Hire More Heroes Act of 2015--Continued
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am delighted to join the Senator from Maine on the floor today to speak about this critical infrastructure program called TIGER. She and I have worked together for many years on transportation infrastructure, and I so appreciate her leadership and her tremendous enthusiasm in making sure that our country does the right thing. It is a delight to be here today with her, as well as with my colleague from Rhode Island, who is now the ranking member on the transportation appropriations subcommittee. I thank them both for coming to the floor to speak about a program that we created several years ago and that has been so effective.
We all know that investing in our Nation's infrastructure is a critical part of broad-based and long-term economic growth. As we can see today, this is not a partisan issue. Democrats and Republicans agree that infrastructure investments get workers back on the job, help our economy grow in communities across this country, and make sure our transportation systems work in a 21st century economy. That is why I am so proud to be a strong supporter of this bipartisan amendment that we are offering today. It has 29 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. What it does is it continues the popular competitive grant program known as TIGER.
TIGER grants have made an impact in every corner of this country, and they represent exactly the type of investment our country should be making--addressing our Nation's short-term and long-term transportation issues while creating good-paying jobs--American jobs, I would add--and working to grow our economy from the middle out, not just the top down.
We have all seen firsthand the difference the TIGER program can make in our States. So that is why I fought, along with my colleagues, to get this amendment included in the final Transportation bill.
Since its creation, TIGER has awarded $4.1 billion directly to communities to support more than 340 innovative, multimodal projects in every State. For example, TIGER grants are increasing the flow of commerce and trade between Maine and New Hampshire because of improvements to the Memorial Bridge. In New Mexico, TIGER grants are being used to make critical safety improvements to a major trucking route where the fatality rate has been more than three times the State average. In my home State of Washington, $204 million has gone to 13 critical infrastructure projects across my State, from Seattle to Spokane to Vancouver.
Demand for TIGER funding is intense. Applications always exceed the amount of funding available, sometimes by as much as 20 to 1. It is clear that we can and should be doing so much more to help communities carry out these projects that make our transportation system safer and more efficient.
Though we hit some unfortunate and unnecessary barriers in passing the TIGER amendment, I know that Senator Collins and Senator Reed are going to continue fighting along with me to support this critical program. I hope more of our colleagues will join with us in boosting regional economies and in improving our Nation's infrastructure, because this type of program is so important to our States and our local agencies as they work to tackle the complex transportation needs of our communities.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I yield the floor.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am on the floor this afternoon to talk about something I have had to talk about far too many times--extreme Republicans pandering to their extreme base by attacking women's health.
My Republican colleagues have picked this fight over spending bills, over the debt ceiling, and the list goes on. In fact, they even tried last week to attach political riders attacking Planned Parenthood to a bill that was supposed to help seriously wounded veterans start families. So we know how far they are willing to go to appeal to the tea party, and what we are discussing today is more of the same.
Republicans are using undercover attack videos, produced by a radical, rightwing organization dedicated to taking away a woman's right to choose, to once again on the floor try to defund Planned Parenthood and take away critical health services from women.
As Republicans try once again to get in between a woman and her health care, my colleagues are on the floor today to make one thing very clear: This bill is a nonstarter. We are standing up to be the voices for millions of men and women across the country and to say we are not going to let Republicans hurt women and take away their health care--not on our watch.
Mr. President, 2.7 women and men visit Planned Parenthood each year for health care. One in five women will visit Planned Parenthood at some point in her life. These women and their families are looking for everything from cancer screenings to birth control, to basic primary care, and the bill some of my Republican colleagues have introduced would take all of that away. It would leave women without the providers they know and the providers they trust.
I don't think women want the tea party making their health care decisions for them, but under this bill that is exactly what would happen and that is why it is not going anywhere. Republicans can go ahead and try for the umpteenth time to turn back the clock on women's health and score political points with their extreme base. They can pander to the tea party instead of working with us on the real challenges this country faces. We need to be creating jobs, growing our economy, and actually expanding access to health care.
We want them to know we are going to be right there as this comes to the floor, fighting back to make sure women come before politics and not the other way around. We have fought this battle before and again and again and again. Battles we all thought were settled, that women across the country thought they had won decades ago keep coming back. And each time we have made it clear: We are not going away.
Republicans can keep trying to attack women's health care, they can put new spins on old ideas, they can try talking about it in a different way, and they can look for any opportunity they want to bring this back up, but they should know we are not going to be fooled and they will not fool women across the country. Women in this country should be able to make their own decision about their own health care. Our government should be investing in women's health, helping more women get access to care, not moving in the opposite direction.
I very much hope Republicans finally learn their lesson and move on to the other things, but, if not, we need them to know we are going to be here ready to stand and fight for women in this country.
I yield the floor.
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