On the recordMay 7, 2013
I will make an opening statement and then turn it over to my colleague, Senator Vitter, for his opening statement. I want to just say this is a good day for the Senate to get on a bill that is a bipartisan bill, where we have had unanimous support in the Environment and Public Works Committee. This is a bill that will create or save half a million jobs for our Nation, and it has been a long time in coming. The last WRDA bill--the Water Resources Development Act--was in 2007. It took a lot of work to get here. The reason for that is we had to deal with changing the culture of the Senate away from earmarks in a bill like this where projects were named and figure out a way we could move forward with these projects without earmarks. It was difficult. Senator Vitter and I and our staffs have worked hard to get to this point. I particularly want to say to both staffs that we couldn't have done it without your amazing focus. We are so appreciative. Our bill did make it through EPW without a single ``no'' vote. Since then we have been working with almost every Senator to hear their ideas, to get their reactions, and to see if there were ways we could change the bill. This substitute Senator Vitter and I have put forward incorporates the views of a whole array of Senators, and they know who they are. There are many of them, and we are very happy we were able to work with them.…
