To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1310 Highway 64 NW. in Ramsey, Indiana, as the "Wilfred Edward 'Cousin Willie' Sieg, Sr. Post Office".

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forestry, Conservation, and Rural Revitalization of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on July 27, 2006, at 10 a.m. in SR-328A, Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this subcommittee hearing will be to conduct an oversight hearing on the U.S. Department of Agriculture use of technical service providers.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 27, 2006, at 10 a.m., in open session to consider the following nomination: Lieutenant General James T. Conway, USMC, for appointment to the grade of General and to be Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation meet to consider the following nominations on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 11 a.m.:

Charles Nottingham to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board; Robert Sumwalt to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board; Nathaniel Wienecke to be Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Commerce; Jay Cohen to be Under Secretary for Science and Technology, Department of Homeland Security; and Sean Connaughton to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, July 27th, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. the Committee on Environment and Public

Works be authorized to hold a hearing to discuss the Stafford Act: A Path Forward for the Nation's Emergency Preparedness and Response System.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 10 a.m. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to review and make recommendations on proposed legislation implementing the U.S.- Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, and to consider favorably reporting S. 3495, to authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of Vietnam.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. to hold a nominations hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a nominations hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 10 a.m. in SD-430.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 10 a.m. for a business meeting to consider pending committee business.

Agenda

Legislation

1. S. 2590, Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006;

2. S. , Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006;

3. S. 1838, Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act of 2005;

4. S. 3492, Federal Workforce Performance Appraisal and Management Improvement Act of 2006;

5. S. 3584, Federal Supervisor Training Act of 2006.

Post Office Naming Bills

1. S. 3613, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 2951 New York Highway 43 in Averill Park, New York, as the ``Major George Quamo Post Office Building;''

2. H.R. 4246, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 8135 Forest Lane in Dallas, Texas, as the ``Dr. Robert E. Price Post Office Building;''

3. H.R. 5104, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 1750 16th Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida, as the ``Morris W. Milton Post Office;''

4. H.R. 5169, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 1310 Highway 64 NW in Ramsey, Indiana, as the ``Wilfred Edward `Cousin Willie' Sieg, Sr. Post Office;''

5. H.R. 5540, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 217 Southeast 2nd Street in Dimmitt, Texas, as the ``Sergeant Jacob Dan Dones Post Office.''

Post Office Naming Bills--Tentative

1. H.R. 4646, to designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 7320 Reseda Boulevard in Reseda, California, as the ``Coach John Wooden Post Office Building;''

2. S. 2555, to designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 2633 11th Street in Rock Island, Illinois, as the ``Lane Evans Post Office Building;''

3. S. 2719/H.R. 5107, to designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 1400 West Jordan Street in Pensacola, Florida, as the ``Earl D. Hutto Post Office Building.''

Nominations

1. Paul A. Denett to be Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget;

2. The Honorable Anna Blackburne-Rigsby to be Associate Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals;

3. Phyllis D. Thompson to be Associate Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals;

4. Jennifer M. Anderson to be Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia;

5. The Honorable Mickey D. Barnett to be Governor, U.S. Postal Service;

6. Katherine C. Tobin to be Governor, U.S. Postal Service;

7. Ellen C. Williams to be Governor, U.S. Postal Service.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 10:45 a.m. in Senate Dirksen Building Room 226.

Tentative Agenda

I. Nominations

Kimberly Ann Moore, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit; Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood, to be Judge for the District Court of Guam; Steven G. Bradbury, to be an Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel; R. Alexander Acosta, to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

II. Bills

S. 2453, National Security Surveillance Act of 2006, Specter;

S. 2455, Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, DeWine, Graham;

S. 2468, A bill to provide standing for civil actions for declaratory and injunctive relief to persons who refrain from electronic communications through fear of being subject to warrantless electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes, and for other purposes, Schumer;

S. 3001, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Improvement and Enhancement Act of 2006, Specter, Feinstein;

S. 2831, Free Flow of Information Act of 2006, Lugar, Specter, Graham, Schumer, Biden, Grassley;

S. 155, Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2005, Feinstein, Hatch, Grassley, Cornyn, Kyl, Specter;

S. 1845, Circuit Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act of 2005, Ensign, Kyl;

S. 2679, Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, Talent, DeWine, Cornyn.

III. Matters

Subpoenas Relating to ABA Reports.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate for a markup on ``The Small Business Reauthorization and Improvements Act of 2006,'' on Thursday, July 27, 2006, beginning at 10 a.m., in room 428A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, to hold a hearing to consider the nominations of Patrick W. Dunne to be Assistant Secretary for Policy & Planning and Thomas E. Harvey to be Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs, Department of Veterans' Affairs. The hearing will take place in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, to hold a markup to consider the nominations of Patrick W. Dunne to be Assistant Secretary for Policy & Planning and Thomas E. Harvey to be Assistant

Secretary for Congressional Affairs, Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The meeting will take place in the Reception Room off the Senate floor in the Capitol following the first rollcall of the Senate after 1 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 27, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a closed meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet tomorrow, July 27, 2006, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. in Dirksen 106 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security be authorized to meet on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., for a hearing regarding ``Responsible Resource Management at the Nation's Health Access Agency''.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Detecting Smuggled Nuclear Weapons'' on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. in Dirksen 226. The witness list will be provided when it becomes available.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 3638, to encourage the Secretary of the Interior to participate in projects to plan, design, and construct water supply projects and to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to encourage the design, planning, and construction of projects to treat impaired surface water, reclaim, and reuse impaired groundwater, and provide brine disposal in the State of California; S. 3639, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Prado Basin Natural Treatment System Project, to authorize the Secretary to carry out a program to assist agencies in projects to construct regional brine lines in California, to authorize the Secretary to participate in the Lower Chino Dairy Area Desalination Demonstration and Reclamations Project, and for other purposes; H.R. 2341, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Goundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the design, planning, and construction of a project to reclaim and reuse wastewater within and outside of the service area of the City of Austin Water and Wastewater Utility, Texas; and H.R. 3418, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the central Texas water recycling and reuse project, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I would like to discuss the urgent need for this legislation. The Nation's wastewater treatment works--POTWs-- provide a vital service to our Nation. They ensure that municipal and industrial waste is cleaned to a level safe enough to be released back into the Nation's waterways.

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, much more focus was placed on the Nation's water and wastewater facilities. POTWs not only release treated effluent into the Nation's waters but also consist of miles of pipes that run underground and are often large enough for someone to stand in. They are literally underground roadways.

In the 107th Congress, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote legislation--H.R. 5169--to provide POTWs with the resources they needed to conduct vulnerability assessments and secure their facilities. The bill, H.R. 866, was again introduced in the 108th Congress and passed by a vote of 413-2, with every Democrat who voted supporting the bill. I was pleased to introduce the companion to this legislation, S. 1039 with my colleague and then subcommittee Chairman, Mike Crapo. Last year, despite reporting the bill on a bipartisan vote of 13 to 6, members of the Senate minority objected to Senate consideration of S. 1039.

S. 2781 is a variation of S. 1039 with some important improvements, like the addition of site security plans and a more streamlined grantmaking progress. Senator Lincoln Chafee, chairman of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee and Senator Lisa Murkowski, a distinguished member of the EPW Committee joined me in sponsoring S. 2781.

Our bill passed the EPW Committee on a voice vote. Unfortunately, once again, my colleague from Vermont has objected to consideration of wastewater security legislation by the full Senate.

My colleagues in the minority argue that my bill is insufficient because it does not impose on POTW's unfunded federal mandates and because it does not assume that local officials are ignoring the security of their facilities.

POTWs are arms of local government. They are largely owned and operated by the Nation's cities and towns. In 1995 Congress passed the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in which we pledged not to impose costly regulatory burdens on our partners in local government. Just as it is our obligation as U.S. Senators to serve the public good, preserve the public trust and protect the citizenry, so it is the obligation of locally elected, appointed and employed officials.

Why do so many of my colleagues assume that we at the Federal level care more about the citizens of the Nation's towns than the locally elected officials do? Why do so many of them assume that they know more about how to evacuate citizens, secure local treatment plants and protect local citizens than the very people who live in those towns whose jobs it is to protect them?

S. 2781 would simply provide towns with resources to conduct vulnerability assessments and to secure their facilities. It provides funds to research the means to secure the collection systems that are made up of the miles of underground pipes. There are logistical and financial problems with trying to secure these systems that need to be addressed, particularly before imposing an unfunded Federal mandate on the Nation's towns. My bill would support the already ongoing activities of many of the national wastewater associations and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to develop assessment tools and industry security standards as well as conduct security trainings. The national water associations make up the Security Coordinating Council and regularly meet with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agency charged with overseeing security at POTWs. The SCC and EPA are developing a sector security plan to, among other things, establish measures of security improvements.

My colleagues will argue that this is not enough. Local governments cannot be trusted to proceed on their own with a little Federal guidance because to date, they really have not done anything to secure their facilities. However, one need look no further than a March 2006 GAO report to see how much in fact they are doing. According to GAO, 74 percent of the largest 206 treatment works had completed or were in the process of completing a vulnerability assessment. Further, the majority of treatment works had made significant improvements to the physical security of their facility. They did so after careful review of their individual communities' needs. Most importantly, they have done so out of concern for their citizens, not in response to a Federal mandate.

My colleagues will also turn this discussion not into one about security but one about chlorine. Chlorine is by far the most effective disinfectant available and it is the least expensive. During these times of aging systems, growing Federal regulations and limited resources, cost is an important consideration. Washington, DC's treatment works, Blue Plains, spent $12.5 million to change technologies. San Jose, CA, spent $5 million to switch from gaseous chlorine to sodium hypochlorite. The city of Wilmington, DE, spent $160,000 to switch. However, there is much more to their story than that cost figure. Wilmington already had in place a sodium hypochlorite system that was serving as backup to its gaseous chlorine system. Further, Wilmington will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more each year in operations and maintenance costs.

There are other considerations that must be factored in as well, such as downstream effects of a chlorine alternative. For example, the switch from chlorine to chloramines in Washington, DC's drinking water system was found to cause lead to leach out of service pipes and into the faucets of homes and businesses. Thus, decisions about chlorine must be fully evaluated and must be site-specific. Many POTWs are already undergoing these evaluations. After careful review of cost, technical feasibility and safety considerations, and without the presence of a Federal mandate on technology, 116 of the 206 largest POTWs do not use gaseous chlorine: According to the GAO report, another 20 plan to switch to a technology other than chlorine. To sum, nearly two-thirds of the Nation's largest POTWs are not using or will soon stop using chlorine. Those who continue to use chlorine have taken steps to ensure the chlorine is secure. My bill would provide POTWs who decide for themselves to switch treatment technologies with grant money to make the switch. However, my bill maintains trust in local officials who know best their water, the community and their security needs.

Let me be clear. This is an important security bill and I regret that for the second Congress in a row my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are obstructing it. Members of the minority have criticized the chemical security legislation for not covering these facilities. This legislation has basically passed the House of Representatives twice. The minority party in the Senate is blocking this important security bill.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5169) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1310 Highway 64 NW. in Ramsey, Indiana, as the ``Wilfred Edward `Cousin Willie' Sieg, Sr. Post Office''.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 5169, authored by the distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Sodrel), would designate the post office building in Ramsey, Indiana, as the Wilfred Edward ``Cousin Willie'' Sieg, Sr. Post Office.

Mr. Sieg was born March 16, 1931, in his life-long home of Ramsey, Indiana. After finishing high school at Corydon High, Cousin Willie went on to graduate from Indiana University in 1953 with a degree in marketing.

Upon graduation, Cousin Willie served our country as a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He was a member of both the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve until 1968. After his active duty service, Cousin Willie returned home to help run the family business, Ramsey Popcorn Company, alongside his parents and brothers.

His parents had started Ramsey Popcorn in 1944, going door to door selling raw popcorn kernels out of the back of their truck. The business soon grew, and in the early 1960s, Cousin Willie, along with his three brothers, took over day-to-day operations of the business from his parents and eventually served as president of Ramsey Popcorn Company, Incorporated.

Under his purview, Ramsey Popcorn Company grew to become one of the top four producers of popcorn in the world. The company sells roughly 50 million pounds of popcorn a year and exports to over 20 countries throughout the world. Ramsey also sells to household-name snack food manufacturers and supermarkets, including Kraft, Frito Lay, Campbell's, the Kroger Company, and Target.

Mr. Sieg was truly proud of his small community and felt compelled to become involved in any way that he could. In addition to employing many members of his community, he was also a member of the Ramsey Lion's Club, the Ramsey-Spencer Grange, and local Farm Bureau.

He was a Rotarian and actively involved in local and State politics, as well as the area schools' athletic programs. He also served as a member of two boards, the Ramsey Water Company and the North Harrison Community School Board.

Mr. Sieg passed away on February 2, 2006 at the age of 74 after losing a battle with lung cancer. The town of Ramsey and the State of Indiana lost a proud and prominent member of their community. I urge all Members to come together to honor a man that took pride in serving his community by passing H.R. 5169.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Sodrel).

Madam Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 5169, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, Cousin Willie is not just a bill here on the floor of the House to me. He was a fixture in the community. He was a familiar face. As a matter of fact, he was seen on so many grocery store shelves, he was a familiar face to a whole lot of people.

Madam Speaker, I think it is quite an accomplishment to take a little town in southern Indiana and turn it into one of the fourth largest producers in the world. So it is a great honor to me to be able to rename the post office. It will serve as a constant reminder of his contributions to people there in southern Indiana and his own community of Ramsey.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5169.

Madam Speaker, we have no objections on our side to this body's consideration of this measure, and I yield back the balance of our time.