On the recordMarch 8, 2012
Mr. President, I am going to speak against the Vitter amendment because I think it is a huge danger to our economy, and I will explain why. It is a huge overreach by the Federal Government into the ability of States to determine if they want a recreation industry, if they want a fishing industry, if they want a tourist industry. So I will speak more about it. Before I do that, I want to let people know where we are. Thanks to the extraordinary patience of our majority leader, Harry Reid, today, we finally have a path forward to the transportation bill. And normally I would name lots of other people--yes, we have all been involved--but Senator Harry Reid is extraordinary. He sat in his office last night, 7, 8, 9, 10, I was calling him finding out what was happening. I was calling the great staff he has, working with my staff and Senator Inhofe's staff, whom I have grown to respect so much. Given all the issues that are facing us, we all knew that having a transportation bill is critical. We do debate very fiercely on lots of things, and we are going to see that this morning. But when it comes to infrastructure, we have found common ground with most of our Republican friends. I do wish to say, those who tune in to this debate are going to be a bit confused because they are going to hear debates on amendments that are not about highways, bridges, roads. They are not going to hear too much about that for a while. Why is that? Because the Senate is the Senate is the Senate.…





