Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of S. 1637, the Katrina Emergency Relief Act of 2005, be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of S. 1637, the Katrina Emergency Relief Act of 2005, be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I was a high school student in a place called Basic High School in Henderson, NV. I was a boy about 16 years old, and Mrs. Robinson came into the classroom. She was a part-time counselor and a full-time government teacher. She pulled me out of the class and she said, I have looked at all of your reports and you should go to law school.

I had never met a lawyer, had never even seen a courthouse, let alone been in one, but I accepted Mrs. Robinson's word that I should go to law school. From that day forward, that is what I set my mind to do. I came back here to go to law school. I was a full-time student at George Washington University, went to school in the daytime and worked as a Capitol policeman in the nighttime.

Still having never been in a courthouse, as a law student in an appellate practice course I was taking, the students were invited to go into the Supreme Court to listen to a Supreme Court argument. I can remember going there. The case the professor chose was not one that sounds very exciting. It certainly did not sound very exciting to me at the time. It did not involve some spectacular criminal case. It involved a case called Baker v. Carr. The first time I was ever in a courthouse I listened to one of the most important, significant Supreme Court arguments in the history of the country because those lawyers debating this case, these issues of law, were there to talk about the one man-one vote doctrine, which the U.S. Supreme Court a few months later, after having heard these arguments, decided that we in the United States would be bound by one man, one vote.

As a result of that, reapportionment took place in State legislatures and, of course, in the United States through the Federal courts. In the States where the legislature did not follow the one man-one vote rule, the courts took over.

As I look back, I was so fortunate to be able to have my first exposure to the law in the place where I later became a member of the Supreme Court bar. Having heard that case is something I will always remember.

I was a trial lawyer, and I have argued cases before the Nevada Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit, but I never argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. I wish I had had that opportunity.

Having heard Baker v. Carr those many years ago, I have never forgotten it. That is why it has been so pleasant for me to develop a personal relationship with some of the Supreme Court Justices, one of whom was the man whose funeral I will go to today at 2, William Rehnquist.

I said earlier and I will say again, I had a tour of duty as chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee and every Thursday there is an off- the-record discussion that takes place in the Senate with Democratic Senators, and we always try to come up with things that will interest the Senators. I said to a number of my colleagues I wanted to invite William Rehnquist to come to the Democratic Policy luncheon and they said, no, he is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, he is partisan, and he will not come anyway.

I picked up the telephone and in a matter of a minute or two he was on the line. I said, Mr. Justice, would you come to this policy luncheon? You will talk for 5 or 10 minutes, and we will ask questions.

Yes, I would like to do that.

He came over to the LBJ Room, one of the best luncheons we ever had. He answered all the questions. As I reflect on Justice Rehnquist coming to that Democratic Policy luncheon, the thing I remember more than anything else is how funny he was. He was a man physically large in stature with a biting sense of humor.

I felt so comfortable having him preside over the impeachment trial. That was also kind of an awkward time for me. I had just been selected as the assistant Democratic leader. I had this seat right here. I had never sat so close to what was going on before and I felt so uncomfortable sitting here. My first tour of duty in the Senate in that seat was as a Senator as part of the impeachment trial of President Clinton.

Of course, I visited with him, talked to him when he kept getting up. He had a bad back and he suffered a lot from physical pain for many years as a result of his back. He would get up every 20 minutes or so and stand and walk around his chair. I had a number of very nice, warm conversations with him at that time.

The conversation I will remember beyond all other conversations with the Chief Justice, there was so much speculation in the newspapers about he was sick and he was going to step down and would it be this Monday or the next Monday or when was it going to be. So in that I felt comfortable and had spoken to him on the telephone a number of occasions, I called him at his home and I said, I am sorry to bother you at home. He was not well. I said, the simple reason I have called you is to say, do not resign.

He said, I am not going to.

I am not going to talk about all that was said during the call, but I would say he told me he was not going to resign. I will always remember that telephone conversation with the Chief Justice of the United States. I am confident I did the right thing in calling him. I did not tell any of my colleagues. I did not tell my family. I did not tell anybody, but I picked up the telephone and I called him, and I am glad I did.

So I join with the distinguished majority leader in spreading on the record of this Senate the accolades for this good man. He was very politically conservative, so I understand. He served as a lawyer for 16 years after he graduated first in his class at Stanford Law School and I have a great amount of affection for that law school. One of my

boys went to Stanford. It was a wonderful place to go to school. He served in the Army Air Corps. He was Phi Beta Kappa. That was not enough education for him. He got a second master's degree at Stanford after having gotten a master's degree at Stanford.

I am sorry that he is not going to be on the Court any more because I thought he was an outstanding administrator. He spoke for the Federal judges with strength and clarity. When we kept piling stuff on Federal judges to give them jurisdiction and do things, he complained about it. He said they work too hard, they have too much to do. So we are going to miss his voice.

Mr. President, Hurricane Katrina was a tremendous hit to us. When I say ``us,'' I mean the American people. We recognize this administration needs to have a review of what took place. Certainly they have to acknowledge that, but I think it is the wrong thing for the President to be investigating himself. That is basically what he said he was going to do yesterday. Baseball games do not work out very well when you have the man throwing the pitches calling the balls and strikes.

I heard the House is going to start meeting today on actually passing legislative matters that are so important to being able to give relief to these people, but outside the $10.5 billion we did on an emergency basis last Thursday, we have not done anything here legislatively to help the people who are so devastated. It is time we get to work for the gulf coast families.

What does it mean to have lost everything? That is what has happened to tens of thousands of people. They have lost everything. They are at the National Guard Armory sleeping on cots. There are hundreds of them coming from Nevada. The Senator from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, indicated yesterday there are about 60,000 evacuees who have come to Arkansas with no jobs, no money, no change of clothes--nothing. They are counting on us, and we in the Senate are not doing anything.

We all care about these victims. This is not a question of who cares the most. But I have to say, and I raise a flag of concern, tomorrow morning we are going to the Commerce, Science, and Justice appropriations bill. Under the rules of the Senate, you are really restricted as to what you can do on an appropriations bill. This appropriations bill is no different. We can do a few little things to help the victims but almost nothing: SBA loans and maybe a few things for law enforcement, but there is nothing that gets the victims the health care, the housing, the education, or the financial relief they need now. We need to adjust our priorities on the floor of the Senate.

If we go to another appropriations bill, the same problems are here. We cannot get to the things that we need to get to, to help these people who are so desperately in need of help. I personally think we should finish the Defense authorization bill. That is what should be called up. Call up the Defense authorization bill. I spoke to the majority leader last week about this and indicated I would talk to Senator Levin about how much time he thought it would take. I reported my findings to Senator Frist. We have to get to the Defense authorization bill. We spent some time on it; a few days, as you will remember. Nothing happened, to speak of. The bill was pulled.

We have hundreds of thousands of people who will be affected by the Defense authorization bill, not only those on the ground as soldiers and marines and airmen and some naval personnel who will be helped, who are on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have to do it for that reason, but we also have to do it for the hundreds of thousands of veterans who are affected by what we do with the Defense authorization bill, or do not do, and right now we are doing nothing. If we brought up the Defense authorization bill, we could do the things that need to be done to help the victims of Katrina.

What, obviously, is the game plan around here is we will wait on the Defense authorization bill until we are way down the road. Then people will say you are spending too much time on this and you are bringing up matters that are not in keeping with the defense of this country. I think the defense of this country is right now. What we have seen happening in the gulf indicates that we need our soldiers and marines, our military personnel. There are about 60,000 of them down there right now, in those three Gulf States--60,000. The Defense bill is important. Let's bring it up.

If we brought up that bill, there are some things we could do. We could, for example, introduce legislation to reestablish FEMA at the Cabinet level so it is no longer the toothless tiger it has become. We could introduce legislation to establish an independent commission to study what went wrong with Katrina. It is going to happen. There will be an independent commission to study Katrina just like there was an independent commission to study 9/11. The administration fought that and fought that, but it came to be and it was good. Congressman Hamilton and Governor Kean did a wonderful job for the people of America and the world with the work they did. We need a similar bipartisan commission to find out what took place after the storm hit.

There is legislation in which some are interested--including, it is my understanding, Congressional Representatives from Louisiana, and I know I have spoken to Senator Kennedy about this--to have an independent authority for how we are going to spend maybe as much as $200 billion, $150 billion, to do what needs to be done as a result of that catastrophe, an independent commission like the Tennessee Valley Authority, as an example, so that money is spent in the right way.

What about gas prices? Do we need to take a look at that? Do we need legislation to take a look at that? Of course we do. Of course we do. In one quarter, the last quarter, ExxonMobil's profits were up to $8 billion, one quarter net profit; British Petroleum, $6 billion; Shell, $5.4 billion; ChevronTexaco, $3.7 billion; Conoco, $3.10 billion--their profits up 55 percent; Chevron profits up 13 percent; Shell up 35 percent; British Petroleum, their profits up 37 percent; ExxonMobil up 32 percent.

People are going to fill their vehicles today, and they will wind up spending $100 for a tank of gas--one tank. So having the Defense bill brought up would give us an opportunity to do that. I can't imagine why we can't go to the Defense authorization bill--other than the reasons I just indicated.

There are things we could be doing. The Energy and Water conference, we have been waiting for months to have a conference on that. We can't do that. Why? Because the Senate number is higher than the House number, so the House fixes that. They just won't let us go to conference. Chairman Hobson is not allowing us to do anything because our number is bigger than theirs.

The American people should understand that part of the Energy and Water subcommittee money that we need to spend is for the Corps of Engineers. It is here and it is in the doldrums, to say the least. Nothing is happening. Why can't we go to conference?

Also, in that the Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, I think we need to revisit this budget and reconciliation. Is it really the time in the history of our country to have, as called for in the documents I have just talked about, $70 billion more in tax cuts? That is what we are being asked to go along with.

On the night we voted on the budget resolution I read a letter from the head of the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, mainline Protestant Churches. They said to me: I want you to tell everyone here voting on this--and I read it into the Record; they gave it to me in the form of a letter--that the budget document that you are being asked to vote on is ``immoral.'' That is their word, not mine: ``immoral.''

If it was immoral when we passed it, think about it now. We are going to ask for $70 billion more in tax cuts, most of them for the rich, of course; $35 billion in spending cuts, $10 billion alone for Medicaid. In all the pictures on television and the newspapers you see those people who could not get out of the storm because they had no automobiles, there was no public transportation--they were stuck there. The poorest of the poor have been hit the hardest by Katrina. Shouldn't we consider not cutting Medicaid $10 billion?

That is where that money goes, to the poorest of the poor. We cut student loans, food stamps--these are cuts to the very programs the survivors of Katrina need. America can do better.

FEMA and other agencies failed these people, in my opinion. The Senate must not fail the American people. It is time we get to work. I have given some outlines. We as a minority are happy to work with the majority, but I have given an outline of some of the things I think we need to do. The burden is on the majority to do something about this budget and reconciliation because it is on the conscience of the majority. I have to say: $10 billion cuts in Medicaid? More tax cuts? Cutting food stamps? Student loans?

I also say that we have a burden, an obligation to do something about the military that is sacrificing so much. The little, sparsely populated State of Nevada had 24 soldiers killed.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. President, one of the pleasures I have as a Member of Congress, having served in the House and the Senate, is having the opportunity to meet people who are special, unique. During the time that I have had in Congress to meet some of these individuals, I have in my own frame of reference chosen a number of heroes. One of those heroes is a Congressman from the Fifth District of Georgia by the name of John Lewis.

At home last night, I read Newsweek magazine. I saw an opinion piece written by my hero, John Lewis. This appeared on page 52 of this week's Newsweek magazine, entitled ``Opinion: A Civil-rights Leader Mourns an African-American Population Left Behind.''

I will read what John Lewis said:

I was headed to New Orleans as a Freedom Rider in May of

1961. It would've been my first visit, but we were arrested

in Jackson, Miss., and never made it. In happier times,

though, I have been able to visit New Orleans over the years.

It's one of my favorite cities, one of the great Southern

cities. The people are friendly, warm, helpful. In the old

part of the city, there's so much history when you walk down

Canal Street or Royal. One of my favorite places is a shop on

Royal where they have lots of art posters by African-American

artists. After Katrina, there's a loss of the music, the

restaurants and the character in addition to the unbelievable

loss of lives. Maybe we will never know the number of people

who have been lost.

It's very painful for me to watch and read about what is

happening. I have a sense of righteous indignation. I think

all Americans should rise up and speak out. It's not like 9/

11 that just happened. We saw this in the making. The media

told us for days this storm was coming and for years people

have been telling us we need to do something to prepare. It

took us so many days to make the full force of the government

available afterwards.

In 1957, during the crisis in Little Rock and President

Dwight Eisenhower--maybe he was reluctant, maybe he had some

reservations--but he put the full force of the government

behind the decision to desegregate Central High. During the

Freedom Rides, President

John Kennedy didn't hesitate to federalize the National Guard

and put the whole city of Montgomery under martial law. It's

baffling to me that we didn't have the ability or the will to

do something much earlier. We still haven't had the

passionate statement that should be made by officials in this

administration.

It's so glaring that the great majority of people crying

out for help are poor, they're black. There's a whole segment

of society that's being left behind. When you tell people to

evacuate, these people didn't have any way to leave. They

didn't have any cars, any SUVs.

It's so strange that when we have something like this

happening, the president gets two ex-presidents--his father

and Bill Clinton--to raise money. What they propose to do is

good and I appreciate all the work the private sector and the

faith-based community are doing. But when we get ready to go

to war, we don't go around soliciting resources with a bucket

or an offering plate. We have the courage to come before

Congress and debate the issue, authorize money. That's what

we need to do here. By next year we'll have spent $400 to 500

billion in Afghanistan and Iraq. That money could be used to

help rebuild the lives of people. If we fail to act as a

nation, I don't think history will be kind to us.

We've got to do more than the $10 billion that Congress

appropriated. We need a massive Marshall-type plan to rebuild

New Orleans. But in rebuilding we should see this as an

opportunity to rebuild urban America. New Orleans could be a

model. There must be a commitment of billions and billions of

dollars--maybe $50 to 100 billion. I think even in other

urban centers, there are people who are just barely existing.

We sing the song ``hope is on the way,'' but it's taking a

long time before hope arrives. It becomes very discouraging

where you see people dying--children, the elderly, the sick--

the lack of food and water. I've cried a lot of tears the

past few days as I watched television--to see some body lying

dead outside the convention center. I went to Somalia in 1992

and I saw little babies dying before my eyes. This reminded

me of Somalia. But this is America. We're not a third-world

country. This is an embarrassment. It's a shame. It's a

national disgrace.

John Lewis is the U.S. Congressman from the 5th District of

Georgia.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senate, under the standing order, is to go out of session at 12:30 today. Is that right?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, if my remarks take a little bit longer, that we wait until after my remarks to put the recess.

Mr. President, the August recess was memorable for me for several reasons, not the least of which was my first visit to a hospital on my own behalf since I was 8 years old. I am grateful to the physicians who cared and consulted with me. Admiral Eisold, the Physician of the Capitol, is really a national treasure. The Congress is fortunate to have his curative hand over all we do.

While speaking of admirals, I would be remiss not to mention the Senate Chaplain, ADM Barry Black. After my brief hospital visit, my first public appearance in Nevada was at a faith-based summit I had been planning since January. The event turned out extremely well. The highlight of the summit was a presentation of Dr. Black, our Chaplain. I only wish all Americans--Christian, Jewish, Protestant, Mormon, Hindu, and Muslim--could have heard his presentation on faith and on virtue and why America must be a virtuous nation. His remarks were inspiring not only for me but for everyone within the sound of his voice.

I am happy to report that I am well. I feel fine. I have been advised medically that I have no restrictions on my activities. I am so fortunate to now return to work in a place that I love--the U.S. Senate.

Words cannot adequately express my appreciation for the thoughts and prayers and good wishes that I received from my Senate colleagues and the rest of the Senate family--some of whom are in the Chamber as I speak--and, of course, my friends in Nevada and around the country. I will long remember the cards, letters, phone calls, e-mails, and other expressions of concern. So even though these words are insufficient, I thank you all for your concern for me.

Mr. President, much has happened in the weeks since we adjourned for the August recess. In just the last few days, we have seen tragedy strike the gulf coast and learned that our friend, William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, had passed. Our thoughts and our prayers are with those struggling to pick up the pieces on the gulf coast following the hurricane. And, of course, our thoughts and prayers are with the Chief Justice's family.

I had the good fortune of working with the Chief on several occasions, the first when I was head of the Democratic Policy Committee. I told my Democratic Senators I was going to ask the Chief Justice to come and talk to us. They said he would never do that. I called him, and he was happy to come. At that lunch, he displayed a great command of the law, of course, a strong commitment to judicial independence, and something that we didn't know existed--a sharp sense of humor. Just a short time later, I got to know him better when he presided over the impeachment trial here in the Senate.

I am grateful to have worked with him, and in addition to have spoken to him on the telephone on several occasions at his office and at his home.

As I have indicated, my condolences are with his family. He will be missed.

Now that the President has said he will nominate Judge Roberts to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Senate's advice and consent responsibility is even more important. If confirmed to this lifetime job, Judge Roberts will be the leader of the third branch of the Federal Government and most prominent judge in our Nation. The Senate must be vigilant in considering this nomination.

I, of course, look forward to consulting with the President on the O'Connor seat which at some time will become vacant when the replacement is chosen. Justice O'Connor, we have heard from this floor and around the country, has been a voice of moderation and reason on the Court, and should be replaced by someone who, like her, embodies fundamental American values of fairness, liberty, and equality.

Mr. President, the work that we have to complete in the waning days of this session is significant and difficult, and nothing we do in the days ahead can be more important than helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina get back on their feet. They are counting on us. It is their time of need. We owe it to them to give them everything we are capable of giving them.

The most terrible tragedies routinely bring out the best in America and Americans. We have seen that again in the aftermath of Katrina, one of the most horrible natural disasters in the history of this Nation.

Americans are coming together and giving their time and money to the millions of victims. They are putting their personal concerns aside so they can put Americans in need first. Now they expect America's Government to do the same.

There are dozens of steps the Senate can take in order to get immediate relief to the victims of the gulf coast--steps we can take to make sure Medicaid is easily and readily available to those who need it, to get families the housing assistance they badly need, and to get resources to the school districts all over the country so displaced children do not lose a precious day of this school year. These items must be our top priority.

I commend the majority leader for clearing the Senate Calendar of the estate tax so we can focus on Katrina. We can do better. Families in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are counting on us to do that. They are suffering, and they have nowhere else to turn. We owe it to them to make their safety and survival our top priority, and we should give them nothing less.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess prior to the hour that was chosen, just a couple of minutes early.

Mr. President, I begin by offering my thoughts and my prayers to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They have experienced untold horrors in the past few days, and the road to recovery will be long and hard. As we approach the start of our regular fall work period, there can be no more important challenge facing this body in the days ahead than providing relief to the victims of this catastrophe. It will be weeks before we know the full toll this storm has exacted. The only thing we know for sure is that we have experienced a national crisis, and the people of the Gulf Coast need and deserve our help.

In these crucial hours, thousands of Americans are engaged in search and rescue efforts. I hope these brave men and women performing these heroic duties know that they, too, are in our thoughts and our prayers.

Tonight, in the Senate, we are taking a critical first step toward bringing relief to the victims of this disaster. I support President Bush for submitting this $10.5 billion request, and I thank my colleagues for permitting us to take up and pass this important legislation tonight.

Our unified response sends a powerful signal to victims of this tragedy, looking for signs that their Government sees their plight and stands with them during this dark time.

In these days ahead, it is important we continue to send a strong unified message. We must work together--not together as Democrats and Republicans but as Americans--united in helping families torn apart by this devastating storm.

It is my hope that our actions following the 9/11 attacks will be a model for what we do tonight and in the future. Our action after 9/11 was bipartisan. It was our top priority, and it moved significant resources to the victims of the terrorist attacks, and in a timely manner.

Our response to the tragedy of September 2005 must be every bit as bipartisan and direct as the tragedy of September 2001. We did not handle 9/11 with a Democratic or Republican aid package, and we should not handle this crisis any differently. This is not the time for partisanship. The victims of this terrible tragedy come first.

With that principle guiding us, it is important we begin to consider our next steps. The $10.5 billion we are sending now represents a good first effort, but we all know much more needs to be done. I am deeply concerned about the security situation on the ground as I speak. Unless we establish security in this area, we cannot mount

an effective rescue operation, let alone begin rebuilding.

We have all seen the images of families stranded in the Superdome or sitting outside the Convention Center in filth and squalor. They do not have food. They do not have water. They do not have medicine. They are living in unsanitary conditions, and because we cannot keep the area safe, they have been unable to get out. They are trapped. This is not acceptable.

This is America. These are Americans we see suffering. We must find ways to get them the resources they need and bring them to safety. We must restore security, accelerate our rescue operations, and expedite our relief efforts as soon as possible. We must get these people the help they need and they deserve.

When we reconvene on Tuesday, just a few hours from today, the security and safety of the Gulf Coast residents must be our first order of business. These families are counting on us. They are suffering, and they have nowhere else to turn. We owe it to them to make their survival our top priority, and we should give them nothing less.

I yield the floor.

No objection.

No objection.

I want the record to be spread with the fact that the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Robert Byrd, has indicated he fully supports the action tonight and stands arm-in- arm with the chairman of the committee, Senator Cochran, to move forward any other requests that would come down from the administration.

Mr. President, before the distinguished majority leader leaves the floor, I want to, through the Chair, express to him my appreciation for the courageous statement he made. It was a moral decision made by the majority leader of the Senate. His decision will bring hope to millions of Americans who face these terrible diseases, and it has even more meaning as a result of the medical background the Senator from Tennessee has.

I know there is still a long way to go legislatively, but a large step has been taken by the majority leader today to give hope to the people of Nevada who suffer from these diseases, the people from Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and all over America. I admire the majority leader for doing this.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, when I came to work this morning, as I pulled into the Capitol, there were dogs under Capitol police control, sniffing to find out if there were explosives in the cars coming into the Capitol. There was an officer with a semiautomatic shotgun. As I proceeded, there was an officer on the Capitol steps with an assault rifle. As I came into the Capitol, there were police officers at the door. These are the same type of officers as the two who were gunned down, Chestnut and Gibson, a few years ago. These were police officers protecting us.

In this Chamber today, there are plain clothes Capitol police officers here for our protection. All of these police officers are trained to put our lives ahead of theirs.

When we, in recent days, have been directed to leave the Capitol, taken from the Capitol, there are police officers who wait behind to make sure everyone is out before whatever wrong is supposed to happen happens. They are the last here before the doors are closed.

I was a Capitol policeman. I was not trained to do any of the things these men and women are trained to do today. We are in an extremely vulnerable situation here in the United States Capitol complex. In every one of the office buildings, every place we go in the Capitol complex, there are evil people who are trying to do harm to us and the millions of visitors who come here every year.

That is why, as I read this morning the language in the Legislative Branch appropriation bill, I was offended. I was offended by the language in that bill, the insulting language about our Capitol Police. They are our Capitol Police.

This legislation is going forward. As a member of the Appropriations Committee--I was chairman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee for a number of years, and I enjoyed the service greatly-- I feel that the Capitol Police have been wronged in this appropriations bill. The Capitol Police is an imperfect organization, similar to every organization. It is a big organization. I am sure the administration makes mistakes and things happen that should not happen within the Capitol Police force. However, I repeat, the men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day, 24 hours a day--for each of us, for the staff here, as I said before, for the thousands of people who are visiting today in this Capitol--their support, their protection is consistent and strong.

I resent this libel, by vague generality, that is contained in this conference report. The language in the Senate version of the Legislative Branch bill contained a number of constructive clauses and areas of improvement for the police, written in a way that is completely appropriate in an appropriations bill. What is returned from the conference is an anti-Capitol Hill Police screed that is unacceptable.

I am pleased the Senate was largely able to prevail on fiscal issues in this conference report. The Capitol Police will have most of the resources they need to protect Members, staff, and the visitors who come here. However, it seems that our conferees were forced, obviously, to swallow nasty report language about the Chief of Police, his deputies, and other police administrators in order to get adequate funding for them. This is absurd. I am happy to have the funding, but the trade is ridiculous.

It is unwarranted. There are problems in all large organizations. Let's work to solve them together, but not have the nasty tone of this conference report. For whatever reason, we have had a succession of people in the House of Representatives who do not like the Capitol Police force. They have stated so publicly and privately. But it is not getting better; it is getting worse.

This is the last year I will accept it. Maybe others will, but I will not. Let me be very clear. I will never ever allow a Legislative Branch conference report that is as nasty and relentlessly negative toward our Capitol Police as this one that is going to become law. One will never become law again. I am going to reach out to my friends on the House side, Congressman Lewis and the Speaker and others, to see what we can do to improve this.

I support Chief Gainer, his deputies, his staff, and all his officers. They have my support and my devotion because they protect my life every day. They risk their lives every day to protect this institution, and they deserve better than the pettiness that I have read in these pages.