have another amendment that eliminates funding for bike past two we've restored the bridges this amendment cares for the roads that you just made a point of point to make the fact is this amendment allows the money to bring roads up to quality and safety standards so  thirteen thousand people die in this country from unsafe poor quality national highways it will in fact allow those to happen what it won't allow is for six hundred thousand dollars to be spent on horse riding facilities in virginia a snowmobile trail in vermont of five point nine billion parking for new york's harlem hospital eight million five hundred thirty two thousand for a bicycle and pedestrian trail in tennessee a daycare center and park and ride facility in illinois a desk controlled mitigation for rural arkansas all of three million the national packard museum in ohio two point seven five million and historical trial project in washington for two hundred thousand dollars i think you're going to have trouble convincing the american people that those things are a higher priority than bridge safety in this country and that's just a small example of the congressionally directed spending in this bill so i don't deny that those may be priorities but what i would state is there are lower priorities than safety on our roads and rebuilding our bridges and making sure our highways are safe and i would wager that the vast proportion of americans by far would agree with that statement we have lost our way if in fact we're going to fund these things the expense of not funding bridge repair in this country and so i think i think that the projects that are funded many of them great many i'm fit into the priorities of restoring bridges and highways but many don't and the question around this amendment is will we do the thing that's the highest priority for us you know it's kind of like the the war we're spending about eight and a half billion dollars a month but whose money are we spending on the war we're spend in our children and grandchildren's money because every bit of it has been outside the budget guidelines so it goes straight to debt so the the point being is we don't have the money right now to do some of the things that we would like to do because we should be doing the things that we need to do and the things that we need to do should be the highest priority for the american people and that certainly isn't horse riding facilities in virginia or a snowmobile trail in vermont and i would yield back hoping to speak again on this m we are in the nine eleven anniversary of the time that we all want to pause for a minute reflect on what happened over the last six years so hopefully i will be able to make a few remarks and and let's see if senator from oklahoma has any remaining time  tonight finish tomorrow morning if i remind everyone we are going to be finishing this bill because of the jewish holidays this week and we are working trying to work through this in a very very tight time frame we have a number of pending a mammoth amount to work through but let me respond t senator from oklahoma in the senate smoke homa brings before the senate today his argument on funding bridges and and within our transportation bill and yesterday the senate spoke out very strongly and acted very strongly to address the needs of our deficient bridges across the nation i spoke out on the floor yesterday about the number of bridges that were deficient across our country the imperative that we have in moving forward to make sure that they are taking care of and on a very strong bipartisan votes we approved yesterday a billion dollar increase in federal funding for bridges that was i remind everyone and historic twenty five percent increase in federal bridge funding and that amendment won't allow us obviously to fix every deficient bridge but it is an historic increase and it does that's a priority of this bill in moving forward to address this very critical need that i share the concern from senator oklahoma but we can't let all of our other transportation and all of our other housing priorities be ignored to address the bridge problem yes we are all very focused on what happened because the minnesota but having worked on this bill for a number of years and worked with my colleagues from missouri we've had hearings on safety and infrastructure in this country that needs to be addressed f a a needs to be addressed we need to deal with our nation's highways there are  number of critical housing projects and and we have to balance all of those priorities and i think we've done a very good job in this bill in doing that and then adding a billion dollars yesterday to address the bridge problem in the long term solution to our need to address our under investment and in sure is going to have to come about within the transportation authorization bill that will prevent to be debated sometime in the future my colleague senator bond has been a leader on that committee and we need to do a thorough look at the revenues available in the trust funds we've talked about that on the floor through our building no that needs to be addressed we talked with the finance committee it does need to be addressed and will be addressed within congress and  in the coming years but i want to tell our colleagues of the vast majority of our transportation earmarks that are in this i want to remind everyone require a match not just a small match but an overmatch by local communities who have set the priorities for these projects and brought them to the attention of members who have been brought them to us and our committee now i do want to tell everyone all of our colleagues as we move to a vote on this that the amendments that has been offered by the senator of oklahoma would have the impact of bringing many of our multibillion dollar projects to a complete halt his amendment would not just terminate highway projects it would also stop our major transit projects that many senators have come to our committee and talked about they are currently under construction and we are funding them in the federal transport administration these are projects that are working their way through the pipeline if we were to wipe them out with this amendment construction contracts across the country for these transit projects would be halted and cries a tremendous amount of difficulties and probably challenges within those contracts as well those contracts include the jacksonville rapid transit system in florida the regional rail project in pennsylvania the south county community rail work for junk food station in rhode island transit projects in colorado connecticut maryland minnesota new york virginia the one in virginia washington arizona california colorado illinois madam president i refer all of my colleagues to the transportation bill all of these  projects that are now under construction that have full funding granted agreement would be brought to a halt if this memo were to pass so besides all the other arguments to encourage members to understand what the impacts of this amendment were should it pass on the senate floor today now let me before we go to a moment of silence in just a minute madam president just remind our colleagues that the i g report that the senator from oklahoma  referred to today does refer to past practices of this congress we came into session in january of this year understanding the need to take a look at our processes within the appropriations we understood the impact from past practices that were under in scrutiny and we addressed them very clearly this congress has now sent a very comprehensive appliques reform law to the president of the united states that includes some new procedures that require a great deal of clarity and transparency that have not been required ever before here in congress but even before we sent that lot of the white house the appropriations committee under the direction of our chairman senator byrd and ranking member cochran said we are not going to wait for a lot of the enacted we impose new rules that require new procedures under the ethics reform bill and this bill the transportation bill in working through our process have directly followed those new rules and the new rules of the ethics bill that it that have been sent to the president every senator that asked for an earmark was required to certify that  the website you can see what is there so we have there are complying with what this senate has said we need to do and i would also remind all of us that in addition to those three forms spender bond and i work to develop a new procedure within the transportation housing subcommittee and under the procedures that we have established each and every earmark has to be fully consistent with the missions of the department of transportation or the department of housing and urban development so we recognize that tas practices have brought us to a point today where we have to fully look at each and every one of these earmarks we make sure that they are consistent with the funding requirements of that bill and they are seeing the light of day if we will see today as we face  them but i i want to i just make one final point before we move to this important moment of silence that is going to occur and that the senator from oklahoma is essentially arguing that bureaucrats in washington d c make every decision about funding across the nation madam president i know i go home every weekend and i talk to community leaders i talk to mayors i talk to members of numerous community projects and listen to what their needs are there is no bureaucrat in any department united states government here in washington d c that takes the time that most of us do to go home and really understand what the needs of our communities are and to come back here and fight for them that's what we do and that's our job and we're responsible for that and i take a back seat to no one and working hard to represent the interests of my right for years the f a a authorization of run out this year older americans act no child left behind act all extremely important business that we need to accomplish and if we move to a point that says no money except authorized i will tell you that any number of critical critical programs in this country will be asked subject to cut back and i don't think that's what any of us intend to do madam president we are moving rapidly to a very important moment in the united states  elves that we are now beginning a moment of silence in memory of the nine eleven victims and their families of president majority leader six years ago today two thousand nine hundred seventy four men women and children became innocent victims took hours and hatred that we will never understand i remember very clearly watching from the windows of the capital as tonight team as smoke billowed from the pentagon and a clean morning air i remember the care taken amidst the panic to ensure that everyone was evacuated safely when word came of another airplane heading toward the united states capitol i remember how our voices joined to sing god bless america on the capit steps which was our way of showing the country that its government was still whole what i remember most was how our nation stood as one blind to give blood structure long hours of food and clothing banks overflowing with donations contributions financial in nature pouring in many giving more than they could afford to help the families would literally lost everything and as our country stood as one the world stood with us the headline of one european newspaper read we are all americans on this anniversary and all those to follow it must never forget the innocent lives we lost that day was a burden we bear for the freedom we cherish yet we must always remember the endless well of compassion and rejection and despair that followed these past six years we faced great challenges though our scars will never fully heal our spirit will never be broken we are all american president republican leader today marks six years since september the eleventh two thousand and one the day when al qaida terrorist unleashed an unprovoked and vicious attack on the american people the senate remembers and then honors the innocent victims of that attack and stand in support of their families and communities six years later their healing continues our enemies hope september eleventh woodburn is a day america would never forget and it certainly has what the terrorists hoped today would mark an anniversary of fear and doubt today is a day of sadness yes but also of resolve strength and renewed purpose we remember the kind hearted miss of america that was on display then when millions of volunteers gave their time money and strength of heart to people in need honor our armed forces brave men and women who fight under our flag they fight on because the war goes on recent arrest in germany halting what was to be a devastating terrorist attack against american and german targets in that country are proof that this war is not over but now is not the time to let down our guard or revert to a pretty nice eleven approach to the world we know the war goes on by listening to the words of our enemies osama bin ladin recently released remarks or more of the same threats of death and destruction intended to so clear in america german chancellor angela merkel showed her understanding of the struggle that still lies ahead when she said of germany's foiled terror plot the lesson from this is the danger is not just abstract it's real real danger struck america six years ago international terrorists had been at war against us long before that but unlike previous attacks nine eleven spurred america to take the war to them by going on the off and we're winning the war on terror and today we are safer at home and have gone six years without another attack so today we also honor the efforts of americans across the land who are working to keep us safe many of them are here in the district of columbia but not all of them when one of my kentucky constituents dials nine eleven he's more likely to be calling someone in west liberty than in washington many brave police officers firefighters or emergency personnel trained to respond to a threat or attack work in hook or sacramento kentucky they answer today we honor their sacrifice and service most of all it remains is congress job to provide the troops with everything they need to complete their mission i know all of my colleagues are equally dedicated to making sure that happens madame president six years after september eleventh attacks we can say proudly that the terrorists failed terrorists may have devastated two buildings and damaged the pentagon but they did not dent america's resolve while they lashed out to cause death and destruction we fight for freedom freedom is our greatest strength no terrorist attack will ever diminish that when a president one year from today the first of america's three official nine eleven memorials will be dedicated at the pentagon it will feature one hundred eighty four stainless steel benches each surrounded by a pool of water one bench for each of the one hundred eighty four innocent victims who died in the pentagon and on the plane that struck it six years ago today this morning on the front page of the washington post there's a story about a small company of master metal workers who are finishing those benches grinding and polishing them transforming them into perfectly uniform flawlessly smooth material memorials the company is called buck tell it's located just outside of chicago they do work all over the united states the owner of buck tell metal some ploys are also immigrants from mexico bosnia and many other nations for eight years if and each of his employees polishing these benches for the pentagon memorial has become a deeply personal mission as the washington post describes it quote if he can make the bench is perfect he believes he will help others to heal if he can make the metal shine brilliantly they will feel hope he wants people to run their fingers along the steel and find in it's clean america let's move on to something affirming redeeming even on a site now scarred by murder and death today on the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our nation many americans in illinois and across our nation are searching for their own ways to rescue some lasting good out of the evil of nine eleven really three thousand innocent victims for more than one hundred fifty nations who died in new york at the pentagon and in a field in pennsylvania jeff malev nick a husband and father of four from hinsdale illinois just outside chicago had just been named interim c e o of a new e commerce company but he had another job that meant more to him he worked as an assistant pastor his church in oak brook he was on american airlines flight eleven the plane that struck the first tower one of nine men and women from illinois who died on nine eleven after jeff melanic staff his pastor told a reporter i can guarantee that jeff would tell us that hatred and bitterness must not have the last word one of america's first memorials to the victims of nine eleven was a tiny little makeshift memorial created by a woman in shanksville pennsylvania in her own front yard weeks after the attack within days the first tribute arrived  of flowers next to it was a note that read thanks for saving our lives the u s capitol employees we were privileged to work in this building have a special obligation to work together to prevent the next attack and remember the heroes who saved our lives on nine eleven six years after that date america is safer but we need to do more we need to listen carefully and follow the recommendations of the nine eleven commission we passed important legislation this year to move in that direction we need to also make sure that as a sign of respect we remember those who have given their lives on that said day mr president i ask that the names of the eight other illinois ends who died on september eleventh be entered in the congressional record followed following my remarks and  from new jersey madam president i thank you for the recognition speak today as a senator from new jersey a state that lost seven hundred of its residents citizens and people who were at work at the trade towers i'm old enough to remember again we see a moment in time evil beyond comprehension because the events of this day changed the way that people live on this earth the twenty four hours towers were far more than the sum of their steel and concrete parts of the towers that i knew very well were cities a century in the sky fifty thousand people worked in those towers more people than the population of many of our nation's communities in many cases those fifty thousand men and women spent as much time in the trade towers as they did at home people from new york from new jersey from states other states that throughout the country from small families and big families from every walk and stage of life and on that autumn morning six years ago  began moving to the rhythm of the day drawn to the trade center just as normal just like the days and the years before only this day was different this day became an epic moment in the history of man this day care would no longer be a thing that was in distant places not be a thing of memory or talk terror was about to become real three thousand people spouses with no mates children without apparent love siblings and treasured friends gone they live on only in our memory seven hundred of the almost three thousand people who perished were from my state new jersey thirty seven of them came from a single town one town new jersey middletown in two thousand and three i helped that ikeda memorial garden and their honor the tears were still flowing firefighters police officers first responders died within the towers is a foot  they say people they never knew never saw i had the privilege of serving as a commissioner of the port authority in new york and new jersey for four years before i came to the senate and i got to know the cars of traffic and energy contained in those buildings i also got to know many of the terrific people who filled the jobs that enabled the port authority to provide the critical services it offered char region of port authority lost eighty four staff members on nine eleven including thirty seven brave pleas officers gave their lives as a attempted to help others immobilized by the catastrophe i knew many others who worked for firms house in the twin towers who perished that day one firm cantor fitzgerald i knew the people very well lost seven hundred that single day from the firm alone many were young families just beginning they had young kids and they had lives with great possibilities ahead of them ended up briefly brutalized in that terrible terrible moment people stared aghast at the television and saying to themselves and others who would be the same can't be happening in the united states in america taking down the trade towers there were monuments to commerce and energy by television i was on a trip to the middle east and included a stop in israel just the moment that the tragedy hit i saw tears flowing down faces of people from this tiny country crying for america pleading for some understanding that would help relieve the pain by pearl harbor sixty years ago nine eleven changed the world it changed the way we function the way we see it the way we see ourselves constantly having to produce identification cards waiting in lines to be examined by security thousands and thousands of people are on homeland security department has one hundred eighty thousand people focused primarily on trying to protect this homeland of ours from other violent moments for terrorism we've got to live differently we're live with more villages we live in knowing that evil is omnipresent we know that we're fighting a ruthless enemy one who's front line is our home front one the brain board to the innocent were constantly on the watch in new jersey the stretch between port newark our harbor and newark liberty international airport is defined by the f b i as the most dangerous two mile stretch in the country the most inviting for a terrorist attack were constantly and guards were constantly concerned but something happened that day when nineteen  set out to destroy america we did then and we promised to search for those who committed  those terrible acts we're still looking for them and we must continue to do that but we will always remember those who fell that day and we will on this day of remembrance of always remember what happened we can't forget it there  are the principal focus of attention but that light serving is because of hope and barriers against fear and they are new jersey we remember those who perished at a memorial a monument to those who lost their lives and we see these memorial sites cross our region hoboken new jersey came from varying counties madam president this can't just be a memorial america has to rebuild it spirit the world has to fight against terror we know that this morning a ceremony at the site of the world trade center took place with a commitment to rebuild and we want that to happen it's critical for our spirits that we show that america is trying its best to bring back peace to our country that bring back the civilization president from new york thank you madam president and first i want to thank my friend and colleague from new jersey for his outstanding eloquent heartfelt words we share a region  we share the tragedy of that day as senators are doing our best on a very in a very troubled time and we continue to share it now in our mutual desire to keep our region safe from terrorism terms of homeland security a madam president i was at the ground zero site early this morning and mingled before the there moni the commemoration began with some of the families of the victims there's nothing nothing madam president more heartfelt in seeing these fine people average folks from every different background profession ethnic religious economic level holding pictures holding pictures in their laps often young men young women in the prime in the beginning in the beauty of their lives and their parents are holding the pictures husbands holding pictures of wives wives holding pictures of president children holding pictures of the day and there's nothing madam president more touching and more meaningful than just going over and looking at the faces of these fine people and all they have to hold of course of the pictures and the memories of people whose lives were snuffed out and this happened in so many instances close to three thousand instances each one family member a friend a business associate gone and gone for the most irrational and hateful of reasons we fought many wars before but most of the more about things we could maybe not agree with but understand desire for territory religious domination righting a wrong you know this war aimed at the innocen aimed at civilians and at just average americans had an irrational hatred to it that is very hard to comprehend but we do remember one of the family members attach this ribbon to my lapel and of course i wear this flag which put on september twelfth two thousand and one every day that i wear a suit or a sport jacket i have this very flag on the same one that i put on my lapel then in hope in memory of those who are missing because we didn't know how many had died and i wear it every day to think of those who were lost and what we lost and what their families lost and what our country lost and god willing i'll wear it every day for the rest of my life to remember them today we do remember ground zero we remember here on the senate floor and most of all we remember in countless homes throughout this country throughout the world most of them concentrated in new york in new jersey as people remember those who were taken from there's not much to say about such a mindless act of evil cruelty with almost no goal other than frightening people the one thing we are sure the terrorists together regardless of our political views we are not frightened we are hurt we're saddened sometimes we feel lost we're not frightened they have strengthened our resolve our resolve to win a war on terror we witness mark and rational way don't do it in a mean and evil way like the terrorists means used by the terrorists but we will prevail we will rebuild we'll rebuild the buildings at ground zero we'll rebuild the network slowly but surely that protect us at home will rebuild the strength of america abroad to fight terrorism and adapt and we will prevail but we will also never forget never forget those people some of whom are friends of mine gaia played basketball with as a kid high school firefighter from the neighborhood in which i was raised these men very successful who helped me on my way up will never forget the never and we will resolve that their memory will import t to be better as individuals and as a nation