National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - July 31, 2008)

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ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE I-35W BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. Minnesota time, it will be exactly 1 year since the horrific collapse of the I-35W bridge. It is a day and a moment when all Minnesotans will always remember where they were. They will remember what they were doing, they will remember what they heard, and they will remember the pictures. Minnesotans will even remember the weather and what it was like that day because as if to symbolize what was to come, that warm summer day started with clear skies, but by late afternoon, dark and ominous storm clouds had begun forming on the horizon, with thunder rumbling in the distance. Then after the bridge collapsed, as if to provide relief for the rescuers, the storms retreated.

I know many people across America will also remember that day, and they will think about those who died and those who survived, miraculously, on that bridge.

I know my colleagues in the Senate will also remember. I thank each and every one of them for their tremendous sympathy and concern for the people of my State following the bridge collapse. On behalf of all Minnesotans, I wish to say how grateful we are for the bipartisan support in the days after that bridge collapse, the immediate funding for emergency relief, and then the funding for the bridge so that bridge could be built again.

This support from the Senate and the Congress helped lay the groundwork for the fast and efficient reconstruction of the bridge. In fact, a new bridge already spans the river. It is expected that by the end of the year, possibly within the next month or two, cars and trucks will again be crossing over the Mississippi River on the newly constructed 35W bridge. My home is only 6 blocks away. So my family and I look forward to, once again, driving across the 35W bridge.

Not only in Congress but across the Nation, the catastrophic failure of this bridge provoked deep concern that it might not be an isolated incident, that there might be a broader problem with bridges across the country. That is because a bridge should not fall down in the middle of America on the 1st day of August in 2007, especially not an eight-lane interstate highway, especially not one of the most heavily traveled bridges in the State, especially not during rush hour, in the heart of a major metropolitan area.

But on August 1 of last year, the 35W bridge in Minneapolis fell down. So tomorrow, 1 year later, we remember the 13 people who lost their lives on that bridge, and we remember the 145 people who were injured, many of them now living with serious and permanent injuries.

Tomorrow we also remember the many people--the police officers, the firefighters, the paramedics, the citizen bystanders who risked their lives by running toward that catastrophe and not away from it.

When I watched what unfolded that night, I was shocked and horrified. But as the evening wore on and the days went by, the entire world watched our State come together, and I was proud to be a Minnesotan.

We saw the heroes. We saw them in the face of unimaginable circumstances. We saw the off-duty Minnesota firefighter, Shanna Hanson, who grabbed her lifejacket. She was off duty, but she was among the first on the scene.

She was tethered to a yellow life rope and she was in the midst of broken concrete and shards as she swam from car to car, in and out, in and out of that river searching for survivors.

We saw a school bus perched precariously on the falling bridge deck. I like to call it the ``Miracle Bus,'' perched on that falling bridge deck, on the side, ready to fall in. Inside were dozens of kids from a Minneapolis neighborhood who had been on a swimming field trip. Their bus was crossing the bridge when it collapsed. Thanks to the quick action of responsible adults and the kids themselves, they all survived.

Now, with the perspective of a year, what can we learn from this catastrophe? Well, first, the emergency response to the bridge collapse demonstrated an impressive level of preparedness that should be a model for the Nation. You can never feel good about a tragedy such as this, but I do feel good about our police officers, our firefighters, our paramedics, and our first responders. Look at the scene they came upon, this enormous eight-lane highway in the middle of the water, a storm above them, and they dove into that water and literally saved hundreds of people.

This week, the Hennepin County Medical Center, located only blocks from the bridge, was honored with a national award for extraordinary response to this crisis. As the Hennepin County attorney for 8 years, I remember meeting with the sheriff, the police chief, and other officials as we planned and practiced for disaster relief drills after 9/11. Even though no one imagined a major bridge would collapse, the result of all that planning and the preparation was evident on the night of August 1 when our survivors were quickly rushed to the hospital.

Second, we saw how important it was to move forward and build a new, safe bridge, and I will show you the bridge as it stands 1 year later. Again, it is 6 blocks from my house, so I have been able to watch its progress. You can see this bridge now. The last piece actually was just added, and it is spanning this huge river, the Mississippi River. It is an eight-lane highway.

So what happened in Washington? In 3 days, the Senate voted to provide $250 million in emergency bridge construction funding. Representative Jim Oberstar led the way in the House, and it was a bipartisan effort in the Senate as Senator Coleman and I worked together on the relief.

I personally thank Senator Durbin and Senator Patty Murray for assisting me with this. I still remember the day the Senate voted for a billion dollars for bridge reconstruction across the country, but it didn't include the funding for our bridge. I came in early, and I sat at my desk, and I said I wasn't going to leave until we got our amendment to fund the construction on our bridge. The pages and the chaplain came in, and the Senate was starting, and Senator Durbin came and sat next to me and he said: Somehow I think you are here to do more than pray. He helped me, and we got that amendment through and we got it passed.

Approval of this funding came with remarkable speed and bipartisanship. Capitol Hill veterans tell us it was a rare feat to get it done so quickly.

What else can we learn from this bridge? Third, we must still get to the bottom of why this enormous bridge fell into the middle of the Mississippi River. It didn't happen because of a barge or some kind of electrical storm or tornado. It just fell down. Evidence is accumulating that the bridge's condition had been deteriorating for years and that it had been the subject of growing concern within the Minnesota Department of Transportation. This wasn't a bridge over troubled waters, this was a troubled bridge over waters. Still, as a former prosecutor, I know we must wait until all the facts and evidence are in before we reach a verdict. We will need to be patient as the investigation continues.

Mark Rosenker, the Chairman of the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, said the other day that the NTSB investigation is nearing completion and that a final report should be ready for public release within 100 days. Already, the NTSB has publicly released a number of documents, photographs, diagrams, and other evidence that are part of their investigation. We know this bridge had problems, and we look forward to the NTSB report to give us definitive answers.

Finally, the bridge collapse in Minnesota has shown us that America needs to come to grips with the broader questions about our deteriorating infrastructure. The Minnesota bridge disaster shocked Americans into a realization of how important it is to invest in safe, strong, and sound infrastructure.

As if we didn't know already, Minnesotans got a reminder a few months after the 35W bridge collapsed, because we learned another bridge of a similar design was inspected and found to be in serious trouble. That bridge is in St. Cloud, MN, a major regional city in central Minnesota, which is now closed with plans to replace it.

Unfortunately, it took a disaster to put this issue of infrastructure squarely on the agenda of this Congress. According to the Federal Highway Administration, more than 25 percent of the Nation's 600,000 bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. That is more than 150,000 bridges. When 25 percent of all American bridges are in need of serious repair or replacement, it is time to act.

When we don't have enough money to build new bridges or repair the ones we already have, there is clearly a problem with our priorities. And when the American people question the integrity of the bridges they cross every day, we must act. Putting it all together with the bridge collapse in Minnesota, this should be a national call to action on infrastructure.

Senator Durbin and I recently introduced the National Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act. This legislation has already passed the House and we hope it will move quickly in the Senate. This is only a start, but it is a good start, if the Senate will pass it and the President will sign it. I am hopeful it will get us headed in the right direction.

In closing, I note one final lesson. What happened a year ago in Minnesota reminds us that disasters can bring out the worst or the best in people. They can divide us or they can unite us. I believe the catastrophe, the collapse of the I-35W bridge, brought out the very best in Minnesotans and it united us. We joined together for the rescue, we joined together for the recovery, and we joined together for the rebuilding. I hope that going forward the ultimate legacy of the 35W bridge collapse can be something positive for our Nation. I hope it can bring out the best in all Americans and unite us as we address the pressing infrastructure issues facing our country.

Tomorrow, as we remember and as we grieve for the bridge victims and their families, let us also look ahead and move forward and take the action necessary to make sure that no bridge ever again falls down in the middle of America.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I know this is the Republican portion of the time, but until a Republican arrives, I will briefly say for 1 minute that I am very pleased the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 is going to be coming through the Senate. We saw over 28 million toys recalled in 2007. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a shadow of its former self. This legislation is long overdue. It was a bipartisan effort. Many of us worked on this very hard, including the Presiding Officer. I am pleased we are able to get an agreement on what the Wall Street Journal has called the most significant consumer product legislation in 16 years. It is particularly important to my State where we had a 4-year-old boy die when swallowing a lead charm. It was the 99-percent lead, made in China. It should never have been in his hands. The lead in that charm went into his bloodstream over a period of time, in fact over a period of days. I was very proud that our staff, Kate Nilan and Tamara Fucile, was able to work on that provision and work with the committee. That is now the first provision in the bill.

I thank the conference committee, under the leadership of Senators INOUYE and PRYOR, and all the conferees who worked on this in the House and Senate.

I yield the floor.

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