Nomination of Pamela Harris to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, it is hard to imagine a more pressing need for our people, for our economy, and for our quality of life than reauthorizing the highway trust fund.

The Senate has previously entered into a unanimous consent agreement to have votes on four transportation funding amendments. The reality, however, is that time is running out to hold those votes before they would become what amounts to a meaningless exercise.

We all know that this week the Senate still has to vote on veterans health care, emergency funding to deal with wildfires raging in the West, and the challenge of those child immigrants coming across the border from Mexico. That is all the more reason why the critical issue, the urgent issue of transportation funding should not be left to the last minute. Left to the last minute, in effect, this body would simply be surrendering its ability to have a genuine impact on an urgent national issue--an issue critical for our people, for our economy, and for our country in the days ahead.

Now, if the Senate were to vote tomorrow on transportation funding--and the majority leader, Senator Reid, has assured me that would be acceptable to him--there would still be time to work out any differences between the Senate and the other body before the Congress recesses at the end of this week.

However, if the votes are delayed until later in the week, my judgment, as chairman of the Finance Committee, where Senator Hatch and I have put together a bipartisan bill is that if the votes are delayed, for example, on the bipartisan Wyden-Hatch amendment, it would become almost impossible for the Senate to have any input into the final transportation bill that goes to the President.

Just from my own standpoint, I think it would be legislative malpractice for the Senate not to have a role to play in this premier economic issue now before the Congress. The highway trust fund, colleagues, is going to be reauthorized this week. That is nonnegotiable. The reason it is going to be reauthorized this week and we will not accept anything else is that the stakes are just too great. If our country was to have the transportation equivalent of a government shutdown, more than 700,000 jobs could be affected, coming on the heels of a slowdown in home construction which we have just seen in the last few days. It would be a devastating blow for the construction industry and our whole economy.

Beyond the short-term impact and the threat to the already shaky recovery, my view is that every Senator, every Democrat and every Republican, understands transportation funding and improving our infrastructure is critical to our country's future. The reality is that it is just not possible to have a big league quality of life with little league infrastructure.

Now as I wrap up, I would like to talk about a couple of other points that are relevant to how the Senate conducts its business. I am especially grateful to Senator Hatch, who has consistently met me halfway. As we know, our distinguished colleague, the former chairman, Senator Baucus, is now Ambassador to China. I took up that position in February. From the very day I became chairman of the committee, Senator Hatch has been willing to work with me, meet me halfway and, in particular, has talked about the importance of the Senate functioning in its regular order.

I would point out that a number of colleagues have been saying just that, and that the Senate has not had a chance to vote on amendments to legislation this year. That is not how this great body is supposed to operate. We know, with respect to this transportation bill, if we can get it brought to the floor tomorrow so we can have a real debate, we could have two bipartisan amendments and two from the minority that will shape not only transportation policy but also policies in vital other areas, including taxes, pensions, and trade.

If the votes on these amendments, bipartisan amendments, are fairly structured so that both sides would have a chance to weigh in and if the votes on these amendments are going to be given full and fair consideration and not become some kind of exercise in futility, they have to be held tomorrow. So I hope we will be able to work this out. I had thought about coming here and advancing a procedural motion. My hope is we can work this out so we can really debate these critical issues.

I do think the other body goes too far on the issue of pensions smoothing. Given that position, the country is likely to have two big challenges in the future. First, how do we fund transportation? And second, what are we going to do about the hopes and aspirations of all of those workers relying on pensions and the future of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation?

So I do think the bipartisan Senate proposal that Senator Hatch and I have authored--and there are other bipartisan proposals--gives us a chance to, in effect, have the Senate weigh in in a meaningful fashion on this critical issue.

I know we are going to have a vote in a little bit, and there will be a discussion between the leaders and colleagues. I may come back later tonight to discuss this further. I simply come this afternoon--more than anything else, what I have sought to do is to try to advance exactly what Senator Hatch has been talking about: Regular order and the chance for both sides to be heard on critical issues and to try to get beyond some of the polarizing, divisive kind of rhetoric that certainly you hear outside the Capitol.

I was home this weekend marching in parades, getting out across the State. That is what I heard continually, people coming up and saying: Ron, can't the Senate and the Congress find a way to come together? Senator Hatch and I did that on a bipartisan proposal. There are other bipartisan proposals, proposals that ensure the minority has a chance to be heard. I just hope we can work it out this evening so both sides will have a chance to have a fair debate on this issue at a time when it is still meaningful.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous consent that the time in quorum calls be equally divided.

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