Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I am pleased to discuss this issue with my colleagues. Pipeline safety programs are very important in my State and help ensure that tragic accidents can be prevented. I understand that the pipeline safety programs at PHMSA are funded almost exclusively through user fees.

Mrs. MURRAY. I agree with my colleagues and would like PHMSA to produce such a report. I thank Senator Cochran for bringing this issue to the attention of all Senators.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, this amendment would deny housing assistance to any New Orleans household with a member of a criminal gang or someone convicted of certain drug offenses. Public housing authorities already have the ability to deny or terminate housing assistance to persons who have committed drug-related and violent crimes under current law. This amendment does far more than that. It extends to all forms of housing assistance. It is a permanent prohibition. If anyone in the family has committed these offenses ever, then that entire household would never be able to receive HUD assistance, including homeless assistance or even an FHA loan. I am concerned that this amendment is targeted to one city, New Orleans. We should not be targeting one city or dictating housing policy city by city under this bill. Importantly, the underlying bill provides funding to help our Nation's homeless veterans. Many of those veterans have struggled with substance abuse. If this amendment passes, those veterans will not be allowed to get assistance. I ask my colleagues to vote against the amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, if I could have the attention of all Senators, a number of Senators have come to me and said they want to move quickly through the amendments this afternoon. We can't do it if Senators are leaving. I ask all Senators to please stay on the floor as we move through these last amendments. With that, I believe the next amendment is in order.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, it is my understanding that this amendment is accepted on both sides. I urge a voice vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, the bill in front of us provides critical resources to the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development for investments in transit, rail, airports, and public housing. This is important for investing in jobs in our economy. The funding in this bill has a direct impact on every community across the Nation. We should not delay this important piece of legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

Mrs. MURRAY. I urge a ``no'' vote, Madam President.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, in a few short minutes we are going to be going to a series of votes, including a number of them on the transportation and housing bill that has been before the Senate for a week now. I want to take a few minutes to remind all of our colleagues about the importance of this bill that we will be passing here shortly this afternoon. This is a bill that has broad bipartisan support because it addresses some very real housing and transportation needs of families in every region of this country. We worked very hard with our colleague, Senator Bond, my ranking member, who has been amazingly great to work with this week. We faced some real challenges with our bill this year but together we made some important infrastructure improvements, including providing over $75 billion for the Department of Transportation to support continued investment in our transportation infrastructure. It includes $11 billion for public transit and $1.2 billion to invest in inner-city and high-speed rail. This bill also supports the FAA's efforts to develop its next- generation air transportation system to support projected growth in air travel in coming years. It also invests $3.5 billion for capital improvement at airports across the country. The bill provides nearly $46 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including $100 million for HUD's housing counseling program that will help families who are facing foreclosure today to stay in their homes. The bill also provides more than $18 billion for tenant-based rental or section 8, including an increase of over $1 billion for the renewal of section 8 vouchers. It also provides increased funding for the operation of public housing for a total level of $4.75 billion, to make sure our Nation's low-income families, which are also, as we all know, among the hardest hit in these tough economic times, continue to have access to safe, affordable housing. The bill includes $75 million for a very important program I worked on with Senator Bond, the joint HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program. This is extremely important to our Nation's veterans. It will provide an additional 10,000 homeless veterans and their families with housing and supportive services. The bill also addresses the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens, by providing increased funding to support affordable housing for the elderly, disabled, those suffering from AIDS, and the Nation's homeless. Finally, the bill provides almost $4 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Program to support investments in public infrastructure, housing rehabilitation, and public service, assistance that is critical to our States and our local governments right now. In summary, this bill provides assistance to those who need it most, and it directs resources in a responsible and fiscally prudent way. It will help our commuters, it will help owners, it will help the most vulnerable, and it will help our economy. I hope all Senators will support the bill when we move to the final vote here shortly this afternoon, after we consider several amendments. Before I close, I do wish to take, again, a moment to thank my partner and friend, Senator Bond, whom it has been a pleasure to work with throughout this process, as he and I go to conference now to work hard to make sure we find the differences and fix the differences between us and the House so we can get this bill to the President. I most importantly wish to thank all our staff, from the floor staff who have been so generous with their time and help as we have worked through this, to all the staff who worked on the transportation and housing subcommittee, including John Kamarck, Ellen Beares, Joanne Waszczak, Travis Lumpkin, Grant Lahmann, Michael Bain, Dedra Goodman, and Alex Keenan, our new staff director on transportation who has done an excellent job, and especially Matt McCardle and Mike Spahn for all their efforts during floor consideration. I am pleased we were able to consider and debate so many amendments and have produced a strong bill. But I would be remiss if I did not single out and thank two members of our staff, Meaghan McCarthy and Rachel Milberg, for all the outstanding efforts they made over the past several months under very trying circumstances late at night working so diligently. I wish to especially thank them for all the work they have done to assemble this bill and write the report. I know it was a daunting challenge. I am so grateful to them for all the extra effort they have had to go through under some very trying circumstances. They have done an excellent job. They are a delight to work with. With that, I see that my ranking member is on the floor. I wish to, again, thank him for being a great partner and for all his help and support to get this bill to the floor today. I yield the floor.

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, we are now here on our fifth day of considering the transportation and housing appropriations bill. We do have a number of amendments that have been offered. The Senator from Oklahoma is here. He has the first 30 minutes under the previous order. I have the following 10 minutes. I would like all Senators to know that if all time is not used, we intend to yield back and we expect that these votes may occur as early as 11:30.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senator from California will be here shortly to respond to a number of these amendments, since they fall into the jurisdiction of her full committee. The Senator from Oklahoma has offered three amendments to this bill that are related to transportation. Each of those amendments would limit the ability of States and local governments to spend their highway grants on activities that are eligible for funding under the Federal aid highway program. Those limitations would not only apply to funds that have been earmarked in this bill. I think Senators should understand they would also apply to the formula grants that go to our States and local governments, which plan their own transportation investments. The Senator's amendments would take away funding from transportation enhancement, especially streetscaping, bike and pedestrian paths, and the mitigation of highway runoff pollution. Today, all of these activities are eligible for funding under the current highway authorization law, the SAFETEA-LU Act. Under that act, communities are required to prepare and provide comprehensive transportation plans in order to receive their Federal highway and transit grants. Those plans have to include the communities' plans for bike and pedestrian pathways, because those transportation plans are meant to be comprehensive, and our national policy, which has been debated on the floor of the Senate and the House, has been to recognize bike and pedestrian paths as one component of a complete transportation system. They cannot constitute the largest part of the system but a plan that ignores that element is incomplete. When we provide bike paths and walkways, we help keep our families and our neighbors safe. Without these paths, many more bicyclists, pedestrians, people who commute to work that way would compete with vehicle traffic. Everybody on a bike or footpath is vulnerable when they are mixed in with heavy traffic. But school-age children are the most vulnerable. When we debated this policy under SAFETEA-LU, we determined that bikeways and walkways are an important part and are components of our transportation system for people who cannot afford a car and have to walk to work. People who walk to school are impacted by the Senator's amendment. I don't believe that this bill--the current transportation appropriations bill--is an appropriate time that we should be debating and changing our highway policy, which is so important to all of our communities across the country. The chairman of the appropriate committee is on the floor. I know she wants to respond. I yield the floor to her at this time.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, with that, I would like all Members to know that what we have just agreed to is the final amendments of this bill. If any Senator would like to speak on any of them, they are welcome to come to the floor to do so this evening. But with this agreement, all those amendments will be voted on tomorrow morning, as will be announced at the end of the session today. Mr. President, just to let all Senators know, with this agreement, there will be no further rollcall votes tonight.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 16, 2009.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Science and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 16, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 16, 2009, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a hearing entitled ``Exploring Three Strategies for Afghanistan.''

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 16, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 16, 2009, at 2 p.m.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Safe Streets Campaign of Pierce County, WA. Twenty years ago, Pierce County residents from all walks of life banded together to form the Safe Streets Campaign and to demonstrate the willpower and strength needed to take back their streets from a plague of drug- and gang-related violence and to improve the quality of life in Pierce County. Over the next two decades, the Safe Streets Campaign has shown itself to be an effective citizen-led initiative to pressing community problems. It has organized over 250,000 residents throughout Pierce County to fight crime, substance abuse, and youth violence in partnership with local law enforcement, State and local government, community-based organizations, faith-based groups, businesses, Native American Tribes, schools, and youth. For example, Safe Streets established the Youth Leading Change Initiative in Pierce County high schools to empower young people to lead efforts to address the problems of youth substance abuse and violence. These young people engage their peers and community members in a number of valuable ways. They march against violence. They work to reduce blight in high-risk communities. They engage in peer education on the dangers of youth substance abuse. And they work with Washington State lawmakers to craft innovative solutions to these social problems. I have met with many of these young leaders and been impressed with the work that they do. The proactive community and neighborhood involvement by the Safe Streets Campaign and similar organizations improves the quality of life for families and helps provide a safe environment to raise and educate our children. Its work has led to lower crime rates, reduced 911 emergency calls, helped close thousands of drug houses, sustained ongoing graffiti removal, supported recovering addicts and healthy neighborhoods, and helped youth involved with gangs choose a life of hope rather than a life of crime. Safe Streets is a shining example of citizen initiative where communities stand up for themselves and take their neighborhoods back from the control of drug pushers, gang members, and associated violence. It has been sustained over the past 20 years through a mix of State, Federal, and local government funding and corporate and individual donor support. I commend the staff, founders, board of directors, and volunteers of the Safe Streets Campaign of Pierce County for the dedication that has fueled this community initiative from the beginning, and I congratulate them as they celebrate 20 years of commitment to safe communities.