Thomas Carper

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. I rise in support of this amendment. I hope we will get everybody to vote for it. Let's do a voice vote so we can move on.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise now to discuss my amendment with Senators Inhofe, Wicker, and Duckworth. This amendment makes several changes to the appropriations section of the substitute in the section that funds the Army Corps of Engineers. In WRDA 2020, Senator Barrasso and I heard multiple times about the struggles of small, rural, and economically disadvantaged communities in meeting project cost shares. These projects range from aquatic ecosystem restorations to flood control and new levees. Yet because the Corps is required to cost share the work, these small, rural, and poor communities never get the assistance they need. Last year, Senator Barrasso and I created a cap authority that allows the Corps to pay for full expense of these projects to help these disadvantaged communities finance the infrastructure the community needs. This amendment also makes clarifying changes to the inland waterways funding. In addition to a technical correction, it makes clear that the funding provided in this act must be prioritized for projects on the Capital Investment Strategy Report, the guiding document for the Corps inland waterways projects. Finally, this amendment makes sure that inland flooding projects are prioritized for economically disadvantaged communities and life-safety- related projects. This supports equity for disadvantaged communities while prioritizing projects with the highest need. This is a good bill. It is a good amendment, and these small tweaks make it stronger. I urge my colleagues to support our amendment and hope that we might do so unanimously. Senator Inhofe would be here. He is in Oklahoma with his family right now. I think some would understand that. He urges us to support this as well.

Mr. CARPER. With that, Mr. President, I would suggest the absence of a quorum, waiting for the arrival of Senator Bennet, who will be here momentarily.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, colleagues, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number. The first of those is Fischer, 2164, with Cortez Masto--is that correct? Yes--and the second is Schumer, 2570; further, that the Senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed, with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendments, with up to 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I understand there has been a request--let me ask the Senator. I understand there has been a request for a recorded vote. Can you confirm that or not?

Mr. CARPER. All right. Then it will be a recorded vote. Let me ask our colleagues: 10 minutes; is that OK? Ten minutes from start to finish, and that is it. And the last amendment will be Schumer. All right? Let's do this in 10 minutes, OK? Vote on Amendment No. 2164

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. There we go. Vote on Amendment No. 2300

Mr. CARPER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I also ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number: 1, Duckworth, No. 2140; 2, Cruz-Warnock, No. 2300; further, I ask unanimous consent that at 3:45 p.m., the Senate vote in relation to the amendments with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendments, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, and 2 minutes of debate equally divided prior to the votes.

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

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, unless someone else wishes to speak at this time, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, anytime these two Members get together and offer legislation, how could any of us say no? Maybe we could get a voice vote; I don't know. We will see. Thanks very much. Congratulations. You bring joy to this place. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for a voice vote. Does the gentleman from Texas mind getting a voice vote?

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 minute in support of the Duckworth amendment.

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I rise in support of Senator Duckworth's amendment. This amendment will ensure that recipients of funding to make systems more accessible have a plan in place to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Individuals with disabilities rely on public transit to get where they need to go, whether that is to go to work or to go to school or simply go about their daily lives. It is past time to upgrade all of our transit stations to provide access to everyone who needs a ride. I support this amendment by Senator Duckworth. I urge all of our colleagues to join me in voting yes. I yield the floor. Vote on Amendment No. 2140

Mr. CARPER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CARPER. Could I have the attention of our colleagues. In addition to the meritorious points that have been made by the sponsors of this legislation and the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee--Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to address the Senate out of order.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the 60-vote hurdle.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Capito and I be allowed to speak briefly just before the amendment. Senator Capito.

Mr. CARPER. As a result of this agreement, there will be two rollcall votes at 11:45 a.m. The first vote would be on the Lummis-Kelly amendment No. 2181. The second vote would be on the Lee amendment No. 2255. We continue to work on scheduling additional votes following the caucus lunches. Vote on Amendment No. 2181

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I want to join my voice with that of Ranking Member Senator Capito and say I rise in support of the amendment offered by Senator Lummis, Senator Cornyn, Senator Kelly to direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a highway user cost allocation study, that we are going to vote on here in just a minute or two. A cost allocation study helps determine the costs in terms of road use and damage that are attributable to the different types of vehicles that use our roads. This study will evaluate vehicle weights and miles that are traveled in each class to determine the use and damage done to roads, and then compare them to the amount paid in user fees to the Highway Trust Fund. My colleagues know the Highway Trust Fund has been spending more than it collects for nearly two decades, and as we look to equitably address this growing shortfall, this study will help us better understand the extent to which different roadway users benefit from roads and how they should fairly contribute to the upkeep of those roads, highways, and bridges. This cost allocation will help Congress ensure that our vehicles pay their fair share. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this very worthy amendment. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARPER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendment be called up to the substitute and be reported by number: No. 1, Lee No. 2255, substitute; further, that following the vote on amendment 2181, the Senate vote in relation to the Lee amendment with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to a vote in relation to the amendment, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, and 5 minutes for Senator Lee and 1 minute for myself for debate prior to the vote.

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I, too, rise in opposition to Senator Lee's amendment. This amendment does not reform the Federal-aid highway system as we know it; it dismantles it. It eliminates the Federal funding that each of our States relies on to build, repair, and to maintain our Federal highways. It would strike the entire surface reauthorization in this bill before us and replace it with an interstate highway-only bill with top-line funding of less than $20 billion over 5 years. At a time when we already have some 45,000 structurally deficient bridges in our Nation, this amendment would leave American travelers at risk due to serious disinvestment. Senators have come together, Democrats and Republicans, to bring this infrastructure bill to the floor because we recognize that States are in need of serious investment to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. This is not a partisan issue. On the Environment and Public Works Committee, where Senator Capito and I lead, we voted unanimously to advance a highway bill out of committee on a unanimous vote--20 to nothing. That bill increases the top-line funding for our highway Federal programs by 34 percent to a little over $300 billion--the highest amount of highway funding ever authorized by this Congress--and it is much needed. Senator Lee's amendment would go in the exact opposite direction, unfortunately. It would reduce the funding in our bill to less than $20 billion. That is a cut of about 95 percent.

Mr. CARPER

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

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number: No. 1, Van Hollen, No. 2354; and the second is Johnson, No. 2245; further, that at 7:30 p.m. today the Senate vote in relation to the Van Hollen amendment, and at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning the Senate vote in relation to Johnson, No. 2245, with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendment, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption of the amendments and 2 minutes for debate equally divided prior to the votes.