Water, Water Everywhere-- And An Obstructionist Senate Who Won't Allow It To Be Cleaned Up

This morning I was going over the Senate votes from Tuesday and I found a strange one. The Republicans successfully filibustered an amendment by Bernie Sanders to Boxer's Water Resources Development Act of 2013, which is co-sponsored by Louisiana Republican David Vitter. And in fact, Vitter was one of just 3 Republicans who broke with Miss McConnell's filibuster machine on Sanders' amendment. The amendment would essentially allow FEMA to rebuild bridges and other infrastructure to the state's high standards, so that they don't collapse in the next storm. It was interesting the Texas obstructionists John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are both asking for money to ameliorate the catastrophe in West-- which may well have been another right-wing domestic terror attack-- but refuse to help New Englander's who suffered at the hands of Tropical Storm Irene.

Aside from Vitter, the other Republicans who crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats were Susan Collins (R-ME) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), who, like Vitter, understands about the need to turn to the federal government for help after big storms. Florida Senator Marco Rubio was another NO vote, thinking less about the folks who live in hurricane-ravaged Florida and more about Tea Party presidential primary voters.

Before they got around to voting on the overall bill-- which passed Wednesday 83-14, there was also a successful vote on Jeff Merkley's and Sherrod Brown's amendment to require the use of American iron, steel, and manufactured goods for these projects. Although the Export-American-Jobs-To-China Caucus, which is led by McConnell, Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) tried killing it with a filibuster, enough Republicans in states where these products are made-- particularly Alabama, Illinois and North Carolina-- abandoned the GOP's anti-Made In America insanity, allowing Merkley to get the 60 votes he needed. Amazing to me that right-wing Republicans would oppose Made-in-America efforts like this. Merkley tried appealing to them by reminding them that “if we don’t make things in America, we won’t have a middle class in America. American manufacturing companies create good, living wage jobs. We all benefit when our tax dollars go to create more jobs and success in America.”

They just DO NOT CARE. And although Rob Portman (R-OH) voted against it, Sherrod Brown was jubilant when it passed: “This is great news for Ohio workers and manufacturers. When we invest in American infrastructure, we should also invest in American manufacturing. We know how to make things in this country and should use American taxpayer dollars to bolster domestic manufacturing as much as possible.”

Merkely also pointed out that "for many years, Buy America provisions have established the basic principle that when we spend federal taxpayer dollars on public infrastructure projects, American businesses and workers should do the work. Backed by an open, competitive market-driven process, Buy America rules have provided the foundation for millions of miles of roads, bridges, light rail, and subways, and millions of good-paying jobs. The amendment expands those current standards for roads, bridges, and rail to cover WIFIA (Water Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act) federally financed water infrastructure projects."

Kentucky voters should remember that McConnell led this filibuster against American jobs when they go to the polls in 2014. And, by the way, Merkley is one of only 3 Senate incumbents endorsed by Blue America for 2014.