Barbara Boxer: “I think people know that, clearly. I know they know that in my State and in your State, but people wonder how can we…”

“I think people know that, clearly. I know they know that in my State and in your State, but people wonder how can we possibly bridge the divide. It is a fact that on certain issues we can't, and I think there is a lesson there. On certain issues, we can't bridge the divide. We recognize that, but we never ever have taken those differences and made them personal. We always respected one another, we tried to understand one another, and we don't waste a lot of time arguing with each other about things where one is Venus and one is Mars, let's be clear, but we do come together as we work for this great country in our total belief that a sound infrastructure is essential for our Nation. You can't compete in a global economy if your infrastructure is failing. If we look at the grade that is given to our infrastructure, our highways, our bridges, our roadways, our sewer systems, unfortunately, the independent engineers of our country--some of whom are Republican, some of whom are Democrats, some of whom are Independents, some of whom could care less about politics--they tell us a lot of our infrastructure is graded at C-minus, D-plus, D. It is sad when we look at the grades and think: Oh, my God. Thank goodness we got a C. That is not the way I raised my kids. We need to do better. So we found this amazing area where we could work together. Even within that, we had different priorities, and that is OK. I know what his are and he knows what mine are.…”