Barbara Boxer

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. I will withhold. I say that I expect that Senator Inhofe will be here. I would ask my colleague from North Carolina, are you here to speak on this bill?

Mrs. BOXER. I ask unanimous consent if we can please go into morning business to accommodate my colleagues. But I would say, Senator Inhofe may well have a statement. I ask unanimous consent that my two colleagues have 5 minutes each to speak and then the remainder of the time be reserved for Senator Inhofe, minus my 7 minutes, then go to a vote at 5:30.

Mrs. BOXER. This is the group who sent the letter. I want to say who it is, who signed this letter: No. 1, the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials; that is departments of transportation in all 50 States--red States, blue States, purple States--50 States signed this letter. They want us to move forward. No. 2, the American Highway Users Alliance; that is millions of highway users throughout this Nation of ours; the American Public Transit Association, which is transit systems from across the country, in all of our States; the American Road and Transportation Builders Associations, more than 5,000 members of the transportation construction industry. We know our construction industry in the housing sector is hurting. That means the jobs are decreasing. This is a moment in time where we can give a little boost to our transportation workers; the Associated General Contractors, more than 32,000 of them, service providers and suppliers; Council of University Transportation Centers, more than 30 university transportation centers from across the country; the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, companies that produce more than 92 percent of crushed stone and 75 percent of sand and gravel used in the U.S. annually; and the National Asphalt and Pavement Association, more than 1,100 companies that produce and pave with asphalt. Mr. President, I say to Senators who might hear my voice, this a moment for us to come together across party lines such as Senator Inhofe and I have done, just as Senators Dodd and Shelby have done and just as Senators Inouye and Stevens have done in our respective committees. This is a simple bill. This bill simply says we have about $1 billion that is stuck because there have been some technical problems with the language. Some projects were not able to move forward. We substitute some others within the same funding cap. Some have legislative language which was confusing, and we are dealing with that. We feel very good about this bill. We have listened very carefully to the ethics in the Senate. We know we needed to act to put all these projects on the Web site. We have identified who has asked for them, and we really do believe this technical corrections bill is ready for action. I can only hope that we will not see anybody try to hold up this bill for no reason at all. If you have amendments, please let us know. We would be happy to give you as much time as you want. Today is the motion to proceed to the bill. We urge everyone to vote for that, and that vote will occur, as I understand it, at 5:30; is that correct?

Mrs. BOXER. I will withhold the remainder of my time. How much time do I have remaining?

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I am pleased we can work so well together. I want to thank our staffs also. We have developed very trusting relationships with our senior staff, and it reflects the relationship we have developed to be able, even if we disagree, to be completely honest with each other. This is helpful for the Senate as a whole. I wanted to share with the Senate this amazing group who came together to support us in our efforts on this technical corrections bill which will unleash some funding that is rather stuck right now, at a time when we could use some construction activity. I think it is important to see. We have the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials--those are Departments of Transportation from all 50 States--American Highway Users Alliance, millions of highway users throughout the country; American Public Transit Association, transit systems from across the country; American Road and Transportation Builders Associations, more than 5,000 members of the transportation construction industry--these people have all written to us and have said: Get this bill going--Associated General Contractors, more than 32,000 contractors, service providers and suppliers; the Council of University Transportation Centers, more than 30 university transportation centers from across the country; National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, companies in America that produce more than 92 percent of crushed stone and 75 percent of sand and gravel used in the United States annually; and the National Asphalt and Pavement Association, more than 1,100 companies that produce and pave with asphalt. These are the folks who are saying to all of us: Please bring this bill to the floor, please work together. I personally have a very good feeling about this bill. Senator DeMint, who sometimes has trouble with these bills, was complimentary to both of us and the work we have done. He has a couple of amendments, maybe only one amendment. He said he did not intend to hold up our bill. So I think we are moving in a good direction. But I want to reiterate what Senator Inhofe said: Please, if you do have an amendment, talk to us, because we are not going to have this bill go through unless the House signs off. So we would hope we could keep this bill pretty clean. We hope we can work out our differences with a couple of Senators who have some problems. If we can't work it out, we will have to see what the body wants to do. This is sort of a very mini stimulus package, frankly, and one that doesn't mean one dollar of new spending that hasn't already been authorized. It is a good moment for the Senate. I thank Senator Reid, working with Senator McConnell, for getting this bill before us. A lot of our communities will be very happy when they see that projects that were stalled, because there were some technical problems, can now go forward. Some of our colleagues who said: Look, leg one of this project can go forward but not leg two. Can you change the wording? We are allowing colleagues this kind of latitude. Of course, we put a freeze on all of that because we had to cut off at some point. I think this bill is a good bill. It is a technical corrections bill. It is not breaking any new ground. We look forward to an ``aye'' vote from as many of our colleagues whom we can convince this is a good idea. I understand we are about to go into the vote. I look forward to a solid vote. Then Senator Inhofe and I will be in the well, and we will talk to all our colleagues who may want to talk about their amendments. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I just need 30 seconds. On behalf of my ranking member, Jim Inhofe, and myself, I thank colleagues for giving us this go-ahead to go to the technical corrections bill. It is not the most exciting of bills, but it will be a bit of an economic stimulus to our Nation. It doesn't add a dollar of new spending; it just makes corrections to a bill that is a very popular bill--SAFETEA-LU--and it will allow a lot of highway construction and transit projects to proceed. We are very pleased with this vote. Before giving up the floor so Senator Inhofe can say a couple of words, if my colleagues have any amendments--we know that amendments do threaten this bill--we will be delighted to speak with our colleagues about them and try to figure out a way to either work them out so that the House agrees and we agree we can move forward or figure out a way to get an early vote so we can get on with consideration and then on to something else. At this point, I yield the floor and again say thank you very much to our colleagues.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read a third time and passed, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the joint resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.J. Res. 70, which was received from the House.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 76, which is at the desk.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 477, H.R. 1119.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that H.R. 3352 be discharged from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and be placed on the calendar.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 513, submitted earlier today.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 470, and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day, and there then be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 1195, the highway technical corrections bill, and that all time during any morning business, recess, or adjournment count against cloture.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Will the leader yield for a question--a comment and question?

Mrs. BOXER. I thank the leader very much. This is a very bipartisan piece of legislation that Senator Inhofe and I are very happy is finally coming to the floor. My question--it is really a comment in the form of a question. You pointed out we are 3 years after the highway bill. This is correcting some unanticipated errors in that bill. What is happening is, here we are in this recession. There are a lot of projects that are stymied. They were unintended to be stymied, but we need to correct that. My question is, Don't you think it is time to correct a bill that passed 3 years ago, and we are going to get to the new highway bill next year? This is unfinished business. It is bipartisan. My point is, do you believe as strongly as I do that the time has come to do this?

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, flags across California flew at half-mast recently to honor the life of firefighter Brent A. Lovrien. The city of Los Angeles and the firefighter community lost an exemplary leader when Firefighter Lovrien was killed in the line of duty. A 10-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department and a member of platoon ``A'' at Fire Station 95, Firefighter Lovrien is the first Los Angeles City firefighter to die in the line of duty since 2004. I would like to take a few moments to recognize his many important accomplishments and the impact he made as a leader in both his personal and professional life. Firefighter Lovrien was a leader to his fellow firefighters and a highly respected leader in his community. He has been called an inspiration by his superior officers and has been a mentor to his fellow firefighters. Firefighter Lovrien has also been recognized by residents of Fire Station 95's local community for his efforts to protect and improve their quality of life. Lovrien was an asset to his community and his presence will truly be missed. Firefighter Lovrien is survived by his father, mother, and brother-- to whom I send my heartfelt condolences. He leaves a lasting legacy of caring and compassion that serves as a model to us all. Firefighters are too often called upon to protect our communities while putting themselves in grave danger. Despite this, they are the first to go into burning buildings, or similar dangerous situations, all to save lives and property. Firefighter Lovrien stepped forward and paid the ultimate price for our protection. We will miss his service and dedication to the city of Los Angeles and the firefighting community.