We want to see the country that hosts the chairmanship make the advancements.

We need to be engaged on all fronts, including not least focusing on supporting the efforts of Russians to strengthen democracy and the rule of law.

Last week was a victory for the Russian people over authoritarianism, corruption, and repression.

I appreciate the concerns some in the administration have expressed that such measures might undermine the bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States.

We should at least use the visa applications and look at asset freezes for human rights violators.

We are committed to engaging with, strengthening and modernizing Russian civil society.

The United States should apply targeted pressure against those elements of the security apparatus in Russia that tortured and killed the very individuals who were trying to make the government accountable.

Terminating the application of Jackson-Vanik to Russia is, as I have suggested, critical for United States business and foreign policy interests.

I strongly urge rapid passage of this legislation, which has forced Russian officials to take this case more seriously.

We do not seek to impose our system on anyone else and change within Russia must be internally driven.

It's important that we support the people of Russia in their pursuit of free, fair, and transparent elections.

We can deny him the opportunity to showcase his newfound wealth in the United States.

It needs to cover people responsible for the range of very serious, the most serious human rights abuses in Russia.

What this bill does is it closes that escape valve. It says that if you have committed murder, if you are responsible for torture, you can't come here, you can't park your money here.

Mr. Putin's reputation is much more concerning, problematic, from our point of view.

Let me thank my colleague for yielding. I wish to thank Senator Sanders, Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Boxer, who were on the floor on this issue. I just wish to underscore the point that was just made about having a level playing field…

How do we institutionalize the standards for human rights?

If we have more modern water infrastructure, we wouldn't have the leaks, we wouldn't have these problems to start off with.

We are concerned as to whether the status of our water infrastructure in this country is one that will guarantee in the future that that in fact will be the case.

Because on a level playing field, we will do just fine.

Excellent suggestion. But if we can reduce the leakage by 25 percent, think about the energy savings, think about the efficiency factors, think about the chemicals that don't need to be used.

Let's work to ensure that the regulatory decisions that we make are based on sound science and that we achieve a balance with the community and environmental needs.

I think that would be very helpful.

Explain to me how we can leverage that more effectively, particularly the green infrastructure, which is jobs that can't be exported overseas.

Water infrastructure, unlike harbor maintenance or unlike our transportation program, does not have the dedicated revenue source.