(Washington, D.C.) Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) delivered the following remarks today on the floor of the House of Representatives:
 
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to have the record reflect very clearly that if Representative McCollum gets her way, she will kill building the bridge over the St. Croix River. As we all know, this is, our office has been told, this is one of the longest, if not the longest, unfinished bridge projects in the history of the United States. That's why it's come to this point.

“Mr. Speaker, where we actually have to go to Congress to get permission from the federal government so that the State of Minn. and the State of Wis. can build this commonsense bridge at their own expense and that's the point that we're at. Not only will Representative McCollum be acting against the wishes of 86 percent of the people that live and reside in the St. Croix River Valley, the responsibility for the increased costs of building this bridge rests squarely on the shoulders of Representative McCollum and on her compatriots who have fought for decades to kill the building of this bridge.

“The cost? The bridge would have cost $80 million to complete back in 1992 if her compatriots wouldn't have tied this bridge project up for decades in the federal courts; in nuisance lawsuits. And why? Because they said there was pollution that was involved. And what was this pollution that they asserted? They said it would be visual pollution. Visual pollution? Because a federal bureaucrat came out to this river and pointed to the river and said they didn't think that a bridge would look good built on this river and that's in spite of the fact that there's already a bridge that's here on this river. This is a wide part of the river. This is the river that is literally the birthplace of Minn. As long as people have been in the State of Minn., Stillwater is the birthplace.

“I've been working on this issue as a young mother, living in this community, as an activist citizen, who saw what a commonsense project this is. Representative McCollum has talked about this being a 'megabridge.' This is a four-lane bridge. And after all, why wouldn't you build a four-lane bridge when you have a four-lane highway in Minn. connected to a four-lane highway in Wisconsin? Representative McCollum is suggesting that we should be building a two or a three-lane bridge. Why would you build a bridge that would be obsolete the day that it's opened? You would build a commonsense four-lane bridge to connect two four-lane highways.

“This is also a center for industry in this region. We have not only the prison – the state prison – we have also one of the largest window manufacturers in the world, we have the sewer treatment plant, the water treatment plant, we have a marina. This is the place that has been the site that's been selected as the perfect place to build this bridge to connect these two communities. As we've heard before, this is an area that has a bridge that currently has a safety rating that's far below the safety rating of the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007.

“We have a historic opportunity, a once in a lifetime magic moment when we have governors that are are Republican and Democrat, senators that are Republican and Democrat, representatives that are Republican and Democrat saying, for once, let's come together and do what the people expect.

“And why did we get to this point? Bureaucratic red tape. We are here in full square agreement with the administration saying, let's get this done on behalf of the people of these two states. Let's do what should have been done decades ago. And let's build this commonsense bridge. And I yield back.”

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