Amy Klobuchar: “I thank the Senators for working on a bipartisan basis. I thank Senators Murray and Bond for their work on this issue…”

“I thank the Senators for working on a bipartisan basis. I thank Senators Murray and Bond for their work on this issue and for passing the appropriation for the funding to fix the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. The Senate acted incredibly quickly after this tragedy occurred-- August 1. The next day, Senator Coleman and I were there. We saw this tragedy firsthand and the heroic responses of our rescue workers in Minnesota. Ordinary citizens were diving into the water; they didn't know whom they would find and they didn't know the danger. They rescued people. It could have been so much worse. Our citizens came together and now this Senate comes together. I thank them for this. We are losing about $400,000 a day. This was a major thoroughfare in our town and in our Twin Cities area. We are going to rebuild. On the day that we went and saw the shards of steel and the broken bridge that had flopped into the middle of the Mississippi River, I said that bridges in America should not fall down. This bridge did. When bridges in America fall down, we must rebuild. By taking this important action today to fund the rebuilding of the bridge, the Senate has started that process. I thank my colleagues. I thank Senator Coleman for cosponsoring my amendment. We will now move on to rebuilding our bridge and bringing our beautiful Twin Cities area back to where it was.”