On the recordMarch 8, 2012
Mr. President, I have had rankings as the most conservative Member of this body many times, and I have often said there are two areas where I am a big spender: one is national defense, one is infrastructure. We desperately need this bill. It is interesting to me that so many of my good friends--and they are friends, including the Senator from Tennessee--will vote as they did back in 2008 for $700 billion for a bailout and then something such as this comes up and somehow this is an excuse to kill the bill. You can kill the bill and we can go back and start all over again. I wish and I think the Finance Committee is going to come up with something that is going to allow us to get this done by the time we get into conference. I urge my conservative friends particularly to go ahead and vote for the highway bill. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. The Senator from Tennessee.
