| 00:00:00 | WHEN I GO HOME, AND YOU PROBABLY HEAR IT TOO, THAT PEOPLE ARE FRUSTRATED WITH THAT ACTIVITY. |
| 00:00:05 | THINK ABOUT THIS. |
| 00:00:06 | JUST A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WE PASSED A BIPARTISAN TRANSPORTATION BILL. |
| 00:00:11 | UNBELIEVABLE. PEOPLE SAID WE CAN'T DO THINGS TOGETHER. |
| 00:00:15 | 74 VOTES, MOVED A BILL WITH VERY DIVERSE VIEWS, AS WE ALL KNOW, BUT WE WORKED IT OUT. |
| 00:00:22 | WE SPENT FIVE WEEKS DOING IT. |
| 00:00:25 | FIVE WEEKS. |
| 00:00:27 | AFTER ALL THE COMMITTEES MONTHS AND MONTHS OF WORK. |
| 00:00:31 | AND WHAT DO WE END UP WITH? |
| 00:00:33 | A GREAT PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRODUCT. |
| 00:00:36 | A GREAT PRODUCT THAT WENT TOEFRT HOUSE, SITTING -- WENT OVER TO THE HOUSE, SITTING THERE LANGUISHING. |
| 00:00:42 | IF WE DON'T COME UP WITH A GOOD ENERGY PLAN, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS, ASPHALT, A PETROLEUM PRODUCT WHICH BUILDS THOSE ROADS, ONLY GOES UP. |
| 00:00:53 | THAT MEANS THE AMOUNT OF ROADS WE WANT TO BUILD BECOME LESS. |
| 00:00:57 | IT'S NOT COMPLICATED HERE. |
| 00:00:59 | WHY WE'RE NOT DOING THIS -- I THINK SOME OF THEIR OWN MEMBERS WERE SURPRISED THEY HAD TO BE TOLD BY THEIR LEADERSHIP TO CHANGE THEIR VOTE AND DO A CERTAIN TYPE OF VOTE. |
| 00:01:08 | AND NOW WE'RE IN THIS NO-END PRODUCT, IN OTHER WORDS, WE'RE NOT GOING TO END UP WITH ANYTHING. |
| 00:01:15 | AND I DON'T GET IT WHEN I KNOW THEY WILL GO HOME JUST LIKE YOU AND I AND THEY WILL HEAR THE SAME THING: JOBS, GAS PRICES, AND CONSTRUCTION, HOUSING MARKET, WHAT'S HAPPENING. |
| 00:01:26 | THESE ARE THINGS WE HEAR ABOUT. |
| 00:01:28 | I'M SURPRISED. |
| 00:01:30 | MS. LANDRIEU: I'M SURPRISED MYSELF. |
| 00:01:32 | TO THE SENATOR FROM ALASKA, I HOPE WHEN WE DO GET BACK, OR GO HOME THAT THE CONSTITUENTS FROM ALL |
Mr. BEGICH. Well, I think the Senator said it in the question in a way. It is a lot of Presidential politics. I think what I hear when I go home is--and the Senator probably hears it too--that people are frustrated with that activity.
Think about this: Just a couple of weeks ago, we passed a bipartisan transportation bill. Unbelievable. People say we cannot do things together. Seventy-four votes moved a bill, with very diverse views, as we all know. But we worked it out. We spent 5 weeks doing it after all the committees' months and months of work. And what did we end up with? A great product that went over to the House, that now sits there languishing and not having anything happen to it.
What is interesting, if we do not do a good energy plan, here is what happens: asphalt, which is a petroleum-based product which builds those roads, only goes up. When that goes up, that means now the roads we want to build become less. It is not complicated.
Why are they not doing this--I think even some of their own Members were surprised that they had to be told by their leadership to change their votes and do a certain type of vote. Now we are in this no-end product. In other words, we are not going to end up with anything. I do not get it. I know they will go home just like the Senator and I, and they will hear the same thing: jobs, gas prices, and construction and the housing market, what is happening? These are things we hear about. I am surprised.