Thad Cochran: “the Senator has very ably explained the challenge that is faced to restore and rebuild and recover in terms of…”

“the Senator has very ably explained the challenge that is faced to restore and rebuild and recover in terms of transportation assets on the Mississippi coast, but this applies and will have an effect across the breadth of the area of the gulf coast that was damaged, including Louisiana, Mississippi, as well as Alabama. Somebody cavalierly noted the other day that this is like the bridge to nowhere--this is the railroad to nowhere. It is a transportation corridor that links New Orleans; Bay St. Louis, MS; Pass Christian; Gulfport, MS; Biloxi, MS; Pascagoula, MS; Mobile, AL, and beyond--as the Senator said--all the way to California on the west side. This is a very important part of the transportation system across the southern United States, and on this line of transportation facilities the Stennis Space Center, where our rockets are tested for the space program, and many other military activities in that part of the gulf coast area--the ship yards at Pascagoula, the Keesler Air Force Base along U.S. Highway 90 in the Biloxi, MS, area, and on and on and on. The Coast Guard facilities and the former naval station at Pascagoula have other activities there. There are national security consequences for the failure to rebuild and recover and restore these important transportation facilities. That is why it is appropriate to do it now. This is authorization. The committee recommended $700 million for the Rail Line Relocation Capital Grant Program.…”