On the recordDecember 19, 2012
I ask the Senator from Maryland, if I can-- I know the Senator from Rhode Island wants to join in here, but the Senator from Alaska made a really important point that I think the Senator from Maryland can speak to very specifically; that is, this is not some amount of money that got pulled out of the sky and was put in in the dead of night behind a closed door as some kind of backdoor deal. This has been thoroughly vetted through the Commerce Department, through the fisheries, through the committees, through all of the regulators, through the White House. The White House has signed off on this. This is a designated emergency. It has gone through the requests of the Governors. The Governors have had to submit their data. It has all been through the process. I would ask the Senator from Maryland because she is responsible on the Appropriations Committee for making these judgments--there is not a Senator here who would not agree that she does that with rigor and with standards--I ask her what the meaning is, No. 1, to the State of Maryland, which has a fishing industry, and, No. 2, to the legitimate process of the Senate?
