Floor Statements

Will the Senator yield for a question?

Is the Senator from New Jersey aware that in the month of August alone more than 1,100 American soldiers were injured, wounded?

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, we are going to soon be dealing with a tax conference report, and I am satisfied with what it does for the middle class--it is important and good--but I am disappointed with what it does not do for alternative energy.

It does have a provision in it dealing with wind, and I think that is important, but the United States needs a new strategy, a new vision to meet our energy needs. We cannot meet the demands for oil in this country by producing our way out of the problem. America controls less than 3 percent of the oil reserves in the world, including what is in ANWR. So we must look elsewhere for other sources of energy like renewable energy.

This Nation is rich in renewable energy resources--the heat within the Earth, the warmth of the Sun, and the force of the wind. We have always been blessed with these resources. Now we have the technology to harness them efficiently.

The Senate is already on record supporting the development of renewable energy. We know that renewable energy can provide a steady supply of electricity that is made in the USA. We know it can create thousands of jobs. We know it can protect our environment and reduce global warming, and we know it can help reduce our dependence on oil from the Middle East. That is why the Senate has voted repeatedly to include strong incentives for the development of renewable energy in comprehensive energy bills. In fact, 54 Senators signed a letter last fall supporting a national goal of renewable energy or a renewable portfolio standard that would have required 10 percent of all electricity produced in this country by 2020 be generated from renewable sources.

Nevada has set some of the highest goals in the Nation for developing renewable energy. We are going to steadily increase our electricity generated from renewable sources with a goal of 15 percent by the year 2013. The Senate has also voted in its energy bills to expand and extend the section 45 production tax credit for renewable resources. In the last week, thirty-six Senators signed a letter urging that an extension and expansion of the section 45 production tax credit for renewable energy resources be included in the FSC/ETI bill, known as

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I would amend that by asking that the time run on the 2 hours even though we are in a quorum call.

I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Akaka), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. President, I direct a question through the Chair to the distinguished Senator from New Jersey. It is my understanding that Senator DeWine is going to be a cosponsor of this amendment; is that right?

The manager of the bill is checking with Senator DeWine to see how much time he is going to take. Does the Senator from New Jersey have an idea how much time he could get by with?

I ask unanimous consent that Senator Corzine be recognized for up to 15 minutes on this amendment.

Mr. President, I wish to express through you to the senior Senator from New Jersey the appreciation of the whole Senate. Everyone knows it is late at night and there are a lot of significant things to do tomorrow, including a religious holiday.

Those of us in the Senate know how passionately he feels about many issues, not the least of which is the terrible situation we have in Darfur. I want him to know that we appreciate his eloquence. He certainly very eloquently made the point. I, among others, am confident we will vote for this amendment. It is really important, and I appreciate the cooperation of the Senator from New Jersey, as usual.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside for the purpose of Senator Dayton offering an amendment. It is my understanding that he only wishes up to 7\1/2\ minutes to speak for his amendment.

We are prepared to announce on this side, following the conclusion of the Corzine amendment and the Dayton amendment, that we have no more rollcall votes.

Mr. President, the Senator from Minnesota and I acknowledge we tonight do not have the votes for this amendment. That is not to take away from the severity and the importance of this amendment. The people of Afghanistan deserve this. All the attention is focused on Iraq, a little bit on Afghanistan. But you look at the numbers here, with what was given last year, plus the supplemental to Afghanistan, this is only about half as much money as they got last year.

Afghanistan is a place where Pat Tillman gave his life and about 35 or 40 other Americans. I think it is wrong that we are not reaching out to this country we abandoned on a previous occasion. I would hope that everyone here recognizes that the Senator from Minnesota and I will be back on this issue. This is an issue that is important to our country, to maintain the dignity of our country, to show that we do not give up on our friends. And Afghanistan is our friend.

I compliment and applaud the Senator from Minnesota for being the kind of person he is, to care about people who need caring about. If there were ever a society that needs help, it is the people of Afghanistan. This is not money for more guns and tanks and airplanes. It is money to help build that country up from the grassroots, so to speak, to help them become more than what they now are. And that is what they deserve.

Amendment No. 3672 Withdrawn

It is my understanding, Mr. President, the Senator from Minnesota and I are--is it appropriate I ask consent this amendment be withdrawn?

Madam President, I rise today to recognize the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum has been two decades in the making, and it can now take its place as our only national museum dedicated to the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americans.

More than 50,000 people visited the Mall this week for the dedication ceremonies. Twenty thousand Native Americans, representing hundreds of tribes from around the country, have come to Washington to celebrate the Museum's opening. The enthusiasm of so many people for the Museum is a fitting testament to the hard work and dedication of the many individuals who helped realize this project.

I would like to take a moment to recognize two of those individuals, my colleagues Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Senator Daniel Inouye. Their commitment to this endeavor over the last two decades is truly commendable. Their work has resulted in one of the Nation's premier cultural institutions, a museum that will provide the opportunity for millions of Americans to learn about the history and culture of Native Americans.

The museum also represents one of the most ambitious architectural endeavors ever undertaken by the Smithsonian Institution. Its design is certainly pleasing to behold, but it is intended to do far more than that. The museum's landscape features a diverse array of environments-- wetlands, an upland hardwood forest, meadowlands, and traditional crops--that recall the vast and varied environs that Native Americans have inhabited. This will help visitors connect with the experience of Native Americans, by highlighting their reverence for their natural environment and their belief that all of us, as human beings, are but parts of a larger living universe.

Native Americans have made unique and enduring contributions to my home State of Nevada. One of those individuals is Sarah Winnemucca. The first native women to publish a personal history, she embarked on a nationwide lecture series in 1879 to teach people about Native American culture and the difficult life her people experienced on reservations. An artist is now creating a statue of her, and when finished it will become Nevada's second memorial in the Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.

Sarah Winnemucca was a Paiute, thousands of whom continue to live in Nevada to this day. The Paiute along with the Shoshone, Washoe, and all of Nevada's native peoples have made unique contributions to our heritage and history.

I am pleased that those contributions and those of all Native Americans will now be honored in the heart of our Nation's Capital in the National Museum of the American Indian.

Madam President, over the years, the Congress has created a number of programs to focus attention on important issues.

Today I call attention to one of those programs, which is a testament to the life and career of the late Senator John C. Stennis.

In 1988, Congress created the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service. The mission of the Center from its inception to the present has been to promote and strengthen public service leadership in America. The center accomplishes its goals through conferences, seminars, special projects and leadership development programs, one of which is the Stennis Congressional Staff Fellows Program.

In each Congress, a bipartisan, bicameral group of senior congressional staff are each nominated by a Member and selected to participate in the fellows program. The fellows explore topics which address ways to improve the effectiveness of Congress.

The 108th Fellows selected the topic that I think is quite appropriate: ``Building Greater Trust and Civility.''

Over the course of the last 15 months, these fellows have heard from past Members of Congress, journalists and historians in their quest to fully explore this subject and suggest initiatives to restore some level of trust and civility--which appears to have deteriorated over the past several years.

The work of the 108th Fellows is contained in a report which I would ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I urge all Members and their staff to take a look at the report, and perhaps we can return to a Chamber where there is more bipartisanship and collegiality.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be added as a cosponsor of this concurrent resolution.

Mr. President, we are shortly going to have before us a tax bill that will increase the debt of this country by, in some estimates, more than $1 trillion. This year's deficit that the President acknowledges is $430 billion. Of course, as we have learned here today in the presentation of Senator Conrad, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, that doesn't take into consideration the cost of the war, nor does it take into consideration the fact that he is borrowing money from the Social Security trust fund. So the debt, of course, is closer to $600 billion, this year.

Today we learn from any newspaper we pick up that one way the President is going to try to save a few bucks is by going after the poorest of the poor. He is doing this by changing housing subsidies. I quote: ``The Bush administration is changing the fair market rent to section 8 tenants. The Government pays tenants about 7 percent of this amount. Here's a sampling in metropolitan areas.''

This sampling will cause the hair on the back of your head to come up. What has happened is, to help the President pay for all the things to help the rich of this country, corporate America, he is going after the poorest of the poor. The poor in Boston, section 8 tenants, in a one-bedroom apartment will lose 5 percent; in a four-bedroom apartment, 27 percent. In Detroit, they will lose, in a one-bedroom apartment, 6 percent; a four-bedroom apartment, 21 percent. In New Haven, they will lose 4 percent on a one-bedroom, 21 percent on a four-bedroom; in Trenton, 18 percent on a four-bedroom; in Atlanta, 16 percent; in New York City, 14 percent; in Philadelphia, 13 percent. On and on with these slashes that affect the poorest of the poor.

I hope the people around this country are seeing what has happened to the fiber of our country. We used to talk

about a safety net. There is no safety net anymore. It has been eradicated in the last 4 years. Section 8 tenants in the major cities of America are going to really suffer. It is too bad. It is too bad that the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, the middle class is becoming smaller and smaller. That is what this administration has done to America.

I yield the floor, and any time I have left in morning business, I yield back.

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

Mr. President, following Senator Dorgan's remarks, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until 4 o'clock, and that the time during the 4 o'clock period be equally charged against both sides.

He said he has a short statement.

Especially if we didn't talk more.

If my friend will yield?

We could not have a vote before 5 o'clock.

We have a couple people off campus doing other things.

Mr. President, I would be happy to agree to having a vote at 5 o'clock and having the time between now and then evenly divided. I frankly don't think we are going to be using any more time, so if you need more time on your side, you could have part of ours.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur at 5 o'clock and that the time between now and then be evenly divided.

I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Akaka), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 536, which is S. 2273, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, but no later than Friday, October 1, and that the measure be considered under the following limitations: There be 30 minutes equally divided and controlled in the usual form for debate on the bill and the committee-reported amendments; that the only amendments in order other than the committee- reported amendment be a Reed-Sarbanes transit amendment, the text of which is S. 2453; that there be 1 hour for debate on the amendment; that the time be equally divided and controlled between the bill managers and the amendment sponsors or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of the time on that amendment without further intervening action or debate the Senate proceed to a vote with respect to the amendment; that upon disposition of the Reed-Sarbanes amendment all time be yielded back, the committee amendments be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, with no intervening action or debate.

Yes, I object.

Mr. President, on the Foreign Operations bill, we are anxious and ready and willing to have an agreement. We think the bill can be resolved very quickly, and we want the Record to reflect our willingness to go to the bill tonight, tomorrow, anytime. We think it is very important that we get as many appropriations bills completed as possible. We are not in any way standing in the way of this. There is no objection on our side to going to this bill.

I also say that this Friday is the most holy of all holidays for those of the Jewish faith, Yom Kippur. We have a number of Senators who must travel west that day to prepare for the holiday. They cannot make their transportation arrangements unless they can leave here at 10:20 on Friday morning. The leader has spoken to some of the Jewish Members of the Senate and he recognizes the problem. We have this tax bill of which we know the importance. But we have to let the high holy day take precedence over what has to be done here on Friday.

I hope the two leaders and my distinguished friend on the floor now and the Republican leader will take that into consideration. It has been brought to my attention by several Senators this afternoon.

Objection.

Mr. President, I just came to the floor after having presented an award to Senator Gordon Smith. The Suicide Prevention National Organization gave him an award, which is the No. 1 award that this organization can present. Gordon Smith's son took his own life at age 22. We passed in the Senate in recent days--in fact, on Garrett Smith's birthday--the Garrett Smith Suicide Prevention Act.

The reason I mention that is that matter was passed and is going to become law. The President will sign it any day.

As a result of what I suggest to my friend from Pennsylvania happened in this instance, we are not objecting to the passage of this bill. We have never objected to the passage of this bill. We are simply saying that it be handled in the way the Garrett Smith legislation passed, and let the House take whatever action on it and we bring it back. If we like what they have done, we will take it; if not, we will amend it and send it back to them.

We have had numerous bills enacted into law without using a conference to negotiate differences between the House and the Senate. I say numerous; I don't say several. I say numerous. I have not counted these, but I assume there are about 100 pieces of legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak in response to the Senator from Pennsylvania for up to 10 minutes. I will be happy if the Senator wants me to speak afterwards, whatever he wants me to do. I know we have a recess to take place at 12:30. I want to give fairness, and I should have the opportunity to respond.

Would the Senator allow me to respond to him and Senator Santorum's unanimous consent request following his statement?

Mr. President, I ask for regular order.

I apologize to the Chair. I thought we were going out for our recess. So how much time is left for the Republicans?

Mr. President, I apologize for interrupting my friend.

Reserving the right to object, this bill has already passed. We are waiting for the House to get together on an amendment to send back to us. As I indicated, we have passed numerous bills by using this procedure. My dear friend, the Senator from Wyoming, for whom I have the greatest respect, is crying these big crocodile tears. We have passed numerous bills by doing the very same thing, sending a bill over to the House. This can be done without a conference.

I repeat for the third time, I have the greatest respect for the integrity of the Senator from Wyoming. I am sure if we shook hands on a deal he would go to whatever bounds necessary to fulfill that agreement. But I have to say that on the most important bill, the highway bill, another Senator and I shook hands, a Republican with me, indicating that if this bill is going to go to conference, if there was something in it he didn't like, then I wouldn't sign my name to the conference and vice versa. That was done in a personal meeting between myself and the other Senator. Then it was put in writing by the two leaders confirming the agreement we had reached.

Suddenly, we are told all bets are off. That deal is no good. So the conference is going on with none us of attending. There are meetings going on, but we are not part of the conference.

This is what has happened around here. That is the embarrassment. The conference process I have been involved in for 22 years has been turned on its head. Conferences are called in name only. You don't know what conference is being held, where it is being held, because you are not told. And not only that, what happens to many of these bills is other items are inserted that have nothing to do with the issue about which the conference is taking place.

I know the sincerity of the Senator from Wyoming. We know the importance of this legislation. We want it to pass also. But it has passed. We want it to be signed into law. The best way to accomplish that is to do what we have done on so many different bills that have been enacted into law without using the conference to negotiate the differences between the House and the Senate; that is, to work it out between the two bodies. We have done it many times. We can do it on this.

I object.

Will my friend yield for a comment?

I want the record to be spread: I accomplished directly the opposite of what I wanted. I would never, ever question at any time the veracity, the honesty, the handshake of the Senator from Wyoming. Out of courtesy, because the other Senator was not on the floor, I did not want to mention his name. But it had no reference to you. We had a situation where Senator Daschle and I agreed to a conference on a handshake and, in my opinion, the handshake meant nothing.

It had no bearing whatsoever on the Senator from Wyoming. I want the Senator from Wyoming to know--everybody in Wyoming--I have never known a more ethical person in Government than the Senator from Wyoming.