Environmental Legislation

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I have just recently been talking about a number of pieces of legislation that have come through the Environment and Public Works Committee: the water resources act, the USE IT Act, the act called DERA to eliminate and reduce emissions from diesels, as well as additional legislation on HFCs.

My partner in all of those is here on the floor now, and I would just like to ask him if he would--since he has been such a great partner for the last 4 years that I have chaired the committee--talk about this as an accomplishment for the environment, for the committee, and for the Senate and for the country.

So I am just kind of curious, from his standpoint, where he sees things as a sign of success.

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Mr. BARRASSO. I thank Senator Carper. I appreciate it.

You know, it is interesting: Senator Alexander recently gave his speech, his farewell address, and he said that sometimes politics is like a split-screen television set. On the one half, you see all the fighting and contention and the dysfunctional side. And on the other side of the screen, you see the functioning side. But not many people look at that functioning side.

What we have been able to do as a partnership on the Environment and Public Works Committee was functional--in a bipartisan way, coming up with solutions. As you mentioned, there were over 70 cosponsors on the one piece of legislation. All of them, I think, got through the committee unanimously. That is something that made no news because there wasn't a fight. There was cooperation for the betterment--to make sure we protected the economy and, at the same time, preserved the environment. That is what we need do: Continue to make sure that we can protect both and continue with economic development as well as environmental stewardship for our Nation.

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