Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Would the Senator yield for a question?

Ms. MIKULSKI. First of all, I compliment the Senator for the really wonderful teaching she just did on this issue. She is a member of the Finance Committee, and with all they are doing in Social Security, hasn't there been a hearing in the Finance Committee on the chained CPI, and have experts and senior advocacy groups shared their views with the Congress?

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the Rebuild America Jobs Act. This bill is about jobs today and jobs tomorrow across the Nation and in my home State of Maryland. It also is about repairing our crumbling infrastructure. This bill does three things. First, it provides $50 billion for immediate transportation investments. It will provide formula funding and award competitive grants to our States for transportation infrastructure projects. This includes funding for our highways and bridges. It also includes our transit systems and passenger and freight networks as well as our aviation system and ports. Second, it provides $10 billion to establish a national infrastructure bank. This bank will leverage private and public capital to fund large infrastructure projects. These include not only transportation projects but also desperately needed water and sewer, and energy projects. The bank will provide direct loans and loan guarantees for projects of regional and national significance. I have been a strong proponent of establishing a national infrastructure bank for several years now going back to the original Dodd-Hagel legislation. I am now a cosponsor of Senators Kerry, Hutchison, and Warner's bill. Third, this bill pays for itself. It implements a surtax of less than 1 percent on those that make more than $1 million a year. This tax will begin in 2013. This bill is so important because it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs across America by putting construction workers and engineers back to work. According to Moody's, every $1 spent on infrastructure spurs economic activity raising GDP by about $1.59. Without this investment, nearly 1 million Americans will lose their jobs and our economy will lose nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Our failing transportation infrastructure is costing everyone money we don't have: State and local governments, motorists, and companies shipping their goods. Americans pay approximately $333 in car repairs a year because of poor road conditions and more at the pump because of congestion. We just learned Marylanders have the longest commute in the country--even longer than New Yorkers. Can you believe that? Freight bottlenecks and congestion are costing us about $200 billion a year. It is estimated that our failing infrastructure will drive the cost of doing business up by adding $430 billion to costs in the next decade. This means it will cost more to ship goods and consumers will feel it in their pocketbooks. My State of Maryland has a 6-year transportation plan with $10 billion worth of needs. A recent blue ribbon commission found the State needs another $500 million annually to meet these needs. This bill will help close this funding gap by providing nearly $600 million in transportation formula funding to Maryland. This funding will support about 7,500 jobs. This formula funding will pay for repaving and improving safety on our highways and byways. It will be used for to replace diesel buses with more environmentally friendly hybrid models. Improvements also will be made to Maryland's commuter rail service, MARC, and the light rail and metro in the Baltimore region. Lastly, Maryland would be eligible for competitive grants for all modes of transportation including high-speed rail investments along the Northeast corridor. In addition, the infrastructure bank will provide new financing options for Maryland. It will help move along projects of regional and national significance that currently are harder to get underway with traditional financing options. Most promising is that the bank will provide financing for water and sewer and energy infrastructure projects too. Maryland alone has $14 billion in water and sewer infrastructure needs. I firmly believe that a reliable and well maintained infrastructure is a vital to sustain economic growth and create jobs. That is why we must pass this bill and get Americans back to work.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I would say to my colleague from Alabama, I am the Senator from Maryland.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I remember that very well. I remember it was enormously controversial. It was significantly confusing, and there was much to be said on both sides. I believe somebody missed a filing deadline by 24 hours.

Ms. MIKULSKI. You were the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, so you are well versed on the patent issues. Why don't we turn it over to the leadership and see how it turns out.

Ms. MIKULSKI. We will turn it over to that higher power. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. But Delaware is next door, and we share the Chesapeake Bay and a whole lot of chicken farms, so that is OK. I want to advise the Senator that his amendment 810 is pending, and I believe the leadership is negotiating on which group of amendments will be voted on in the next phase, which we hope we will be able to announce shortly. The amendment which the Senator has on the Patent Office, is not a pending amendment. Again, that would be subject to leadership on both sides of the aisle determining what would be called up. So I suggest he stay in touch with the Republican leader, Senator McConnell, and his floor staff, as they are talking with Senator Reid. But the Senator's amendment 810 is pending and I know he debated it yesterday and I know our colleague from Michigan, Senator Stabenow, chair of the Agriculture Committee, commented on that. I would just say to the Senator, because I believe him to be a compassionate conservative--a phrase we once used a decade ago--maybe not filing papers is one thing, but we do have 9 percent unemployment. Gosh, in my State, we are seeing people come to food banks who used to donate to the food banks. We are seeing an increase of people who have been laid off who either have no job or have taken now part-time jobs. So one of the reasons the food stamp population is increasing is because of unemployment. Unemployment is increasing. I look forward to working with the Senator on a bipartisan jobs bill, but we also want the Senator to be able to speak to his amendment; and, hopefully, because it is pending, it will be included in the voting.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Are we still talking about food stamps?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I kind of got lost here.

Ms. MIKULSKI

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

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I compliment all Senators in the way they have worked cooperatively and expeditiously in moving these three very important appropriations bills forward. Every Senator who has had an amendment has worked with us constructively either to modify it or to comply with what the leadership wanted to do. I compliment all the managers for their work in moving the bills forward. I think it shows that we can govern ourselves. This is the first time in a couple of years that we are actually following the regular order on due deliberations of our appropriations bills. It is very important that we do this to meet our fiscal responsibility of funding annual appropriations; that is, actually putting money in the Federal checkbook. We have followed the regular order by each subcommittee holding rigorous hearings, doing due diligence in terms of oversight, and being quiet guardians of the purse. If anybody has watched us over the last couple of days, we have moved expeditiously. The debate has had such rigor, civility, we have learned from each other, and we have modified amendments back and forth. I think this is so positive and so constructive. I hope we can conclude deliberations on these three appropriations bills today. Again, Senators need to have their say. Better they have their say than have their day and we show we can govern in a manner that is civil, that has intellectual rigor and due diligence in terms of oversight but also looking at how we protect vital American interests. The three bills we have today are agriculture, which is so important to the American economy--this is a jobs bill. It is also a food and drug safety bill. At the same time, there is transportation and housing. People talk about an infrastructure bank. We don't know what we are going to do or how we are going to pay for it, but right here, today, we have transportation pending that will go to every State on a formula basis, and then to some very important special needs identified by Senators in this process, to really then create jobs and meet the kinds of needs our respective States have, to build and repair highways, bridges, and have mass transit to get people to work. At the same time, housing is absolutely crucial to our economy. The Federal Government does own and operate housing. It is called public housing. The ranking member on the Transportation-HUD bill speaks eloquently about that. Maine is well known for its compassionate way of dealing with people in need, whether it is the elderly, the handicapped, or the poor. But it is also how we can work with local government in the Community Development Block Grant Program, where local people make local decisions on how best to invest Federal funds to have a multiplier effect in economic and community development. We don't only want to build housing, we want to build community and at the same time build jobs. This is fantastic. Then there is my own bill, the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which I have worked on in such a cooperative way with the Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison. We also have the Commerce Committee. The Commerce Committee is supposed to be about American business, and we have put in money for the Trade Representative to make sure we not only import--we want to make sure we just don't export jobs but we export products made in America by Americans, helping the American economy. We also have the Patent Office. We have just reformed the process. If we want to out-innovate, we have to protect our intellectual property. There are those who would rather steal our ideas than invent their own. We have to have it where if you invent it, you get to keep it and profit from it. The National Institute of Standards works with the private sector--a Federal agency to create the standards necessary so that products can go beyond the prototype and then be sold in America, but because there are certified standards they can be sold around the world. Then we have the Justice Department. Aren't we proud of our Federal law enforcement? Sure, BATF had a big spill and cinders with the Fast and Furious Program. But look at the FBI, look at the DEA, and look at how they are intercepting everything from terrorists to organized crime to child molesters. And let's hear it for the Marshals Service, which is often overlooked and undervalued. They are out there every day protecting people who work in the courthouses and also serving the warrants and keeping an eye on sexual predators. Then our subcommittee is one of the real engines of innovation through its work at the National Space Agency and at the National Science Foundation, doing the kinds of basic research the private sector can't do but will value in order to invest again in those new products that will create new jobs in America. We like our bills. Again, we have done oversight to deal with how to be more frugal. We want people to work on that as the day moves on. I wanted to give everybody the lay of the land. For those Senators who want to improve our bill by the regular order of the amendment process, we encourage them to come to the floor now to offer them and speak out. We want them to have their say and to have their day. Amendment No. 750 Mr. President, while we are waiting for those Senators to come, I wish to comment on an amendment offered by our colleague from Virginia, Senator Webb. Senator Webb has been a longstanding advocate that our people in this country be well served by the justice system. He has become increasingly concerned about the way the justice system works and feels it needs a comprehensive review. He has recommended the establishment of a national justice commission to do a review of Federal, State, and local Federal criminal justice systems, which will make a final report recommending changes in policy and practices to both prevent, deter, and reduce crime and violence and also to reduce recidivism and do it in a cost-effective way. I want my colleagues to know I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Webb criminal justice commission. It is just a patchwork now. At times, because we so load up in the bottom end after a crime is committed, we need to look at prevention and intervention and also other things, such as alternative sentencing. I wish to acknowledge the validity of the issue raised by our colleague from Virginia. We have a very high incarceration rate in this country. More than 2.3 million Americans are in prison. Another 5 million are on probation or parole. Correction costs continue to grow and we have to tighten our belt. The problem is definitely evident in my bill. For Federal prisons alone, we had to include another $300 million to safely guard the Nation's growing Federal prison population, and that does not include those in State prisons and local jails. This subcommittee has an obligation to fund Federal prisons, but this increase did consume a significant part of our allocation at the expense of other DOJ agencies. Why is this happening? Is it partly because of Americans being more violent, there are more criminals, or are we getting better at catching them and prosecuting them? You know what, the answer could be yes, but we don't know. Is it that our mandatory sentencing--a good intention-- has now had unintended consequences; that people who are first offenders could be in alternative sentencing and doing something else? We are spending a lot on prisons, and so I support Senator Webb's effort to create a blue-ribbon national commission to do an 18-month, top-to-bottom review, examining costs and practices and policies for prevention, intervention, prosecution, and imprisonment, looking at which programs work and which can be improved. I hope it will end in concrete, wide-ranging reforms. I support the amendment and look forward to voting for it and then to working on a constructive way to take a look at what his recommendations are. I understand the Senator from Virginia is retiring. Along with his incredible service in terms of the national security of our country, this will be one of his more lasting legacies. I hope we adopt the Webb amendment. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I do want to comment on the Vitter amendment and then be able to have the Senator from New Hampshire speak. But before the leader leaves, I want to express my condolences to the Mullins family for what happened. It is a little hard to get back into talking about amendments and debating issues when you hear such a poignant and wrenching story. I am glad the Senator from Louisiana is on the floor, because I know we will be debating his amendment. I want to make a comment about the Vitter amendment No. 769, as modified. I oppose the amendment. I appreciate the intent of the Senator from Louisiana to make lower cost drugs available to the American people, but we have many flashing lights about this and I bring this from knowledge of being both on the Intelligence Committee and also in working with the FBI through our CJS in both the classified and unclassified setting. The amendment allows individuals to import FDA-approved drugs from Canada. It sounds great. But we don't know if the drug was made in Canada, and we don't know if it is coming from a regulated Canadian Web site. We are concerned because of organized crime involvement and now counterfeit drugs--lethal, lethal, lethal drugs--could come into our country and have dire and devastating effects. We could talk about how to have pharmaceutical FDA-approved drugs available to our people at less cost. Ironically, this is coming from a national health system. I am not going to get into ObamaCare and all that, but I do want to speak as someone who knows a lot about international organized crime. What I want our colleagues to know is where there is compelling, compassionate human need, there is greed. Where there is greed, there are scams, schemes, and in many cases they have lethal consequences. What the Vitter amendment does--first of all, it does not give the FDA additional resources to combat counterfeit medicine, it just makes an allowable use. I don't know where we are going to get the money. If our colleague, Senator Kohl, were here, he would speak about the money. I wish to speak about the safety. There are rogue Canadian pharmacy Web sites, and the consequence of that is we do not know what is coming. One of the things we do know is, we have examples of awful things that have happened. Do many of you remember when Coumadin came into this country? That is a blood thinner. It was illegally produced and did not meet FDA standards and resulted in people dying because they hemorrhaged out because of a counterfeit drug. They bled to death taking something they thought was safe. There is Tamiflu that came into our country, but it was not Tamiflu; it was talcum powder. A person might want to swallow talcum powder. It might give them indigestion. But I tell you there are other things that can have more dire circumstances--birth control pills made out of rice flour. There is a complete list, and I encourage my colleagues, go to the FDA, find out what they have experienced in this. Go to the FBI, find out what they have done to try to intercept this. Go to our customs and border people. They have heartburn trying to prevent heartache from those things that could come illegally into our country. We do have to deal with the cost of prescription drugs. We did deal with it in subsequent legislation in which we have closed the doughnut hole. I compliment the Senator from Louisiana for wanting to do that and all who modified it. But do not make a good intention have a horrible, lethal, unintended consequence. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I know my colleague wishes to speak, but I have a matter to dispose of. I ask unanimous consent that the Murray amendment No. 772 be withdrawn.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Thank you very much.

Ms. MIKULSKI

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

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I oppose this amendment. First, it is a budget buster. To enforce this will take enormous amounts of resources. You cannot be sure that that drug coming from Canada is not a counterfeit, lethal death drug. You don't have any enforcement procedures in here, you don't have the money to enforce it, and we have a history of phony drugs coming into rogue Web sites through counterfeit countries. If you want a drug that has been made in a country that we view as predators toward the United States, when you take your Coumadin, when you want your wife to take her breast cancer drug, when your daughter is going to take that birth control bill, then you want the Vitter amendment. But if you want safety, then defeat the amendment.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I wish to echo the comments of my colleague from Missouri. I too invite Senators to come down. We are showing that we can govern. We have our appropriations bills here, and we have already disposed of 8 amendments--actually, I think we have disposed of more than 8 by now--but we have 22 amendments pending. If Members have an amendment, come and speak to it. If a Member has reviewed these 22 and opposes them, have your day, have your say, because that is what the Senate is--due diligence, due deliberation. What we don't want is everybody--exactly as the Senator from Missouri said, who is the ranking member on Agriculture--coming at 5:30 or 6 or 7 o'clock and wanting to speak. I know the leadership on both sides of the aisle would like to move expeditiously and even, if possible, finish this bill tonight. I think we have agreed we are willing to work through the evening to dispose of amendments, but Senators have to speak on their amendments. So, again, on my side of the aisle, I would really encourage Members, if they have an amendment, to come and speak to it. Regardless of the side of the aisle a Member is on, if a person opposes an amendment, come and speak on it as well. Some of these are quite controversial. Again, we invite this due deliberation. Everybody has worked hard. We have done a lot in appropriations. We have ended earmarks--a topic I know is of special interest to many of our colleagues. We have made significant cuts this year as a result of the continuing resolution and other agreements. But at the same time, the subcommittees have worked hard to follow the mission of what we are trying to do in this country: have a more frugal government. I know in my bill we have paid particular attention on how to curb waste, and I will be speak about that shortly. But, again, I invite my colleagues to come to the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 20, 2011, at 2:15 p.m. in room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on October 20, 2011, at 10 a.m., in SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on October 20, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., in order to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Accountability at FEMA: Is Quality Job #1?''

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on October 20, 2011, at 2:30 p.m.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on October 20, 2011, at 2 p.m., in order to conduct a hearing entitled, ``The G20 and Global Economic and Financial Risks.''