kentucky senator rand paul and others because of some memos he wrote providing the legal justification for drone strikes against u.s. citizens abroad. now live to the senate floor on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. creator, redeemer, sustainer, you called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. dispel the shadows of confusion in our lives, replacing them with your clarity and peace.

what we don't know, teach us. what we can't see, show us. what we don't have, give us. what we aren't, make us. abide with our senators in their labors, using them as vessels for your service. lord, keep them on the path of integrity, strengthened and sustained by your grace. bless and keep them. make your face shine upon them and be gracious to them. lift the light of your countenance upon them and give them your peace. we pray in your great name.

amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 384, s. 2363, which is the hagan sportsmen's legislation. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting and for other purposes.

mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 1:45 today. the time until then will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or our designees. with the majority controlling the first 30 minutes, the republicans the second 30 minutes. additionally, senator leahy will control the final five minutes and senator paul will control the five minutes prior to the president pro tempore's statement. at 1:45, there will be two roll call votes. the first vote will be on confirmation of the nomination of david barron to be united states circuit judge for the first circumstance ultimate. and the second vote will be on adoption of the conference report to accompany h.r. 3060, the water resources development act. mr. president, this week, senate republicans voted against a tax cut that most of them have said they like. and the legislation's widely

applauded around the country. i have a letter from 152 different entities who say they love this legislation and they said it should pass. two of whom are the chamber of commerce, certainly no left-leaning group, national association of manufacturers, same. and scores of others. it seems the only republicans that don't want this tax cut are the republicans in congress. republicans around the country want these tax cuts. democrats want the tax cuts. and independents. this legislation is very important because it would bolster nearly every segment of our society. it helps students and teachers, workers and employers, american families and businesses, all while saving money and growing our economy. these 152 people that signed this letter to me are pleading with the senate to extend these

tax provisions, because not doing so would -- quote -- "inject instability and uncertainty into our economy." republicans say that the reason they voted against the bill is because they want to vote on amendments and yet the only amendment they've identified was a poison pill amendment. of course, what was the subject matter, mr. president? their favorite subject -- obamacare. it has nothing to do with the extenders. but we've seen this play out before, this game, and the senate's not going to vote on "gotcha" amendments designed to score political points. this legislation is too important. i've said all along, i'm willing to entertain reasonable germane amendments and that's certainly appropriate. that's what they did in the finance committee. they had extended markup of this bill in the finance committee and the rule they have there is that amendments had to be germane. that rule applied to this bill,

as it should, and that's what should be applied here on the floor. so if republican senators can come with a list of reasonable germane amendments, i'm more than happy to return to the tax extenders bill. mr. president, those are amendments that i would not pick. you know, they always say, "reid is picking our amendments." mr. president, it's their amendments. they can file reasonable germane amendments and there is a multitude of amendments they could offer. so let's see if the republicans want to get something done on this legislation. we can debate back and forth on the finer points of senate procedure endlessly, as has happened around here in the last 5 1/2 years, but at the end of the day, it comes down to a simple question: do you want to get something done for the middle class? do you want to get something done for business? or do you just want to impose more grid clock and obstruction and delay for the sake of delay?

we're here because we want to get something done for the middle class. that's how we feel on this side of the aisle. it's a shame my republican colleagues cannot say the same. would the chair announce the business of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 1:45 p. p.m., with senators permitted to speak therein, with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and with the majority controlling the first 30 minutes and the republicans controlling the second 30 minutes. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, we're going to have a vote today to overcome a republican filibuster of david barron, who has been nominated to fill a vacancy to the u.s. court of appeals for the first circuit. i've had the privilege of serving longer in this body than any other senator here.

i've never seen so many filibusters of judicial nominees by any president, republican or democratic. in fact, they decided to filibuster the very first judg judge -- the very first judge -- that senator -- that president obama sent to this body, a judge who was strongly supported by the senators from his state, one of whom was the most senior republican in this body, the other a moderate democrat. fortunately enough people joined together to overcome that filibuster. now, i would urge all senators to vote to end this unjustified filibuster of an extraordinary nominee. david barron is currently a professor at harvard law school. he's a nationally recognized expert on constitutional law and the operation of powers, administrative law and

federalism. he clerked on the u.s. supreme court for justice john paul stevens. in fact, i recall whe justice stevens had so much regard for him that he attended mr. barron's nomination hearing. and i have full support for mr. barron's nomination. it's almost like he sent to central casting for who should be a court of appeals judge, who could be the most qualified to be a court of appeals judge. i have not seen anybody with better qualifications by either republican or democratic presidents. now, let me respond to some of the criticisms levied against him. with respect to the so-called drone memos, as well as allegations he would not be an independent judge. and i reject both those. over the last few weeks, i've spoken extensively about the issue of the drone materials. refer specifically to my statement on may 14 of this year.

now, senators may disagree with the administration's policies regarding the use of drones for lethal counterterrorism operations and i have raised criticism of some of those operations, but it is important that senators not conflate the confirmation of david barron with the disclosure of department of justice memoranda over which he has no control. he wrote what is the law. others make the decision of what they will do. yesterday the justice department made the right decision by agreeing to release a redacted version of the legal justification for the government's potential use of lethal force against u.s. citizens in counterterrorism operations, and i welcome the administration's additional step toward greater transparency. i would urge the president to do this -- i urged the president to do this and the attorney general and i agree with them. and incidentally, these materials have been available to all senators in recen.

in recent weeks, we've had them in the unredacted form in a secure room here in the capitol. so -- and we did that so nobody could claim, well, if i only knew what was in those memos, i could make up my mind. every single senator has had an opportunity to read them. and we've heard some senators argue the justice department legal analysis provides the government with a blank check to use lethal force against americans in places like germany or canada. oh, my god. talk about grasping at straws. we're dealing with reality here, not "alice in wonderland." such a claim is simply inaccurate, inconsistent with the understanding anybody would have reading these materials. in any event, the attorney general has confirmed that anwra al-alwaki is the only american who was specifically targeted and killed since 2009. and alwaki was a senior

operational leader of all of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, located in yemen. he directed the failed attempt to blow up an airliner over detroit on christmas day 2009. he was continuing to plot attacks against the united states when he was killed, according to the attorney general. if this person is not someone plotting against the united states, i don't know who is. and i'm glad that a number of senators have shared my deep regard for the constitutional rights of americans. they've spoken about their desire for the constitutional rights of americans, and i hope after mr. barron is confirmed they will show they really do care about the constitutional rights of americans by joining me and 21 other senators in cosponsoring the u.s.a. freedom act, to help restore americans' constitutional and privacy

rights. here's a chance to actually prove you believe what you've been saying. and finally, both mr. barron and a long list of bipartisan supporters have forcefully refuted any indication he views the role of a judge as that of a policy-maker. in response to a question from senator grassley, mr. barron stated under oath -- quote -- "the judicial obligation is to set aside whatever personal views one may have and decide the particular case at issue. a judge must base the decision in any case solely on the facts of the law or respectfully consider the arguments of the litigants. i would take that obligation to be an inexorable one, just as i felt aside to put aside any personal views i may have had in providing legal advice within the executive branch while serving as the acting assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel and as a career lawyer in that office. i believe the best way to ensure

one honors that obligation is to immerse one's self fully in the particular facts of the case and law relevant to it and apply the law faithfully to those facts." what he said was recently reaffirmed by stanford law professor michael mcconnell, well respected conservative scholar. formerly a george w. bush appointee to the 10th circuit. we have a letter from professor mcconnell supporting mr. barron which will be part of the record. and, you know, this is a man -- you're grasping at straws to vote against this person. some have cited statements he's made in his academic writings. even professor mcconnell, a former judge appointed by a conservative former -- a conservative former judge appointed by a republican president, said it's important to bear in mind that academic,

legal writing and constitutional law is often exploratory and provocative. no one should assume that an academic would take the same approach toward deciding cases that he does in writing about cases. so incidentally, professor mcconnell, very conservative republican who had written provocatively, he was confirmed unanimously by this senate. every democrat, every republican supported him. now we have a double standard. we have an utstandin outstandin. proffer mcconnell called him one of policemen' president obar three nominations to the court. let's vote for this good man. i ask consent my full statement be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: i yield the floor.

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, i want to speak for a few minutes about the urgency of passing the tax extender bill and describe to our colleagues all the bipartisanship that has gone into this important effort. this bill, mr. president, is truly urgent because america's employers file their taxes quarterly, which means that they are paying higher taxes today without this tax extender package, which means less money for hiring and training workers, less money for buying new equipment, and less money for investing in innovation and growing jobs here at home. for example, a restaurant owner who needs to replace a walk-in freezer to keep their business

running is going to pay higher taxes because they can't, in effect, hold down the costs through the provision in the tax bill, and that means that they'll be cutting shifts and cutting workers. and this bill is just as urgent for millions of other american families. for example, a family with a college student who's registering for summer school this week and who's going to lose a tuition tax break. and homeowners whose place is now worth less than they paid for it. they finally cut a break recently from their lender, and without this legislation, they would face now a real tax increase on phantom income. so that's why this bill is so timely, so urgent, mr. president, and now i'm going to spend just a few minutes talking about the extraordinary

bipartisan team effort that went into putting this legislation, getting it through the finance committee and bringing it to the senate floor. and the process began almost immediately after chairman baucus went to china, when my staff and i began working with senator hatch and his staff, as well as other committee members on both sides of the aisle. we recognized that this would not be an easy bill to write. so senator hatch and i agreed to limit the focus of the legislation to tax extenders, the stop-and-go tax policies that we both think should end with comprehensive tax reform. and after a lot of sweat equity put in by democrats and republicans on the committee, i introduced the expire act, and that was the beginning of the bipartisan odyssey to make sure that this bill was passed and passed quickly so as to deal with those urgent needs i

described. before the committee met for a markup, senators offered 93 amendments, including 36 from republicans. my team and i worked with both sides of the committee to incorporate 13 amendments into a modified bill. 11 of them have republican sponsors or cosponsors. then when the committee got together for markup, there were additional amendments. seven more were approved, including three then from republicans. so this bill, mr. president, is thoroughly bipartisan. the committee held to the agreement that senator hatch and i struck to keep the focus on tax extender policies, and i want to make one thing very clear: those bipartisan amendments, the ones we've already included, have made the legislation better. and if you really want the best proof, look at the amendment offered by our colleague, senator roberts, and senator schumer, a democrat and a republican. it did important work to

strengthen the tax credit for research and development. and, by the way, this bipartisan amendment built on another bipartisan idea, a first-rate idea from senator coons and senator enzi to improve the credit; in particular to make it more attractive for the small businesses, those businesses starting in a garage across the country. and it would allow innovative start-ups to use the r&d credit to help pay their employees' wages. so this is just smart policy. it's not democratic policy or republican policy. it's smart policy. because it encourages american innovation, the engine of economic progress, and makes that engine stronger than it is today. and it's going to make it easier for young companies to hire new workers, and it's exactly the kind of bipartisanship that the country is making it clear it's hungry for. now, there are other bipartisan examples i could cite.

they'd all prove the same point. but i want to wrap up by saying that now the senate has the chance, using exactly that procedure, to make the bill even stronger. it was made clear last week by the majority leader, by myself, and others: we are open to amendments that build on what went on in the committee. and, by the way, mr. president, there are lots of them, lots of them. i was here on friday until late last week and through the weekend talking to colleagues, an equal number of democrats and republicans. it would be one thing if there weren't, say, a lot of germane issues, relevant issues to choose from. that is not the case. there are dozens of amendments from senators on both sides of the aisle that directly relate to the topic in question: the stop-and-go provisions that have expired, and if we don't move to renew them, our economy is going to get hurt in ways that i've

described. so our goal all along here on the senate floor has been to replicate exactly the bipartisanship that went on in the finance committee. and i absolutely -- absolutely believe that that is still possible. that's why i described, as soon as the vote was cast last week -- i spent the weekend looking for a bipartisan pathway. we had encouraging calls over the weekend indicating that both sides of the aisle wanted to work together to make progress. we had additional conversations about this through the week. some senators were concerned that they wouldn't have a chance to offer any amendments, whether they focused on extenders or not. but, as i said then, i repeat now, i am open -- open to hearing from colleagues on both sides of the aisle about their amendments, and i guess i can keep repeating it again and again, mr. president, but i hope that the point is getting

through. i guess if i had brought a billboard to the floor, as sometimes people do, the billboard would say, "bring on the amendments." in big capital letters. so i'll wrap up by say, i know o i'll wrap up by saying, i know that the bill is not exactly the legislation that everybody wants. if i had my first choice, we'd be working on comprehensive tax reform rather than the extenders. but it hasn't been possible to do that. so today the senate needs to focus on the urgent business at hand, and that is making sure our people don't get punished. if the senate doesn't act on this, mr. president, we would be punishing veterans who come home looking for jobs, we would punish innovators, we'd be punishing small businesses, punishing those homeowners who are under water on their mortgages, punishing the students with the mountains of debt.

and i'll wrap up by saying, any colleague who is for that, let me know, because i don't know of a single senator -- not one -- who thinks that that's a good idea when our economy is so fragile, to weigh it down with a tax hike. there aren't any senators who are telling me they want to subject american families and businesses to yet more uncertainty about their tax bills. so our legislation, our bipartisan legislation, would keep that from happening. it's absolutely essential that the senate come together in a bipartisan way, build on exactly what we did in the senate finance committee, get this legislation across the goal line. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. first let me compliment our chairman, our new chairman of the finance committee. he is doing a great job on this bill. he is keeping the tenor

bipartisan, as he has done throughout his whole career. and he's only been there a short while, but he's taking to the chairmanship like a fish to water. i just want to follow up. there is so much bipartisan in this bill. it passed out of committee unanimously. i worked o on an amendment with senator roberts that senator coons had originated with senators isakson and blunt to improve the section 181 live production incentive. portman and carter worked on energy nshes. cantwell and roberts on low-income tax credit and the list goes on and on and on. as a result, this bill has broad support. the business round table, grover norquist as well as the n.e.a. and feeding america -- broad, bipartisan support. so where are we? and i'd just like to further elaborate on what the chairman has said. we are willing to vote on

amendments. now, i -- you know, i always think of my dear friend from tennessee, lamar alexander, who remembers how the place used to work -- and constantly reminds us. and that's a good thing in this body. he'd say, on most bills there would being bipartisan support in the committee. the ranking member and the chair would get together with a list of amendments, each from his or her side, and they'd come up with a list. well, we're willing to do that here. in fact, leader reid has been extremely generous. he said, we're not going to -- we're not going to decide it should be this one, not that one. as long as the amendments are germane to this extenders bill -- of course we can't open up the whole tax code for debate or go and debate the merits of a.c.a. on this bill. this is not the type of bill to do that. it is a bipartisan bill, as chairman wyden outlined that's very necessary.

so we would plead with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle for the sake of the country, just come up with some amendments, a list. if it is 100, of course wyden or hatch will have to whittle it down. if they're germane to stefnedzers, we'll have to -- if they're germane to extenders, we'll have to vote them up or down. but the cry from the other side, let us do amendments, we are answering that plea. chairman wyden as made it clear, we're not going to pick and say we'll do this one, not that one. the only -- you know, the only two limits that i can tell are time -- we can't do 100 or 200 of these. but as lamar constantly reminds us, that's not going to happen. nor can we go far afield way beyond the bounds of this bill. germaneness makes sense in such a bipartisan and important bill. but other than that, let's let

it rip. so i know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are discussing this. i know they're very serious about it. i've talked to colleagues on the floor, in the gym, in the corridors of these bodies about getting this done. it is so important for the country, and even beyond that. if we can't work in a bipartisan way on this bill, which was put together by senators wyden and hatch in such a bipartisan way, which has so much input from both sides of the aisle, and where the offer is, let's do amendments, not picking and choosing, we'll pick this one, not that one, but simply limited to what the bill is all about -- germaneness -- then we won't get anything done here. and i want my colleagues on both sides of the aisle -- on my side of the aisle, so many members -- and i sympathize with them -- who desire to legislate and do amendments, we have made an offer to let's do amendments.

and we hope the focuses o folkse other side of the aisle -- it's sort of a little test. but if we can't come up with a way to legislate on this bill, a bipartisan bill that has the support of the left, right, and center, that everyone agrees, as senator wyden outlined how much america needs them, what are we going to be able to legislate on? so we have a little time. we have a week where we can discuss this while we're back in our districts working away. let's get this done. i would plead with my colleagues -- "plead" is the right word, the right verb -- come up with a list. let's -- we'll come up with our list. then let's roll up our sleeves, get to work on the floor and pass this bill. and i believe if we do, the other body will. the other body has different ideas. they want to make a few of these permanent. that's a legitimate amendment in the bounds that leader reid has

talked about. let's vote on it. let's debate it and vote on it. that's what we're supposed to do. and if the other body's wisdom prevails, it'll make it easier to pass a bill. and i even if the other body's wisdom doesn't prevail, they'll see that our body had a changes to debate on it and -- had chance to debate on it and decide on it. so again we're willing not to pick amendments. i know there is a complaint on the other side of the aisle that our leadership picks which amendments. we're not doing that. all we're saying is they ought to be germane to extenders, focused on the issue at hand, which are the extenders. this is not a bill that came out of figment of the imagination of four democratic managers with no input. if we can't legislate on this bill, then what can we? i would ask my colleagues to get us the thrais they com list of t they want to vote

on. mr. president, i yielded floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma.

mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i wanted to spend a moment or two talking about the water resources development act conference report and i would say to my colleagues, both in this chamber and in the house, some improvement in the wrda reauthorization has happened. but it's not near enough. over the past seven to -- from 1986-2010, the average new authorizations were over $3 billion a year and the average amount of money was $1.8 billion a year. so we've been going backwards all that time. in this report, they did deauthorrize less than 10% of the $80 billion in backlogged projects. their attempt to take some of the political nature out of it is a good attempt but it's not nearly complete and will be

gamed just like we've seen in the past. what really hasn't happened in the wrda bill, and partly because they don't have the authority to do it, is to change the corps of engineers. there's never been a project the corps of engineers doesn't want to build, and there's never been a study they don't want to study. because what that means is theyr budget continues and their jobs continue. and so we don't have a distinct independent voice that we can rely upon because of bureaucratic malaise and self-interest trumps it every time. there's another critical problem with this bill. the inland waterway trust fund is out of money. we steal it every year. it's like social security -- the money's been stolen and spent. and yet they changed the requirement for inland waterway repairs where it used to be if it was under $8 million, we'd

pay for it out of the general fund, not the trust fund; now they've moved that to $20 million. so what -- what that, in essence, says is we're going to do things that are the responsibility of the trust fund but we're going to charge the american taxpayer rather than the users of the inland waterway to do these repairs. we have a lot of those in need of repair on the kerr mcclellan waterway in oklahoma. so there's a little sleight of hand, another smoke-and-mirror set from the congress of the united states to the american people about not being truthful about what they're doing. we need a priority of projects. we need discipline within the corps of engineers. there is none. there is no discipline. it's turf protection and bureaucratic excess continued as normal. and what we should have done is deauthorrize about $40 billion worth of the projects that are

presently aligned and really put a priority on what is most important for the nation, not what's most important for a certain congressman or a certain senator to look good at home. but unfortunately we didn't have the courage to do that. we didn't have the strength of character to do that. we wouldn't stand up and defend that. so what we did is make a minimal progress. and there is some progress, i'll admit it. but it's certainly not enough to get my vote. when you fix symptoms of disease rather than fixing the real disease, what you do is delay the onset of the cure and that's exactly what we've done with the water resources conference act. mr. president, i yield the floor, note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: mr. isakson: mr. president, i ask that chair to address the senate in morning business. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. isakson: i ask a this the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: and unanimous consent to address the senate for up to five memberships as if

in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, on the last monday of every may, our country pauses to celebrate memorial day and honor the men and women who have died in wars around the world in defense of freedom, liberty, peace, and the united states of america. this coming monday is no exception. i urge my fellow members of the senate, all georgians and all americans to take a little moment sometime over this weekend to pause and give thanks for the sacrifices that have been made so we can do what we're doing here today, mr. president. and so georgians and americans can do what they like on the lakes, beaches, and mountains of our country as they celebrate memorial day. i was honored and pleased to travel to eight of the american cemeteries in europe, italy, lux luxembourg, great britain, and france, particularly normandy, and pay tribute to the thousands and thousands of graves of americans who went overseas in world war i or warld wa or worle

their lives and sacrificed or died. our armed forces are a great gift to us. they never ask for anything in return. they always give their service to our country. they swear their allegiance to protect and defend and protect our domestic tranquillity. and every single time they do the job. today we know they're deployed in afghanistan. we know they're deployed in africa. we know they'r they are at sea n the air looking to coo that america is safe and free from harm. i want to encourage all my citizens to say a special prayer of thanks to the men and women who sacrificed and died on behalf of our country and on behalf of freedom and liberty and peace for all mankind. i want to add a word to this comment. there's no secret that there is a scandal at the veterans administration. we don't know how purveysive and how deep. but it surrounds the appointments and cooking of the

books in terms of appointments in the v.a. health care system. i know they have a hard scwhrob, but their -- i know they have a hard job, but their first job is to make sure our seerntse vetert the health care they deserve. i want the president to exhibit leadership and make sure we have a rudder in the water so we sail the ship of state in terms of the right direction of the v.a. let the chips fall where they way, including if the department of just should be involved. to cook the books would be in my mind a crime and people should be held accountable. just to call for the head of one person without going through the entire v.a. is wrong. last august i held a hearing in atlanta because we had three u untimely ledges in the atlanta v.a., two by suicide, one by drug overdose. all were found to be because of

the v.a. to georgia's credit and to secretary shin sec kiss credit, we replaced the director with plies whigans, she meets with me on a monthly basis. she was the first to call me a to say a mistake had been made and punishment had bfn issued and she was going to see that the v.a. had. we need that attitude and a pproach in every single v.a. hospital, v.a. clinic and v.a. medical facility in the country. so i hope the president will exhibit the leadership necessary to call on every element of the government from the inspector general to the justice department to the v.a. itself to get to the bottom of what's going on because it's intolerable, unacceptable and wrong. here on the doorstep of a holiday where we celebrate those who sookifiesed their life for our freedom, there are veterans lysing their life because of our inability to serve them in the v.a. hospitals. i hope the president will exhibit that leemplet i hope

geat to the bottom of t as one member of the veterans' committee, i ledge my commitment to get to the bottom of it. our veterans deserve no less. i yield back and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the internet tax freedom forever act, legislation that i've introduced on a bipartisan basis with my colleague, senator ron wyden, to make the expiring internet tax moratorium permanent. because of the moratorium, americans have not been taxed on internet access for 16 years, but this is going to change and

new taxes will be levied starting in november if congress doesn't act soon. i'm proud to work with senator wyden on this bill, the lead senate sponsor on the original tax freedom act that passed in 1958. this landmark law known as itfa imposed a federal moratorium. this moratorium has been extended three times and has been critical to the rapid growth of the internet. as we all know, the internet provides social benefits, mom and pop businesses in places like south dakota and oregon and across america found access to consumers and new business opportunities that are only possible through the internet. job seekers and entrepreneurs are finding opportunities that were once difficult to discover. educators are exploring innovative tools and techniques that are powered by the internet to equip students with the skills that they'll need for the 21st century. and health care professionals are remotely providing services

that are saving lives in rural areas. mr. president, the idea behind the moratorium is straightforward. by not taxing internet access, we encourage broadband adoption and investment which spurs all of the exciting activities that i just mentioned. the internet is a gateway to tremendous societal benefits. it is frankly astounding when you consider that it wasn't very long ago that the internet was considered a novelty only for the tech savvy. today it's a must-have resource, the existence of which we almost take for granted. we cannot take for granted, however, that the moratorium on internet access taxes has contributed to the internet now being accessed by hundreds of millions of americans every single day. thanks to this 16-year ban, consumer access to the internet is free from state and local taxation for nearly all americans. this gives consumers a welcome break on their monthly bills.

in the commerce committee, we talk a lot about finding ways to encourage greater broadband deployment across all of america, and as cochair of the congressional internet caucus i've worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find ways to promote the internet as an engine of economic growth and economic freedom of the one of the ways that we can do that is by making broadband more affordable. state taxation of internet service will make broadband more expensive, which is at cross-purposes with our goal of encouraging internet access and deployment. mr. president, this doesn't make a lot of sense. the moratorium also benefits consumers by prohibiting multiple and discriminatory taxes on goods and services sold over the internet. this means consumers won't be taxed by multiple states on the same seam and that states won't tax internet sales more than,

say, mail order or telephone sales. unfortunately, the internet tax moratorium is set to expire on november 1. because of this many internet providers are preparing to send out notices to their customers informing them they may have to start paying taxes on their internet access if congress fails to act. i expect many millions of americans who use the internet will not be happy when they realize that their phone or internet bill is going to suddenly increase. two things are for sure. expiration of itfa won't encourage more americans to get on line to do commerce, civic engagement or social media, and countless americans will be calling congress demanding that we keep taxes off of internet access. rather than wait for angry constituents, mr. president, let's be proactive and pass the internet tax freedom forever act without delay. my bill would finance committee

chairman wyden provides for a permanent extension of the moratorium. by passing a permanent extension, we'll provide certainty to internet consumers in every single state in this country. making the moratorium permanent also means congress won't have to waste time and energy passing yet another extension year after year after year into the future. there are plenty of other areas for congress to focus on. our bill also eliminates the grandfather clause that currently allows six states to tax internet access. eliminating the moratorium's grandfather provision will provide consumers and businesses with a tax break. this includes consumers and businesses in my home state of south dakota where our legislation will make internet access less expensive, thus helping to encourage broadband deployment. the internet tax freedom forever act currently has 46 cosponsors, nearly half of the united states senate. the bipartisan cosponsors of the

legislation understand the tremendous benefits provided by ensuring internet access is not taxed and the discriminatory taxes are not applied to the internet. i strongly encourage my colleagues in the senate to join senator wyden and me and the 46 other cosponsors in this fight. when the senate reconvenes after memorial day recess, we should move quickly to extend the tax moratorium and to ensure that americans don't wake up on november 2 with new unexpected taxes. in the coming weeks and months, i plan to continue raising the need to pass our bipartisan legislation. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. later today we're going to have the opportunity to pass a very important bill, the water resources development act, the wrda bill. and the presiding officer knows

firsthand the importance of this legislation to our ports in new jersey and maryland. this is a very important bill, and it's going to get passed, and it's going to get signed by the president. it's a bipartisan bill. i want to congratulate senator boxer and senator vitter, our chair and ranking member on the environment and public works committee, for developing a process where democrats and republicans, all members of the senate, could work to develop the very best water resources bill for our country. this follows, i think, in the best traditions of the last congress when we were able to pass map-21, the surface transportation reauthorization that provided for the building of our roads, our bridges, our transit systems and the f.a.a., which dealt with our air highways, with dealing with the most modern air system that we could. so now we're moving forward with the water resources development act that deals with our nation's

locks, levies, dams and ports, channels and harbors. there's something in common with both the, this bill and the two other bills i talked about, the highway bill and transportation bill, and the aviation bill. they all involve economic progress and growth, planning for our future, creating the type of job opportunities that we need and having a modern infrastructure in order to carry that out. for my state of maryland, mr. president, this bill is vitally important. vitally important. the port of baltimore is an economic engine for the state of maryland. we have the ninth busiest port in the nation in baltimore. it's number one on roll in and roll off, the automobile truck import-exports, we're number one we're number one on ores and sugar and gypsum. the bulk products we rank number one there. so our part is critically important to our country, critically important to our

national economy and vitally important to the maryland economy. so what we -- last summer, i might add, that the port of baltimore entered into a new contract with -- with several car manufacturers in order to increase its -- mazda, in order to increase its traffic within the port of baltimore. so my point is that there are thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, tens of thousands of jobs, in my community directly and indirectly related to the activities of the port. so why is this legislation so important? well, i'll give you many reasons but let me give you the primary reason. we need to make sure that we have acceptable sites to deal with the dredge material in order to maintain our harbor's depth so that the big car doe ships can come into our port. that's been a continuous struggle for many, many years. several years ago in maryland we developed the popular island

solution. the poplar island is a barrier island that was disappearing in the chesapeake. at one time it was habitable. it is no longer habitable. so before poplar island, the thought was let's just pick some site, dump the material and not worry about it. but with poplar island, we not only have a place to put our environmental material, it's a restoration, it provides a haven for wildlife and birds and habitat. it offers once again the original purpose of a barrier island and that is to protect against the -- the stream effects of storm. so this is a win-win situation. it gives us a dredge site for the material so we can keep the harbor at the proper depth. it gives us an environmental plus so that we can deal with wildlife in the chesapeake, and it protects against the extreme weather conditions that occur too often. well, it was absolutely essential that we changed the authorization in order to be

able to continue to use poplar island as a site for dredge material. and in this legislation, we get that done. we accelerated the -- the army corps's reports. army corps's reports, we got it back in time and now that location will be available for many years to come in order to accept the dredge material so we can keep the harbor dredged at its appropriate level. i might say, there's also authorization in this bill to make sure that our harbor is maintained at its current depth. but we've gone even further than that. we've planned far into the future by now authorizing midbay, the next poplar island. the next poplar island which is, again, a barrier island that is disappearing, will be restored, used for economic purposes for dredge material but then converted into a positive for the environment and to protect us against storms. that's what this bill means to my state, just one example --

and we could mention examples all over the country. in regards to the chesapeake bay, i've taken the floor many times to talk about the chesapeake bay. $1 trillion in our economy comes from the bay, from -- from watermen and fisheries, from tourists, from commerce to real estate values. all are affected by the quality of the chesapeake bay. the environmental restoration program, we made some commonsense reforms to that program in the bill that we will be voting on this afternoon. so there's a lot in here. i want to thank senator warner, my colleague from virginia, the oyster restoration program is in this bill, which is vital to the restoration of the chesapeake bay to restore our oyster crops. we're making progress on oysters in the bay. but we've got to continue that effort. and the bill that we'll have a chance to vote on this afternoon will allow us to continue to make progress on oyster

restoration and on the chesapeake bay. there is a continuing authorities program, reforms to those programs. i mention that because some people might not pick this up, the legal significance of the changes that we're making on the continuing authorization progr programs. that helps our smaller communities. and in maryland and in new jersey, there are a lot of smaller communities that very much depend upon projects that may not be as big as poplar island or midbay but they're very important for the local community. we have, for example, in cumberland a dam that needs to be removed. it's going to be a lot easier for that to get the type of action necessary as a result of the enactment of the legislation we're going to be taking up this afternoon. we have barrier island restorations off of cristfield on the lower eastern shore which will be assisted by the changes that we make in this

legislation. we deauthorrize certain portions of two channels on the lower shore. now, that's important because the community needs and wants to have boat slips in that area. by d deauthorizing, they can do that and this is the right use for the community. these are the commonsense changes we've made as a result of the legislation that we will be voting on this afternoon. i want to mention one other provision that is in this bill and i really want to thank the conferees. i was proud to be part of the conference, quite frankly. i was on the conference committee. senator boxer and senator vitter conferred with us frequently and we came out with a good bill, a bipartisan bill, a bicameral bill, a responsible bill and a bill that's going to help our economy. but we also put in there the reauthorization of the state revolving fund. now, mr. president, we haven't reauthorized the state revolving fund since 1993. this is the program that is critical to our state and local governments in dealing with how we treat our waste, the

wastewater treatment facility plants get their funding through the state revolving fund. so it's important that we get it authorized. and that's in the bill that we're going to be taking up this afternoon. i introduced a reauthorization bill in 2009. in that i would have liked to have seen the program more robust than it is today. this is a reauthorization that allows us to make at least some significant improvements in the state revolving fund. we deal with green infrastructure to make it easier for green infrastructure in outeourwastewater treatment pla. water recapture and reuse. water is a valuable commodity. we take steps in this bill to do that. energy efficiency. we waste a lot of energy in our water infrastructure. this makes it more energy efficient, again, helping our country and helping our environment. and it helps economically disadvantaged communities to have a better shot at dealing with wastewater issues. so there's a lot in here from the smallest community to the

largest community, to our economy. this is a good day for our nation because we're going to pass the bill. the bill passed by over 400 votes in the house of representatives. we're going to pass this bill. the president's going to sign it. this is a good day. our water infrastructure now has a brighter future for the modernization of our water infrastructure. it gives us a brighter future for our economy. and i was proud to be on the committee that developed the bill and proud to be part of the conference committee and proud to join the presiding officer from new jersey in moving this bill forward. and i look forward to the vote this afternoon. mr. cardin: mr. president, on behalf of senator menendez, i would ask unanimous consent that chris lamberg, a detailee from the state department to the senate foreign relations committee, be granted floor privileges through june 12,

2014. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: and, mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to call off any quorum call that may be proceeding. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. are -- mr. vitter: mr. president, i rise today in strong support of the water resources reform and development act. we're going to be considering

the final conference report on that legislation and voting on it in just a few hours. this wrrda bill is a strong bipartisan bill, it's a jobs bill. it's very, very much needed in our weak economy. and that's why we need to move forward and pass this finally into law. and it's also a pretty good example of how this place should work, how we can work in a bipartisan, constructive way, how we can move forward as an institution and find common ground on these sorts of important matters. earlier this week the house passed the wrrda bill, 412-4. that's pretty much unheard of. i'm not sure a resolution expressing admiration for mother teresa passed by that vote in the house, so that's a strong testament to the broad bipartisan, pro-jobs nature of the bill. and, again, it's because wrrda has a sharp focus on what our

country desperately needs right now, job creation as well as improved storm and flood protection, and enhanced national commerce, particularly in our maritime sector. the bill invests in our waterborne assets and grows jobs, keeps us competitive in global markets. ensuring our ports and waterways are operated and maintained and improving the flow of commerce in that way will create jobs. being prepared for the panama canal expansion will increase imports and exports and that will create jobs. and providing flood and storm damage protection for communities large and small and businesses all along our nation's coast and waterways is necessary, is important, and will also create jobs. so let me underscore the wrrda bill will not only grow our economy, it will directly put americans back to work.

let me mention some of the specifics of the bill. before i talk about what the bill does, let me start with what it doesn't do. it absolutely does not increase the deficit. it absolutely does not contain any earmarks as defined under our rules or the house rules. in fact, "the wall street journal" recently editorialized in strong support of the bill as a fiscally responsible way to address infrastructure needs. in fact, the bill even has a deauthorization provision, a mechanism to provide authorization offsets for the important and necessary positive authorizations the bill does contain. now, what does the bill do? well, the corps of engineers reform and accountability,

number one. that's very, very important. commonsense solutions to streamline project delivery and environmental decisionmaking. the bill went to great lengths in making the corps transparent and accountable to congress and their nonfederal partners. for instance, this wrrda requires the corps to open their financial ledgers to show how taxpayer dollars are being spent and mandates time frames and costs for feasibility studies. which have taken several years and millions of dollars to complete, so it narrows that and con strains that. to strengthen the project delivery timeline, the bill includes language to speed up the environmental review process to ensure that they're not unreasonable delays in getting projects built. the bill will also implement for the first time ever money penalties on the corps for missed deadlines and reports.

failure to provide a specific report means that funds from the general expenses account of the civil works program are subtracted from that part of the corps. and they go to the division of the corps with responsibility for getting the work done. so there is appropriate penalty and incentive to make sure the work is done. wrrda also authorizes 34 corps projects for navigation, flood protection and ecosystem restoration but as i said, also includes a real deauthorization process to decrease the nearly $60 billion construction backlog and offset these new authorizations with equal or greater deauthorizations. i want to thank senator barrasso for this key provision. he authored that. it was refined and expanded by

our colleagues in the house. i think it's a very, very important initiative. and we also include a provision that began as a stand-alone bill by myself and senator nelson last year. it puts significant project management control in the hands of state, local, and private entities to try that on a pilot basis and see if that leads to reduced delays and reduced costs. that's what we do with most highway projects. the federal highway administration is not the project manager of those projects, doesn't take the lead. that's what we should do with water projects as well and not demand that an already overburdened corps of engineers has to be the lead project manager on all those projects. second important category in this bill is the harbor maintenance trust fund. in order to advance our nation's

waterborne commerce and help drive the engine of our economy, this wrrda makes sweeping reforms to that trust fund. it's no secret that that trust fund is grossly mismanaged and that in a good year, half of the revenue going into that so-called trust fund is stolen, taken out for completely unrelated purposes, even though that revenue is supposed to be dedicated for the purposes of the trust fund. we have to stop that. and so wrrda changes that status quo and requires a ramp-up in annual funding, incremental increases over ten years to get to a full spendout of trust fund revenue in 2025. additionally yearly harbor trust fund moneys will be pry or tides with ports which move 99% of our

nation's commerce, the high and medium use getting the prior toization. but there is a united used port set aside to ensure adequate maintenance there and economic growth. we add additional metrics to the harbor maintenance trust fund. in addition to commercial tonnage, we now include oil and gas activity, commerce fishing, transportation of persons, important metrics that were ignored previously in an unfair way. without the full utilization of the harbor maintenance trust fund, negative impacts will be felt by manufacturers, producers, shippers and carriers throughout america. they ultimately contribute to this trust fund to get that dredging and other work done. we need to live up to our end of the deal and make sure that money is used for its intended purpose. and that's never been more

important than now with the expansion of the panama canal. we need to do the dredging, we need to be prepared for that economic opportunity. a third important category in the bill is the inland waterways trust fund. another trust fund also with significant but different problems. wrrda looks beyond our harbors to address serious concerns related to the delivery of projects on that inland waterways system and helps accelerate the construction of aging locks and dams, many of which have far exceeded their project design you life. according to the american society of civil engineers, the average age of our locks are over 60 years old and that continues to cause unwanted delays in the shipment of goods. by the year 2020, more than 80% of these locks will be functionally obsolete.

this is extremely concerning, considering that more than 70% of our imports and exports travel this inland waterway system. and again, the american society of civil engineers estimates that underinvestment in this inland waterway system costs our businesses $33 billion in 2010 and that could rise to $49 billion in 2020 unless we act. this wrrda bill acts in the inland waterway trust fund, clears out some of the backlog, clears out some of the things preventing important projects under that trust fund from getting done. another very, very important category, mr. president, that i certainly care about deeply, considering the state i represent, is flood protection and levee safety. not only does wrrda authorize critical flood protection

projects, but also it strengthens levee safety initiatives to provide critical funds to state and local agencies to make sure that levees and flood protection systems stay up to par. there are over 15,000 miles of federal levees, almost 100,000 miles of nonfederal levees, protecting communities all around the country. however, many are graded in an unsatisfactory condition. these levees protect nearly 43% of the nation's population. so we need to make sure they're strong, they're adequate. and so this levee safety initiative will provide national and local leadership the resources they need to promote sound technical practices and to keep up with aging levee and protection systems. most important for this is levee rehabilitation funding.

it's imperative that our nonfederal sponsors have the ability of technical and financial to repair and rehabilitate levees. storm surge and floodwaters are damaging to our economy. we must address this. in the experience of hurricane katrina, for instance, about 80% of the catastrophic flooding of the city of new orleans was due directly to breaches in the levee system due to inadequate design or maintenance. flawed design at the beginning, inadequate maintenance continuing. literally 80% of that catastrophic flooding, completely avoidable, completely man made, that part of the disaster. we need to make sure that never happens again. certainly in all of these categories i'm talking about there are major benefits to

louisiana, and i want to thank all of my louisiana partners who have really done so much to give me the information, the expertise we need to address these important areas like morganza to the gulf, important to tear abone parish, like our ecosystem restoration projects under the louisiana coastal area program. many, many other important louisiana priorities. and, again, we could only address those properly with the full help and partnership of those louisiana partners. so in closing, mr. president, i want to thank many folks. i'll start with those louisiana partners, as i said, they were instrumental in helping us get the louisiana piece right. and i really thank them. and that work will continue and that partnership will continue.

i want to thank a washington, d.c. partner on this bill, chairman barbara boxer. as she has said many times, the two of us don't agree on a whole lot of things, but we do agree on infrastructure needs and we do agree on this wrrda bill and we came together as a result, very constructively, very productively on this infrastructure work as we are doing right now on the next highway bill. and certainly that's been an important tradition at the e.p.w. committee, which we are continuing. the crucial element there is the will and determination to do it, and she always provided that will and determination, as did i, and i thank her for being such a great partner. we also had great house partners, chairman shuster and ranking member rahall. they exhibited real leadership in getting a house bill done to begin with and then working with

us on a productive conference committee. really thank them for all of their work and their staffs. and speaking of staffs, i am deeply indebted to all of the staff work that went into this bill. it was very, very significant. the chair and i personally dealt with probably a couple of dozen issues and semi crises that would crop up over time. our staffs in contrast did that multiple times over. hundreds and hundreds of problems and issues before they developed to the member level. literally, hundreds and hundreds. i want to thank both staffs, but i am particularly indebted to my staff for all of their hard work, particularly charles burningham, zack bay, chris thomasi, sara beach, jill landry, luke bowler and cheyenne

steele. they put in enormous hours into this bill, and i really appreciate their work. and i certainly also want to recognize and thank chairman boxer's staff, particularly tina farier, ted alston, mary kerr and kate gillman. in closing, mr. president, i strongly commend this wrda bill to the senate. it's a strong bipartisan jobs and infrastructure bill. it is what we need to do more of and it's the modeled we need to adopt more in the united states senate. working together on important projects across party lines, and one key reason we were able to do it successfully is we had a strong bipartisan process and an open process that invited participation from all sides, including significant floor amendments to the senate bill.

that was absolutely crucial to moving the bill in a productive way through the process. we'll try to implement the same approach with the highway bill. we reported a strong bipartisan highway bill out of our committee unanimously last week, but we need to bring it to the senate floor. we need to act well in advance of the highway trust fund running out of money around august. and i hope we expand on this work. i hope we use this model, including an open floor process in many, many other areas on many, many other bills. so i urge all of my colleagues to support this wrda bill. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i come to the floor today to speak in support of the water resources and reform development act, also known as the wrrda bill. i'd like to thank senator vitter

for his work on this bill, and of course i would also like to thank chairman boxer for her leadership in shepherding this bill through. i think many people thought it would be a very difficult year to get a major infrastructure bill done. she was able to do it, work with senator vitter, work with the house most significantly, and we're very pleased with this bill. i support this legislation because it will keep invasive carp out of minnesota's northern lakes. it will help towns across the country advance critical flood protection projects. it will address overdue port and harbor maintenance on the great lakes. it will also ensure that navigation will remain strong on the inland waterway system, including the powerful and important mississippi river, which, of course, starts in my state in ataska state park where you can literally walk over the mighty mississippi. minnesota's fishing and boating industries contribute around $4 billion to our state's

economy every single year. for minnesota, being on the water is more than just a way of life. it is also part of our state's culture, part of our heritage, and it is certainly part of our economic engine. but that way of life is under threat right now because of invasive species also called asian carp. they were imported and accidentally released into the mississippi years ago, and how i would love to reverse that moment when they were accidentally released in the southern states into the mississippi river, but it happened and years later we are still stuck with the consequences. anyone that has seen the youtube video, i would suggest you do it, if you haven't, of these asian carp literally jumping out of the water, hitting fishermen in the head because they eat so much every single day, and of course they are eating the fish that we have come to rely on in our state for great food and

also great recreation. as these invasive carp have worked their way farther upstream, we have learned that they aren't deterred by cold winters, which was once thought to be the case. today, invasive species of carp are knocking on our doorstep. they have been found around winona, minnesota, and they are already in the st. croix river. minnesotans know we can't simply wish the problem away. the problem is literally swimming and jumping into our lives. that's why i authored the upper mississippi carp act which would close the upper st. anthony falls lock in minneapolis. my lock closure provision included in the water resources development act conference report will simply require the army corps to close the upper st. anthony falls lock within one year following the date of enactment. the language is a product of years of working with state and local stakeholders, and today with the passage of this provision, we will take a significant step forward in the fight against invasive species to make sure they don't move up

into minnesota's northern lakes. this provision has the support of senator franken and also representatives ellison, paulson, walls and nolan in the house. it was bipartisan. it was supported by governor dayton and the city of minneapolis as well as a large number of environmental and wildlife organizations, including minnesota's trout unlimited, the national wildlife federation, the mississippi river fund, the minnesota izaak walton league, the national parks conservation association and the friends of the mississippi river, just to name a few. it is also supported by countless anglers across minnesota, and i really appreciated the broad support we've had. this isn't easy closing a lock, and we know that where some limited use of the lock by certain businesses that during the winter don't use the lock but use barges, and we know the city will be working with them. we also know the kayaking community was using the lock,

and i truly support their support in the closing down this lock. we had a tour boat that was using this lock. they no longer use it and then of course we had army corps there. we worked with them. it wasn't easy at first, but i have appreciated their work, and we know that in an emergency, the lock could be opened again, but this isn't just a study, mr. president. this closes this lock down in a year. i also want to thank my colleagues who worked with me on this provision who may have similar locks and dams and were concerned about precedent and what this would set and we were able to make this a very focused provision, and so we did not get resistance in the end, and they actually worked with me on compromise language, got it in the senate and i thank my colleagues in the house for using this exact provision in the house bill. closing this lock is supported by many people. i remember meeting with a group of kayakers who despite being impacted by the lock closure

told me we're with you on this. recreational users of the upper st. anthony falls lock have taken voluntary steps, as i mentioned, to limit their use of the lock to reduce the chance of allowing invasive carp to spread upstream. but we know that we had to go further and that's what we're doing today with the passage of this provision. although making the decision to close the lock wasn't unlikely, it's the right thing to do for our state. we know that invasive species of carp can dominate the environment and make up an astounding 90% of the biomass in the river. they outcompete sport fish that are prized for fishing. they make water-skiing unsafe for families, and they make boating in our lakes and rivers smelly and even dangerous. in minnesota, the department of natural resources and the metropolitan council studied the economic impact of closing the upper st. anthony falls lock and also the economic value of recreational activities upstream of this lock. they found that for every one

job dependent on the locks staying open, over eight jobs rely on recreational boat trips upstream of the upper st. anthony falls lock. closing the upper st. anthony falls lock is a key part of a strategy to protect minnesota's waters for future generations, but the fight against invasive carp doesn't end here. i will continue to fight for an all of the above solution to this challenge that includes closing this lock while also supporting research and carp barriers to protect other bodies of water in minnesota. solving this problem will require the continued cooperation of federal, state and local stakeholders all working together and the passage of the lock closure provision is a leap forward, but of course it only helps with minnesota's northern lakes. we're already seeing problems in the southern rivers, and we need to develop that research. there must be a way to eliminate these carp by giving them food

that won't kill other fish, by doing things with bubble barriers and other ideas that have been brought forward. i know the state of minnesota is working on that. i know the state of wisconsin is working in that and people all over the country, the federal government must play a role and we must protect our great lakes but we also must not forget our waterways. the wrda bill also advances critical flood protection projects, including the fargo-morehead, or as i call it being from minnesota, the morehead-fargo diversion project which will protect minnesota and north dakota from flooding caused by the red river of the north. i have seen firsthand how hard people in the red river work to prepare for a potential flood. you know what this is like in new jersey with your hurricanes, but i can tell you that in minnesota, we literally have to plan for it every single year. they literally have warehouses of people putting sand in bags,

anticipating this flooding, and a number of years we nearly lost these two major cities. this is not the way to do this. as much as we love our volunteers, our seniors, our school kids and everyone else that had gathered together to get this project done and stop their lives for weeks, it would be much better to have permanent flood protection. i've worked with senator hoeven, of course, on this and senator heitkamp. they have both taken a lead on this as well as senator franken to get this done. the region avoided flooding this year. the river has been, however, in major flood stage six out of the last eight years. in 2009, the year of the record flood, the river rose to more than 40 feet. in minnesota and north dakota, the red river doesn't divide us. working together, it actually brings us together and unites us, and it is that spirit of solidarity that drives our efforts in the red river basin. floods damage homes, destroy

crops and hold entire cities hostage. the fargo-morehead flood diversion project is critical to safety and economic development in the region and finding a permanent solution to the issue makes much more economic sense than continuing to fight the flooding and repair damages year after year. the wrda bill also helps address flood protection for roso, minnesota. roso has recovered from a flood in 2002 that caused widespread damage but the area needs flood protection to reduce the flood stages in the city. the next phase of the roso diversion will reverse future flood damages by nearly 86%. i want to thank colin peterson, the representative that represents roso, for his work on getting this funding, the families and businesses of roso have waited too long for flood protection and the wrda bill ensures the project will be completed. but the wrda bill just doesn't protect property. it also strengthens our economy. the competitiveness of our economy is directly tied to the strength of our infrastructure.

this includes upgrading and modernizing our ports and our harbors and our waterways. the harbor maintenance trust fund collects $700 million more each year than it spends on dredging and maintenance. meanwhile, our ports and navigation channels wait for basic maintenance. coming from new jersey, the president here today may think of new jersey as having ports. well, we have a major port, one of the biggest ports in duluth, minnesota, that connects goods and from the midwest, not just from minnesota, from all over the midwest to the great lakes through the st. lawrence seaway. it is a major port and brings our goods and brings them in from the rest of the world. the backlog of sentiment due to insufficient -- sediment due to insufficient dredging is up to 18 million cubic yards and is estimated to cost $200 million. the wrda bill helps correct this disparity and ensures that funds

are addressed to the needs of shippers and that the great lakes system does not fall into further disrepair. when ships on the great lakes have to light load, which means they are about 10% less cargo than they should have, they have to reduce their cargo because channels are not deep enough. our whole economy suffers. not just the shippers, not the people producing the goods. we have to ship 10% less than we should on these ships and instead bringing them in from other parts of the world which doesn't make sense at all. that is why i cosponsored an amendment with senator levin that establishes the great lakes port as a single navigation system and sets aside funding for the ports. this makes sure dredging is done throughout the great lakes system. we are so excited about this. it is finally warming up in duluth and in northern minnesota. it is no longer colder than mars and our ships are ready to go andra