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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I am glad to follow my colleague from the Dakotas because I would certainly never attempt to interpret the electorate of another State.
I can tell you about the Virginia elections that happened a couple weeks back. The message, I think, from our voters pretty loud and clear was: We want you to get stuff done. If we in the Senate and in the House had passed the infrastructure bill and passed the Build Back Better bill before the Virginia election, I think the outcome would have been different.
What we were hearing again and again from voters is: We gave you a majority. Please act on it, especially at this time when Americans are so challenged by now nearly 20 months of pandemic and economic devastation.
So I stand on the floor as a proud Virginian, very focused on celebrating the accomplishment of yesterday--President Biden's signature on the infrastructure bill--but also saying we have to pass the Build Back Better bill in order to respond to what our constituents are asking of us at this challenging time.
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