A resolution relating to the censure of George W. Bush.

Mr. President, I join with my colleague, the junior senator from Virginia, to resubmit our resolution of apology for the Senate's failure to pass anti-lynching legislation. We brought this legislation to the Senate's attention in the closing days of the 108th Congress, and indicated then that we would return in February, Black History Month, and seek its adoption his body.

When submitting the resolution earlier, I provided a narrative that described the horrors lynching. It is not necessary to review those facts at this time. The focus of my comments today concerns a critique of the need for this bill. As with many historical errors, there are those who suggest that we are looking at history with twenty-twenty vision. They assert we cannot pass judgment on people living in another context; everyone is blind to their own prejudices, while seeing those of the past clearly.

That is a critique that has a lot of merit in some cases. Societal morays evolve. In fact, our nation's entire history may be viewed as a giant experiment. Viewed from this perspective we find a slow, evolutionary understanding of the meanings of justice, liberty and democracy. However, Senator Allen and I remain confident in what we are seeking to do. The reason is that the Senate's failure to pass anti- lynching legislation is not merely a tragedy now, it was a tragedy then.

Socrates taught us that ``the greatest way to live with honor in this world is

to be what we pretend to be.'' The Senate filibusters that blocked anti-lynching legislation on three separate occasions besmirched the honor of this institution. We style ourselves the greatest deliberative body in the world, yet we showed little real deliberation on those days. We think of ourselves as the ``saucer'' that cools the passions of the House of Representatives. Yet the passions that needed cooling were found in this chamber. We argue that the Senate is the institution that protects the grand traditions of our nation, yet it was the traditions of the Declaration of Independence that we trampled over on those occasions. In short, when we consider the Senate's role in anti- lynching legislation, we simply were not what we pretend to be.

There is other contextual evidence that the Senate was out of step with justice and morality even when viewed at the time. In 1918, in the midst of the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson pleaded for the enactment of anti-lynching legislation. He stated:

There have been many lynchings and every one of them has

been a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice.

No man who loves America, no man who really cares for her

fame and honor and character, or who is truly loyal to her

institutions, can justify mob action while the courts of

justice are open and the Governments of the States and the

Nation are ready and able to do their duty . . . We proudly

claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really are in

deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not discredit

our own. I say, plainly, that every American who takes part

in the action of a mob or gives any sort of countenance is no

true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer, and does

more to discredit her by that single disloyalty to her

standards of law and right than the words or her statesmen or

the sacrifices of her heroic boys in the trenches can do to

make suffering peoples believe her to be their savior.

There are two remarkable things about this quote. First, it is an indication of just how much lynching was impacting our country's reputation. In the middle of an enormous military effort that allied the forces of democracy against the great autocratic empires, the President had to take to reprimand his own countrymen. Furthermore, historians have long noted that President Wilson did not hold particularly progressive views of African Americans. Nevertheless, here he is taking his countrymen to task. Why? Because the injustice of our actions was clear to him, and were being laid bare--rather embarrassingly--before the whole world. While we struggled to demonstrate the strength and righteousness of democracy, we were belying our own story with lynchings. Once again, we simply were not being what we pretended to be.

Finally, I know in my heart that the people of the South were aware of the injustice that they were inflicting on African Americans. I know because I understand how deeply important religion and Christianity are to the people of the South. It pervades every aspect of our culture and history. But it was surely lost on no one in the South that the greatest victim of mob violence was Jesus. When looking at James Allen's book ``Without Sanctuary'' I think people will get a sense of God's suffering. You will also see the tragedy of humanity in the faces of the crowds. You quickly realize that man's inhumanity to man is an ancient question that still plagues us today. Yet in the helpless nobility of the victims, we are also reminded that God intends true peace and justice to come in the next world and not this one.

We have an opportunity today to teach, an opportunity to express remorse, and most importantly an opportunity to be what we pretend to be. In so doing, I hope we may return some of the lost honor of this Chamber.

Mr. President, it has been said that ``ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.'' Sadly, this great body, in which I am so proud to serve, once allied its power with ignorance. In so doing, it condoned unspeakable injustice that diminished the role of the Senate, and heaped untold suffering on Americans sorely in need of our protection. I am referring to the Senate's role in the decades long campaign to end lynching in this country. On three separate occasions, our colleagues in the House of Representatives passed anti- lynching legislation with overwhelming majorities. On all three of those occasions members of this Chamber blocked, or filibustered the consideration of that legislation.

Between 1882, when records first began to be collected, and 1968 4,742 Americans lost their lives to lynch mobs. The experts believe that undocumented cases might double that figure. The vast majority of those killed --3,445 Americans--were African American. Sadly, a disproportionate number of those deaths occurred within my home region of the South, but 46 of the 50 States experienced these atrocities. Lynching was truly a national problem deserving the attention of the national legislative bodies.

Frederick Douglas seems to have captured the real reason for this dark period of our national history. These acts of terrorism were not so much an admission of African Americans' weakness, but of their perseverance, and indomitable spirit. Douglas wrote:

It is proof that the Negro is not standing still. He is not

dead, but alive and active. He is not drifting with the

current, but manfully resisting it . . . A ship rotting at

anchor meets with no resistance, but when she sails on the

sea, she has to buffet opposing billows. The enemies of the

Negro see that he is making progress and they naturally wish

to stop him and keep him in just what they consider his

proper place.

It was, in short, the ability of African Americans to overcome Jim Crow laws, to overcome share-cropping, to overcome second-class citizenship that provoked such savagery. Its an old story that repeats itself throughout human history. Whether it was the Israelites in Egypt, the colonial empires in Africa or America's own history of Apartheid, rulers that assume superiority inevitably prove themselves models of mankind's basest instincts.

It should also be noted that this was not only an outrage committed against African Americans. The effort to dehumanize people on the basis of race or ethnicity did not limit itself to black Americans. In fact, the single largest incident of lynching occurred in my home State, in my home town of New Orleans. Yet, the victims were not black. They were Italians. On March 14, 1891, 11 Italian immigrants were lynched in the city of New Orleans. These immigrants too were thought to be less than human, and were simply rounded up as a group of the ``usual suspects'' following the murder of Police Superintendent David Hennessy. Already edgy from a media prompted Mafia scare, a mob surrounded the prison and eventually battered down the doors. An armed group of 25 men overtook the guards and summarily riddled the bodies of the 11 Italian prisoners with bullets. Their bodies were hung on lampposts outside the prison. Eyewitnesses described the cheering of the crowd as deafening.

Of course, the attacks on that day are an example of mob justice and its irrational prejudices. However, in nearly 25 percent of all lynchings the motivations of the attackers came down to a bald attempt to maintain a caste system in this country. The NAACP cataloged the reported motivations for these forms of attack. They included: using disrespectful, insulting, slanderous, boastful, threatening or incendiary language; insubordination, impertinence, or improper demeanor, a sarcastic grin, laughing at the wrong place, a prolonged silence; refusing to take off one's hat to a white person or to give the right-of-way when encountering a white on the sidewalk; resisting assault by whites; being troublesome generally; disorderly conduct, petty theft or drunkenness; writing an improper letter to a white person; paying undue or improper attention to a white female; accusing a white man of writing love letters to a black woman; or living or keeping company with a white woman; turning or refusing to turn State's evidence; testifying or bringing suit against a white person; being related to a person accused of a crime and already lynched; political activities; union organizing; conjuring; discussing a lynching; gambling; operating a house of ill fame; a personal debt; refusing to accept an employment offer; vagrancy; refusing to give up one's farm; conspicuously displaying one's wealth or property; and trying to act like a white man.

In many instances, lynchings were little more than a way to remove an economic competitor and confiscate his property. This was true in a number of cases in Mississippi involving successful African American landowners,

and in one notorious Hawaiian case involving a Japanese immigrant competing with established white businessmen.

Many of my colleagues might wonder why now? After all, some of these incidents are over a century old. There are two reasons. First, this aspect of American history is not well known or understood. As reconstruction concluded in the South, a very ugly struggle to reassert the social structure that preceded the Civil War took place. A great deal of it occurred with the tacit consent of the Federal Government, and the most part, the media either shared in the common prejudice, or simply ignored what was occurring.

Fortunately, we have the publication of the book ``Without Sanctuary'' by James Allen, Hilton Als, Congressman John Lewis, and Leon F. Litwak to serve as a focal point for our attention to this neglected history. This is a difficult book to examine. It serves as a catalog of inhuman crime perpetrated by very ordinary citizens. Looking at anything so tragic as the victims of these crimes would be disturbing, but that is not what will leave a lasting impression. It is the festive attitude, the smiles and smirks on the crowd gathered around the victim. They clearly take a perverse pride in this act. Hannah Arendt, the famous political philosopher, subtitled her book on Adolph Eichman's war crimes trials ``A Report on the Banality of Evil.'' When you look at the expressions on the faces of the murders in these photos, that is all you can think about. These are not crazed killers, these are rational people going about their every day lives, and committing unspeakable acts in the process.

Photos like these serve to remind us that a healthy society is not something that is built up over time, and then like a great monument, exists for centuries. Rather, a healthy society is a thin levee that must be constantly improved and maintained to hold back the worst instincts of mankind. I think the horrible pictures that came from Abu Gharib prison served as a reminder of this lesson. This book is even greater testimony that atrocities are not events that only occur in far off places. They can and have occurred here in the United States.

The only way to maintain a healthy society is to acknowledge and discuss our mistakes. No one would defend the Senate's filibuster of anti-lynching legislation today. I would like to think that any Senator who did so would quickly be looking for another line of work. However, despite the change of attitude we have taken no action to remedy our wrong. That is the purpose of this resolution today. I would like to extend my deep thanks to my courageous colleague, the Junion Senator from Virginia. He seemed to instantly understand the significance of this effort, and I believe it was vitally important to proceed with this resolution in a bipartisan manner. His input and drive have made this effort much more successful than it otherwise would have been.

It is our intention to introduce this legislation today, and use the recess period to confer with our colleagues about it. When we reconvene next year, we will re-introduce this resolution, and at that time, we hope to have the co-sponsorship of every member of this body. Then, we endeavor to enact the resolution to commemorate Black History month.

I said ignorance allied with power is justice's most ferocious enemy. Yet imagine what truth allied with power can bring. For over 50 years, African American achievement was seen as a threat to the majority of people in this nation. It is time to close the book on that tragic period and begin to celebrate the achievements of black Americans as accomplishments that have bettered us all. I believe that this resolution of apology will be an important symbolic step in this process of healing and growth.

Mr. President, we have all heard the expression, ``To err is human.'' We teach our children that mistakes are okay because we learn from them. However, there are some mistakes that are more costly to make than others. In 2000, the Institute of Medicine released a report entitled, ``To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.'' The report revealed the following devastating statistic: every year, between 44,000 and 98,000 hospitalized people in the United States die due to medical errors.

Science has not yet found a cure to cancer or even the common cold, but it has discovered a way to prevent the thousands of fatalities that occur every year due to medical errors. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations developed a universal protocol that calls for surgical teams to literally call a ``time out'' before surgeries begin. This ``time out'' serves a brief period for surgeons and nurses to verify the patient's identity, the procedure to be performed, and the site of the procedure. Endorsed by the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Hospital Association, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, this idea of a ``time out'' may seem almost simplistic, but the fact of the matter is even the best surgeon in the world can make a very costly mistake if he or she does not stop for a moment for surgery and take a ``time out.

Therefore, it is my pleasure to rise today to submit this resolution, which promotes a National Time Out Day and promotes the adoption of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's universal protocol for preventing errors in the operating room.

To err may be human, but for the thousands of relatives that are currently sitting in a hospital waiting room, waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery, human error is not an acceptable answer.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of an important resolution of apology that Senator Mary Landrieu and I are resubmitting today. Since first submitting this measure last September, I am proud to say that approximately a third of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle have lent their support by serving as original cosponsors this Congress.

Like all of my colleagues, I am proud to be a Member of this Chamber, not for its grandeur, but because of the grand ideas it represents. It is here, at these small, wood desks, that big ideas have been debated and argued throughout the course of history for the greater good of the people of the United States and the world. It is here in this Chamber, on this floor, that representative democracy has reached consensus from what our Founding Fathers called the ``Will of the People.''

In the history of this Chamber, there have been many great minds and defenders of freedom. One of those, whose words still reverberate here today, is Daniel Webster. Standing in the old Senate Chamber, Webster told his colleagues in 1834 that a ``representative of the people is a sentinel on the watch tower of liberty.''

Indeed, the United States Senate has been a great watchtower on liberty. Many individuals have venerated the Senate as the world's greatest deliberative body. The formidable British Member of Parliament, William Gladstone, called the American Senate, ``that remarkable body, the most remarkable of all the inventions of modern politics.''

But unfortunately, this august body has a stain on its history: lynching. Americans died from a noose, from flogging, from a torch, from the evil hearts of men outside this Chamber. While three-fourths of the 4,742 victims of these injustices were African-Americans, no race escaped the cruel act that is so contrary to the rule of law, due process and equal protection that we pride ourselves on in the United States. Jewish people, Asians, Hispanics, American Indians, Italians and others found themselves unprotected.

I rise today to offer a formal and heartfelt apology to all the victims of lynching in our history, and for the failure of the United States Senate to take action when action was most needed.

This body failed to act as these vile killings captivated front-page headlines, drew crowds with morbid curiosity and left thousands of mostly African Americans hanging from trees or bleeding to death from the lashings of whips. In not acting, this body failed to protect the liberty of which Webster spoke.

According to the archives of the Tuskegee Institute, 4,472 Americans died by lynching starting in 1882. Three-fourths of these acts of hatred were perpetrated against black men, women, and children. Many times these lynchings were not lone acts by a few white men. Rather, they were angry gangs or mobs whipped into frenzies by skewed mentalities of right and wrong.

One of those who suffered this awful fate was an African American named Zachariah Walker of Coatesville, VA. In 1911, Walker was dragged from a hospital bed where he was recovering from a gunshot wound. Accused of killing a white man--which he claimed was in self-defense-- Walker was burned alive at the stake without a trial.

Such horrendous acts were not just a regional phenomenon of the South. States like Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and even the Washington, DC area experienced mob violence. Lynching was not just a regional problem; it was a national crime, which occurred in 46 States of our country.

Despite the national scope of these acts, the Senate failed to pass any of the nearly 200 anti-lynching bills introduced in Congress during the first half of the twentieth century. After three bills were passed by the House of Representatives, they faced filibusters on this Senate floor.

Seven Presidents from 1890 to 1952 asked that such laws be passed. A Federal law would have afforded more protection to the innocent and would have brought the resources of the Federal Government to bear on those responsible for such egregious acts. Sadly, only one percent of such acts were prosecuted by the State or local authorities. I am proud to say Virginia passed an anti-lynching law which logically accounts for relatively fewer lynchings than in any other States in our region.

During the winter of 1937-1938, one grisly lynching captivated this body's attention. The previous April, two African Americans were taken from their jail cells in Mississippi, were whipped and slowly torched to death. Senator Champ Clark of Missouri posted photographs of the brutality back here in the cloakroom. For six weeks, this

body debated legislation to make lynching a Federal crime. For six weeks. In the end, those in favor of the pending anti-lynching bill failed to enact cloture to break the filibuster.

Historians will no doubt disagree as to a single reason why Senators blocked anti-lynching legislation in the 1920's to 1940's. My desire here is not to get into motivations.

Regardless of their reasoning, our reason tells us that it was wrong and it is appropriate to apologize for this lack of action.

Thankfully justice in our Nation has moved forward and left such despicable acts to history. In ignoring the protections of our Founding Fathers that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, the Senate turned its back on the most helpless in our society at a time when the weak needed protection.

I stand here today as a proud Senator from a Southern State. I look around this chamber and know of its abundance of honor and integrity throughout its history.

As Ephesians teaches us, ``all things that are reproved are made manifest by light.''

My fellow Senators, this simple, dignified apology is appropriate. It is not about any reparations. I respectfully urge my colleagues to reprove this tragedy and pass this resolution this month, February, in commemoration of Black History Month.

I shall close with the words of our Resolution:

Whereas an apology offered in the spirit of true repentance

moves the United States toward reconciliation and may become

central to a new understanding, on which improved racial

relations can be forged: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

Apologizes to the victims of lynching for the failure of

the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation;

Expresses the deepest sympathies and most solemn regrets of

the Senate to the descendents of victims of lynching, the

ancestors of whom were deprived of life, human dignity, and

the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the

United States; and

Remembers the history of lynching, to ensure that these

tragedies will be neither forgotten nor repeated.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 10:30 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Health Care Coverage for Small Business: Challenges and Opportunities.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Saving for the 21st Century: Is America Saving Enough to be Competitive in the Global Marketplace?''.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing on Nominations.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

I. Nominations

Norman Randy Smith, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit; Steven G. Bradbury, to be an Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel; Timothy Anthony Junker, to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of Iowa.

II. Bills

S. 489, Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act, Alexander, Kyl, Cornyn, Graham, Hatcher;

S. 2039, Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2005, Durbin, Specter, DeWine, Leahy, Kennedy, Feinstein, Feingold, Schumer;

S. 2292, A bill to provide relief for the Federal judiciary from excessive rent charges, Specter, Leahy, Cornyn, Feinstein, Biden;

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.

III. Matters

S.J. Res. 1, Marriage Protection Amendment, Allard, Sessions, Kyl, Hatch, Cornyn, Coburn, Brownback;

S. Res. 398, A resolution relating to the censure of George W. Bush, Feingold.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Orphan Works: Proposals for a Legislative Solution'' on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Panel I: Jule L. Sigall, Associate Register for Policy & International Affairs, U.S. Copyright Office, Washington, DC; Victor S. Perlman, Managing Director and General Counsel, American Society of Media Photographers, Inc., Philadelphia, PA; June Cross, Documentary Filmmaker, Visiting Professor, Columbia University, New York, NY; Brad Holland, Founding Board Member, Illustrators' Partnership of America, Marshfield, MA; Maria Pallante-Hyun, Associate General Counsel and Director of Licensing, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (Guggenheim Museum), New York, NY; Thomas C. Rubin, Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, VA; Rick Prelinger, Board President, Internet Archive, San Francisco, CA.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2006, for a committee hearing to examine the VA's 5-year capital construction plan. The hearing will take place in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 2 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 April 6, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed briefing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet tomorrow, April 6, 2006, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Dirksen 106 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. for a hearing regarding ``The Effectiveness of the Small Business Administration.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on National Parks be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6 at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearing is to recent testimony on the following bills: S. 1510, a bill to designate as wilderness certain lands within the Rocky Mountain National Park in the State of Colorado; S. 1719 and H.R. 1492, bills to provide for the preservation of the historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II, and for other purposes; S. 1957, a bill to authorize the Secretary of Interior to convey to the Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitor Center Foundation, Inc. certain Federal land associated with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in Nebraska, to be used as an historical interpretive site along the trail; S. 2024 and H.R. 394, bills to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to evaluate the significance of the Colonel James Barrett Farm in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and assess the suitability and feasibility of including the farm in the National Park System as part of the Minute Man National Historic Park, and for other purposes; S. 2252, a bill to designate the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located at 2820 Rungius Road, Jackson, WY, as the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States; and S. 2403, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to include in the boundaries of the Grand Teton National Park land and interests in land of the Grand Teton Park subdivision, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Seapower be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 6, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on Navy shipbuilding in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 6, 2006, at 3:30 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on military space programs in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the National Ocean Policy Study be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 10 a.m., on Offshore Aquaculture.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 10 a.m. to mark up an original bill entitled ``Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2006.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 30, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing on ``McKinney-Vento Act Reauthorization and Consolidation of HUD's Homeless Programs.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 10 a.m., on pending Committee business.

Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., on Competition and Convergence.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Agenda

I. Nominations: Norman Randy Smith to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit; Michael A. Chagares to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit; Patrick J. Schiltz to be U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Minnesota; Gray Hampton Miller to be United States District Judge

for the Southern District of Texas; Steven G. Bradbury to be an Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel; Sharee M. Freeman to be Director, Community Relations Service, U.S. Department of Justice; Jeffrey L. Sedgwick to be Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.

II. Bills: S. 1768, A bill to permit the televising of Supreme Court proceedings--Specter, Leahy, Cornyn, Grassley, Schumer, Feingold, Durbin; S. 829, Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2005--Grassley, Schumer, Cornyn, Leahy, Feingold, Durbin, Graham, DeWine, Specter; S. 489, Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act--Alexander, Kyl, Cornyn, Graham, Hatch; S. 2039, Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2005--Durbin, Specter, DeWine, Leahy, Kennedy, Feinstein, Feingold, Schumer; S. 2292, A bill to provide relief for the Federal judiciary from excessive rent charges--Specter, Leahy, Cornyn, Feinstein, Biden; S. 2453, National Security Surveillance Act of 2006--Specter; S. 2455, Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006--DeWine, Graham.

III. Matters: S.J. Res. 1, Marriage Protection Amendment--Allard, Sessions, Kyl, Hatch, Cornyn, Coburn, Brownback; S. Res. 398, A resolution relating to the censure of George W. Bush; Feingold.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 30, 2006, to hear the legislative presentations of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, the AMVETS, the American Ex-Prisoners of War and the Vietnam Veterans of America. The hearing will take place in room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 10 a.m., for a hearing entitled ``Neutralizing The Nuclear and Radiological Threat: Securing the Global Supply Chain (Part Two).''

The PRESIDING, OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

select committee on intelligence

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

Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Disaster Prevention and Prediction be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 30, 2006, at 11 a.m., on National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Oversight.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 30,2006 at 2:30 p.m, for a hearing entitled, ``Fulfilling the Promise? A Review of Veterans' Preference in the Federal Government?''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 30, 2006, at 2 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on reserve component personnel policies in review of the Defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Water and Power be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 30 at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 1577, to facilitate the transfer of Spearfish Hydroelectric Plant Number 1 to the city of Spearfish, SD; S. 1962 and H.R. 4000, bills to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to revise certain repayment contracts with the Bostwick Irrigation District in Nebraska, the Kansas Bostwick Irrigation District No. 2, the Frenchman-Cambridge Irrigation District, and the Webster Irrigation District No. 4, all a part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program; S. 2028, to provide for the reinstatement of a license for a certain Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Project; S. 2035, to extend the time required for construction of a hydroelectric project in the State of Idaho; S. 2054, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of water resources in the State of Vermont; S. 2205, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain parcels of land acquired for the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal features of the initial stage of the Oahe Unit, James Division, SD, to the Commission of Schools and Public Lands and the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks of the State of South Dakota for the purpose of mitigating lost wildlife habitat, on the condition that the current preferential leaseholders shall have an option to purchase the parcels from the Commission; and H.R. 3812, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a feasibility study with respect to the Mokelumne River, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I rise to submit a resolution expressing the Sense of the Senate on promoting initiatives to develop an HIV vaccine.

On June 6, 2004, I introduced Senate Resolution 398 urging the President to promote initiatives to develop an HIV vaccine. While I am encouraged by the progress that has taken place in the months since I submitted that resolution, much remains to be done to develop an effective HIV vaccine. Because of the gravity and urgency of this issue, I am submitting my resolution.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is unlike any disease in history and has profound implications for political stability, development, and human welfare. The sheer magnitude of the crisis is overwhelming. An estimated 40,000,000 people around the world live with HIV or AIDS, and nearly 8,500 people die every day from AIDS. Last year alone, more than 3 million people died from AIDS. Every 14 seconds, a child loses a parent to AIDS. An estimated 14,000,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and this number is expected to

increase to 25 million by 2010. According to recent projections from the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, if the pandemic spreads at its current rate, there will be 45 million new infections by 2010 and nearly 70 million deaths by 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hardest hit by the disease, with more than 75 percent of the people infected with HIV living in the region.

The U.S. is leading global efforts to combat the pandemic through its $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and its commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. But the human and economic toll of the HIV pandemic demands that these activities be complemented by accelerated efforts to develop an HIV vaccine. An HIV vaccine would prevent new HIV and AIDS cases, which could save millions of lives and dramatically reduce the negative social and economic consequences of the disease. Yet, HIV vaccine development is still not prominent on national or international public health agendas.

Developing an HIV vaccine is particularly challenging because HIV is one of the most complicated viruses ever identified. In addition, many private sector biotechnology companies have not invested money and expertise in the search for an HIV vaccine. Developing an HIV vaccine, therefore, is unlikely to occur without a well-coordinated and focused global research effort.

The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise is mobilizing such an effort. The Enterprise is an alliance of the world's leading scientists and independent organizations around the world committed to accelerating the development of a preventive vaccine for HIV/AIDS. The Enterprise, like the Human Genome Project, seeks to promote a new level of coordination and information-sharing to address a complex scientific problem. In addition, the HIV Vaccine Enterprise is intended to accelerate progress by promoting international public-private collaboration.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, IAVI, has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Enterprise. The IAVI is an international organization that collaborates with developing countries, governments, and international agencies dedicated to accelerating the development of a vaccine to halt the AIDS epidemic. The IAVI, however, cannot accomplish this task alone. Here in the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation have joined forces to help address the financial problems faced by small biotechnology companies. They founded BIO Ventures for Global Health to help small biotechnology companies address the problems they confront in developing new medical products for poor countries. The wider application of this model would greatly improve the development of vaccines and other medicines aimed at improving health in the developing world.

Under President Bush's leadership, the Members of the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations, G-8, during their meeting at Sea Island last June, endorsed the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. At the meeting, President Bush announced plans to establish a second HIV Vaccine Research and Development Center in the United States, in addition to the one already operating at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Recently, the President announced funding for that second center, the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, CHAVI, which will become a key component of the Enterprise.

I commend the President's leadership on this critically important issue. The G-8's endorsement of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise is a big step forward in the development of an HIV vaccine. My resolution acknowledges the President's and the G-8's actions towards this goal and urges them to continue to cooperate with other countries, particularly those hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to achieve this important objective.