Tom Harkin: “I want to respond to my friend from Alabama, and he is my friend, and he knows that very well. We have traveled…”

“I want to respond to my friend from Alabama, and he is my friend, and he knows that very well. We have traveled together. Our spouses are friends, and he is a dear friend of mine. We have worked together, as he said, going clear back to our House days. But I am disappointed that my friend opposes this amendment. If there is one thing that has been clear in my association with the Senator from Alabama through all these years, I think it is that he has been an unrelenting champion of NIH research. I am told the University of Alabama at Birmingham ranks 11th in terms of NIH funding. That is even higher than the University of Iowa, by the way. So my amendment, as my friend knows, would put in a $211 million increase for NIH funding that goes around the country. It doesn't just go to Maryland, although some goes to Maryland, but a lot goes around the country. So this does that. Then I would say to my friend from Alabama, during the negotiations from last year, the Senator from Alabama offered an amendment during our full committee markup--that was last July--that would require the Department of Labor to delay both the wage rule and the comprehensive rule regarding H-2B visas. I opposed the amendment, but I included it because it was, again, part of a bipartisan, bicameral agreement.…”