Barbara Boxer: “I reclaim my time. I want to again say to the Senator that she has made this case. This WRRDA bill is life and death. It…”

“I reclaim my time. I want to again say to the Senator that she has made this case. This WRRDA bill is life and death. It truly is in so many of our States. We all saw Katrina. We all saw Superstorm Sandy. I can tell you--I know it sounds like an overstatement, but I can assure you it is not--if we have a situation like that in the Sacramento area, because of the businesses located there and how many people are there--our State has 38 million people-- the devastation would be worse than we have ever seen because of the number of people. This bill takes care of that problem too so we can fix our levees. That is critical. Our levees are falling apart. The Senator has made the case so forcefully for her State, but also she calls attention to the fact that we are experiencing extreme weather. We cannot put our heads in the sand. I was thinking the other day that if you put your head in the sand, you are going to get sand in your eye and you will never be able to see too well. We have got to get our heads out of the sand. Extreme weather is here. It is here because of climate change. We have to deal with it. My preference is to do what we can to avoid climate change. But it is late in the game even now. So we have to adapt. My friend from Louisiana, I have to say, has been a stalwart in protecting her State. We have heard from the Senator from Louisiana as to why WRRDA is so important. You have heard a little bit from me.…”