On the recordDecember 9, 2016
Madam President, I love my colleague. However, the White House strongly opposes this rider, and we have it in clear writing. They issued that notice. They didn't issue a veto because, as Senator Stabenow points out, they are torn. But let's be clear. All we have to do is strip this poison pill and we have a gorgeous bill that saves Flint, that helps us all, where we can smile and I can leave here with a really nice lift in my step rather than leaving here sad that we are threatening a magnificent historical industry called the fishing industry, where people go out and work for their families on little boats, some of them big boats. So what we are saying is we have no choice; we have to swallow this poison pill and, thank God, help the people of Flint, thank the Lord. God, we should have done that a long time ago. Oh my Lord, thank you, Jim Inhofe, for your work on that. Thank you, Debbie and Gary and all the staff. But now we have a circumstance where we are saying yes to that and no to our entire industry on the entire west coast. And every single editorial in California, where--as my friend points out, the underlying bill--I have never gotten as much for California; I almost don't want to say it--26 provisions, everything from Lake Tahoe to the Salton Sea, from the Sacramento River to the San Francisco Bay, to Orange County, the Inland Empire, Republican parts of my State, Democratic parts of my State, amazing work that was done.…





