the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: madam president, i rise in support of the nomination of sean duffy to serve as our next secretary of transportation. sean duffy and i have known each other for many yoers and worked -- years and worked together in the wisconsins delegation in the house of representatives. as a wisconsin native, mr. duffy is a p former congressman who represented wisconsin's seventh congressional district from 2011 to 2019, and in that time we partnered on shared priorities for our constituents, including the st. croix bridge in western

wisconsin. during his confirmation hearing before the commerce committee, i shared this story. it usually does not take an act of congress to build a bridge, but in this case it was needed to build a new bridge over the st. croix river connecting wisconsin to minnesota. with help from senators klobuchar, kohl and johnson, sean duffy whipped our respective caucus and brought a house majority necessary to pass legislation to replace the 80-year-old stillwater bridge. as sean can attest, this was a decades-long battle which resulted in significant, significant bipartisan win for our state and our region. it was not a matter of right or left, just what was good for our constituents, our economy, and our state. today the st. croix crossing

which opened in 2017 has shortened traffic times, reduced congestion, and most importantly, improved safety. this type of bipartisan work for the american people is what i the american people is what i