Barbara Boxer: “let me say as we wind down that I think this committee, of which I am so proud to be the chairman, and I am so pleased…”

“let me say as we wind down that I think this committee, of which I am so proud to be the chairman, and I am so pleased to work with Senator Inhofe on these infrastructure issues, has done its work. I think we have done our job. Now, of course, you can always find something that somebody doesn't like in a bill, but the fact is, as Senator Inhofe explained with a most instructive set of charts--and I thank him so much for going back through the history of the difference between appropriations and authorizations--this is an important step and a necessary step in the process but by no means the last step. He talked about the appropriations process, and I talked about the process now that Senator Feingold and Senator McCain got added to this bill. Although they are still not happy with everything we have done, it creates an independent review. So we will have independent review, we will have appropriations. Therefore, this is a very necessary first step after these projects have come up really from our constituents, from our homeowners, from our city councils, from our boards of supervisors, from our mayors and governors, et cetera. So I believe we have put together a bill that meets our communities' needs, and I think we have done it in the very best way we can. We have complied with the new ethics rules.”