Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, transportation projects financed by American taxpayers should, to the maximum extent possible, be built using American materials and American workers. But all too often loopholes have crept in that have resulted in American transportation projects paid for with American taxpayer money being built by Chinese firms with Chinese workers and Chinese steel. It is wrong. Please support this amendment.

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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, I ask to call up the Merkley-Toomey amendment, as modified, that is at the desk.

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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, I first defer to my colleague across the aisle to speak to the bill.

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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, this is simple common sense, that you can drive across your State, but if the place you drop off your food is across the border, you have to put it into an interstate truck to go 1 mile down the road. That makes no sense for farmers, it makes no sense for safety.

This is a sort of commonsense solution along borders, allowing farmers to get their food from the farm to the depot, be that an airplane depot, or put it on a barge, put it on a ship, be that put it in an interstate truck. It is common sense. Let's do it.

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