Dianne Feinstein: “I rise today with Senator Boxer in opposition to the Coburn amendment. This amendment limits our ability to appropriate…”

“I rise today with Senator Boxer in opposition to the Coburn amendment. This amendment limits our ability to appropriate funding to projects in our State, and I would ask all Senators to vote against the amendment. My colleagues may remember that during consideration of the fiscal year 2006 emergency supplemental, we had an extended debate over flood control projects in the bill for California because Senator Coburn offered an amendment to strip them out of the bill. I understand that yesterday, Senator Coburn acknowledged that he made a mistake in opposing the Sacramento River Bank project, which he now believes was legitimate emergency funding. However, he has now offered another amendment affecting California and this same project. Senator Coburn's amendment would require that the Army Corps complete its work on the Sacramento riverbank flood control project before it can begin any work on the Imperial Beach replenishment project. These two projects are separated by 500 miles and have no relation to each other, except that both protect homes and families. I would like to briefly discuss these two projects.”