the lower Mississippi River, which is at vital as anything to our commerce, our waterborne commerce, is traditionally underfunded.

the Administration only spends roughly half that amount for harbor maintenance.

I appreciate Chairman Boxer including this provision in the current WRDA draft again, but I am disappointed that it has not been funded.

I want to particularly thank Mike for his very concrete, persuasive testimony.

every time a vessel's draft is decreased by one foot on the lower Mississippi because of under-maintained waterways, this costs shippers about $1 million against the value of their cargo.

Well, again, this is a big fiction, and I think the first important part of this conversation is to get beyond the fiction.

I have to look for a catastrophe to put a supplemental on there to get funding.

I requested that we focus on this issue because it is so vital, including in the context of a new WRDA.

This is something you can tell, I hope, we are communicating that we care passionately about and it is thoroughly bipartisan.

I am very excited to be here. I am very excited to be Ranking Member, and I am very excited about our partnership on infrastructure issues.

How can we double exports when I can't load what we have today?

Thank you, Madam President. Through the Chair, I also wish to thank my distinguished colleague from Tennessee for joining me. Together, as he mentioned, we are writing the Attorney General today about a matter of real concern, and that is…

Things like: not quashing active proselytizing, but telling somebody they can't have a Bible on their desk;

A Christian chaplain ending a prayer, 'In Christ's name'?

the funds are, frankly, going to make it look like we have a stockpile of $6 billion somewhere, which, as Senator Vitter points out, is illusory.

I think it is a commonsense nonstarter to even have that discussion if half of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is being diverted for unrelated purposes.

I am really concerned that this committee vote and this entire nomination is being rushed.

Thank you, Madam President. With that I close and thank, again, my colleague from Tennessee. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee.

Is the task force focused on our central question today, which is ensuring that all of the revenue into the Trust Fund is spent for authorized uses under statute?

Thank you, Mr. President. This is the administration that unconstitutionally put into effect the DREAM Act by administrative fiat. Congress would not pass that. A Democratic House and a Democratic Senate failed to pass it. President Obama…

Thank you, Mr. President. Through the Chair, I wish to thank Senator Durbin for his courtesy in light of another engagement I have. I rise to join my colleague from Alabama and to join many others to express real concern on this topic of…

I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 8 minutes, and I ask the Chair to alert me when 6 minutes has elapsed.

more and more Americans from all walks of life, of both political parties, feel there is not just a pond or a sea but an ocean of difference between the real world where they live and Washington, DC. They view--I think…

I rise in support of H.R. 2838, Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012, which we sent to the President late last week. This important bill provides authorization for all of the programs and missions of the United States Coast…

as we continue to face enormous economic challenges and uncertainty, I rise to join with others in continuing to express concern about too-big-to-fail--a policy we saw clearly in large measure coming out of the 2008 crisis and a policy…