mr. lautenberg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nother. lts will the mr. president, i hope it's -- mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i hope it is noted that i stand here as the male member with my colleagues who comprise the significant part of the women members of our -- of the united states senate. they do the mothering, they do the family raising, but it's pretty obvious to all of us that we -- that fathers, grandfathers have an active interest in what happens with our children, what it takes to make sure that they grow up healthfully, that they grow up with the tools that they'll need in their future lives for them to contribute to themselves, their families, and the country at large. mr. president, what we're witnessing in america today is an assault by house republicans trying to ram through a reckless, unhealthy spending plan that will ultimately bring shame to our country. -- as it causes pain now for little children who come from families that don't have the means, that don't

mr. lautenberg: sorry? the presiding officer: the senator has spoken for three minutes. mr. lautenberg: five minutes was my understanding. what happened? well, i was told originally that it was five minutes. i ask unanimous consent that the rest of my speech be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized for three minutes. mr. whitehouse: let me first thank chairman boxer for pulling us together on this. i want to make three points in the brief time. the first is the house bill cuts $2 billion out of clean water and safe drinking water infrastructure at a time when e.p.a. calculates that we have a $600 billion water infrastructure deficit. we are behind on rebuilding america's clean water infrastructure, and yet they cut it. we need the infrastructure. we could certainly use the jobs. this is a very misplaced cut. the second, from a clean air perspective, the bill cuts $60 million from state and local grants that ensure clean air and clean water and

mr. lautenberg: i will just take that half minute and i ask unanimous consent that if i go over the half minute, that i get two minutes more. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: madam president, i served in world war ii, a long time ago, but i've been around a long time. and when i went into the army, i enlisted when i was 18. my father was deathly ill with cancer. my mother was 37 years old. and the prospects for our family was grim. and i went to the army. my father with a condition arranged with the recruiters that i be allowed to stay home until my father passed away. he was 43 years old. my mother became a 37-year-old widow. and things were tough. money was owed. the doctors and pharmacists and hospitals. why do i talk about this now? it's because i was given the benefit as were eight million others in uniform to get my college education. i went to columbia university. it was so far distant from my vision when i graduated from high school and enlisted in the army. it turned out to be the greatest generation that america has ever seen. it was because the governm

mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further reading of the roll be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: mr. president, everyone is aware of how deeply concerned the american people are about staying in their homes, about having adequate health care, and about providing education and a better path for the lives of their children. but everyone also knows that there's a group calling themselves the tea party and they're busy trying to eliminate those opportunities. in wisconsin a tea party governor is trying to take away workers collective bargaining rights to be represented. it's like going into a courtroom without a lawyer. in florida, another tea party governor has killed a critical high-speed rail project by rejecting federal grants o of $2.4 billion to move it along. threw it away. threw it back, $2.4 million. and here in congress, tea party activists have seized control of the republican side of the aisle. and it's a far for the tea party fo

mr. lautenberg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nother. mr. utenberg: i ask the senator from california what -- how she sees the amendment that we're discussing in terms of the lives of our countrymen as we see them, and i want to first mention what i see and see if the senator agrees with me. mrs. boxer: absolutely. mr. lautenberg: the amendment that's been proposed by the senator from kentucky, republican senator mitch mcconnell, is dangerou as dangen effort as we can imagine that would undermine our children's health while helping polluters and their lobbyists. and what a strange thing this is. and i hope the american public sees it for what it really is. it's an attack on the well-being of our children, our grandchildren. at the expense of promoting those companies, taking the rules off so those companies can run rampant, do any darn thing they want, put up any pollution that they feel like doing, not having to take care that effluent from their manufacturing process has to be properly packaged away but just dump it, get rid of it and usual

chair of the aviation subcommittee and senator demint should he be here so senator lautenberg. >> thanks very much mrairman and welcome mr. secretary. our country's roads, rail and runways are to keep our economy moving but much of the infrastructure is now on the cony state and house republicans aren't the least bit interested in rebuilding it. instead the seek billions of dollars of cuts, reckless plans to leave the transportation support to despair. this risky approach would send pink slips to hundreds of thousands of transportation workers including more than 3,000 of them in the state of new jersey and will also slash funding for amtrak, a vital nation, national transportation service that takes 8 million cars off the roads and keeps 50,000 flights out of the sky each year and we don't need more congestion on the roads. we don't need more delays with the airports and we don't need more job losses. we should be focused on rebuilding our economy, creating and secretary lahood has done a good job, mr. secretary w

this is done by appearance there for senator lautenberg is next followed by senator cantwell then senator begich. >> thinks mr. chairman. mr. secretary, as i said before, good work being done there and appreciate your effort and your skill and believe in your way through making sure the transportation agenda of the long. in florida governor rick scott said he rejects to $.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds the northeast corridor could start putting the funds to use now to boost the economy and existing high-speed rail service and create jobs. if the funds are returned to the dot will the northeast corridor be a priority for these funds? >> we have a request from just about every member of congress on both sides of the capitol for the funds, senator. >> many of the senators and representatives are from the northeast corridor. and we are working our way through how to process the reallocation. >> the bill proposed by house republicans has slashed funds to replace the 100-year-old corporate bridge and this bridge carries more than 400 trains and 180,000 people every day. one of the biggest passenger rail

therefore, senator lautenberg is next to be followed by senator cantwell, then senator begich. >> thanks, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, as i said before, good work being done there. appreciate your effort and your skill and weaving your way through the difficulties and making sure that our transportation agenda moves along. in florida governor rick scott has said that he rejects $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds. northeast corridor could start putting these funds good use now to boost our economy, improve our existing high-speed rail service and create jobs. if funds are returned to d.o.t., will the northeast corridor be a priority for receipt of these funds? >> we have a request from just about every member of congress on both sides of the capitol for these funds, senator. >> for the northeast corridor? >> many of these senators and representatives are from the northeast corridor. and we will, we are working our way through how to process the reallocation. >> the bill proposed by the house republicans are slashed funds to replace the 100-year-old bridge in jersey. this bridge car

mr. president, this amendment is identical to the social security protection act that i introduced yesterday with senators mikulski, boxer, sherrod brown, blumenthal, akaka, whitehouse, begich and lautenberg. this legislation halls the strong support of the national committee to preserve social security and medicare, the american med reagan administration of government employees, the paralyzed veterans of america, the military order of the purple heart, and the jewish veterans of america, among others. mr. president, social security is the most successful and reliable federal program in our nation's history. for 75 years, through good times and bad, when the economy was strong and when the economy was weak, social security has paid out every nickel owed to every eligible american. and while we take that for granted, that in fact is an extraordinary accomplishment, and it is all done at very modest administrative cost. social security has been enormously successful in accomplishing exactly what its founders hoped to accomplish. before president roosevelt signed the social security act into law in august of 1935, approximately half of our senior citizens lived in poverty. before social secu