Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, we are going to pass, sometime tonight, before 12 o'clock, a resolution that will ensure that the government does not shut down. The House passed the omnibus. It was by a nice margin--not overwhelmingly, but a nice margin. As a result of that, we will take up the long-term spending bill tomorrow.

Senators who want to debate this legislation will have that opportunity. The Senate will vote on the long-term funding bill as soon as possible. In the Senate, ``as soon as possible'' could be tomorrow, it could be 2 days after cloture is filed on it, it could be a lot of different times.

But we are going to work as hard as we can to expedite things around here. But if we are going to do this tomorrow, we need cooperation from everyone. As I indicated, we had a number of things we had to do. We had to keep the government functioning. We are going to do that tonight. We are going to do a short-term extension, as I have indicated, until we finish this bill. I think the extension will be for 2 days. That means we have to finish this bill in the next 2 days.

We have to finish the defense bill that is now before the body. That time runs out tomorrow afternoon. No one can stop us from the time running out tomorrow afternoon. We hope to be able to expedite that. There are conversations going on now to make that so we can finish that sometime early tomorrow afternoon.

I want to take this time, though, to spread on the Record my admiration for the work done by Senator Barbara Mikulski, the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This good woman came to the Senate when I came. We came together. I was fortunate to be on that Appropriations Committee as a freshman. That was really a big deal for this young Senator. Seniority-wise, there was always one person ahead of me, and that was Barbara Mikulski. She has done a remarkably good job as a Senator. I have said many times, when we came to the Senate together, she was it. There was no other woman here. Look at what she has done as the matriarch of this body. Everybody looks up to her--men and women. She is someone who is admired by everyone. Her taking over this Appropriations Committee was something she had wanted to do for a long time. She has done such a good job.

She is proud of the committee. She is trying to reestablish the committee to what it used to be. We as legislators have to recognize we have three separate branches of government. In terms of the Constitution they are supposed to be equal. We have had a lot of our power taken from us by the executive branch of government. Barbara Mikulski is trying to reestablish that so we have three separate, equal branches of government.

What took place in the House today, a few minutes ago, will help her establish the Appropriations Committee for what it should be. We have an obligation as legislators to have congressionally directed spending. That is in the Constitution. All the decisions as to where the money goes should not be made down at 16th and Pennsylvania Avenue.

So the bill that she and Congressman Rogers worked on is not a perfect bill. But as the Presiding Officer knows as a legislator, there are no perfect bills. There are some people who are upset about items in this bill. To be candid

with you, I am kind of upset about some items in the bill. But this bill is so much better than a short-term CR. It would have been--when I say ``short term'' I mean 3 months and do it all over and over again, threatening the government to shut down, especially about the same time we have to raise the debt ceiling again. So I want to end by saying this would never ever have happened but for Barbara Mikulski.

Tomorrow should be a very interesting day. With a little bit of good fortune, we could complete the spending bill for the country for the fiscal year that is fast upon us. We could finish the defense bill and then look to do the tax extenders and completing the work on TRIA, whatever that may be.

From that point forward we would work on nominations. We could be out of here fairly quickly. But everyone is going to have to work together to get this done.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.J. Res. 130, the short-term, 2-day continuing resolution, which was received from the House and is now at the desk.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read three times and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the joint resolution.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to consider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that at noon on Friday, December 12, tomorrow, all postcloture time on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3979 be considered expired; that it be in order, notwithstanding cloture having been invoked, for Senator Coburn to offer a motion to refer the House message; that there be 3 hours of debate, 1 hour each for Senators Coburn and Reid, or their designees, and 30 minutes each for Senators Murkowski and Inhofe, or their designees, prior to a vote in relation to the motion to refer; that the Coburn motion to refer be subject to a 60-affirmative vote threshold; that if the Coburn motion to refer is not agreed to, Senator Coburn be recognized for the purposes of making a motion; that following disposition of the Coburn motion, the pending motion to concur with a further amendment be withdrawn; that the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to concur; that no motions other than the Coburn motions, motions to waive or motions to table be in order; that the vote on the motion to concur be subject to a 60-affirmative vote threshold; finally, that if the motion to concur is agreed to, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following concurrent resolutions en bloc: H. Con. Res. 121, to correct the enrollment of H.R. 3979, providing a new title to the bill; and H. Con. Res. 123, to correct the enrollment of H.R. 3979; that the concurrent resolutions be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

I ask unanimous consent that following disposition of the House message with respect to H.R. 3979, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 697, 632, 1055, 542, 637, 1051, 1057, 791, 1102; that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to each vote; that upon the use or yielding back of time the Senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed; that any rollcall votes, following the first in the series, be 10 minutes in length; that if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3979, which is the Defense authorization bill--a very important piece of legislation.

I would hope that Senators would understand the quicker we get this done, the sooner we can get to the omnibus and the tax extenders and the other things we have to do before we leave.

I would note that it seems very likely we will have some votes this weekend. Everyone should understand that. If we can work a way not to have them, we will not, but I want everybody on notice that if they are not here this weekend, they could miss votes.

Mr. President, when the Senate convened for the first time in April of 1789, there was a lot to do--and that is an understatement--not the least of which was to establish a system of rules to govern proceedings in the U.S. Senate. The first few weeks and months were going to be difficult, as they tried to sort out the structure and organization of this institution, but they had an idea. Two days after achieving its first quorum, the Senate selected a Secretary to oversee the day-to-day operations of what would become the world's greatest deliberative body.

The importance of this position can't be overstated. Senators and their staffs come and go, but the Secretary of the Senate provides much needed stability and support. To put things into perspective, in the entire history of this country--225 years--we have only had 32 Secretaries of the Senate. By contrast, there have been almost 2,000 Senators who have served since its inception. That number will grow, of course, come January.

For the last 8 years, Nancy Erickson has served superbly as Secretary of the Senate. But to be quite honest, that is what we expected her to do when she got this job.

I came to know Nancy when I was the assistant leader, and a friend and confidant of Senator Daschle. Every time I walked in that office, there she was, always so very, very nice. She was a pleasant person. She was always smiling. We had some big issues, but she was always pleasant to everybody.

Her first job here in the Senate was with Tom Daschle. She became his scheduler. But given her abilities, she quickly assumed more responsibility, eventually becoming deputy chief of staff. When Senator Daschle left the Senate, Nancy transitioned to the Sergeant-at-Arms office, where she worked as a liaison to Democratic Senators and their offices.

Nancy is a native of Brandon, SD. She majored in history and government at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. She moved to Washington, DC, in 1987. Her husband Tom is from Sioux Falls. John Thune used to purchase suits from Nancy's father-in-law.

Nancy's first job here in the Senate, as I have indicated, was for Senator Daschle. In her current office, Nancy has a collection of South Dakota maps hanging on the walls, one of the railroad tracks across South Dakota in 1886, one of Watertown, SD, and she has others. She even has a Rand McNally map of a long time ago that covers the entire State.

As I indicated, when Senator Daschle left the Senate, Nancy transitioned to the Sergeant-at-Arms office where she worked as liaison to Democratic Senators and their offices. When I became leader and it was time for selecting a new secretary, I didn't look very far. I urged her to consider the position. I am glad she did. I have not regretted that decision, not for a second. She has proven herself to be an excellent manager.

Nancy has 26 departments and about 250 employees directly under her supervision, not to mention the other 6,500 Senate employees who depend on her and her office. She has been faced with some difficult times during her tenure as Secretary of the Senate. There has been a lot of roiling--sequestration, a new health care rollout, and, of course, last year's shutdown. She has confronted each difficult obstacle with skill, composure, and that wonderful smile that she has.

Nancy's success as Secretary stems not only from her excellent abilities but also from her character. She is a genuinely good person and she is very thorough, very thoughtful--I have already said that; very kind--I have already said that; very understanding--I have already said that; and something I haven't said, she is very fair.

Whether she walks the halls here or on the Senate floor, she always has a smile every place she goes. I have said that many times. That is her legacy, and it is a good legacy. I have never--never might be an exaggeration, but extremely rarely--heard her criticize anyone.

Nancy's time as Secretary of the Senate is coming to an end and she will be greatly missed. She has attended to the Senate's every need, day and night. She has earned a break, and I hope she takes one. I hope she gets to spend some time with her husband Tom, her daughter Drew, and I can still see in my mind's eye that picture she has of little Patrick--that little tiny boy. She had that on her desk forever, and he kept getting bigger and bigger and became an athlete. We had many conversations--and I try not to boast about a lot of things, but I am always anxious to boast about my youngest son, who was a stellar athlete and played on three national championship teams at the University of Virginia--so I have watched Patrick become a college soccer player.

There will never be another Nancy Erickson here in the Senate. People like her don't come along very often. But she leaves a legacy, and it is one that will endure through the history of this great body.

So thank you, Nancy, for your service to the country.

Mr. President, when Secretary Erickson steps down, so does the Assistant Secretary of the Senate Sheila Dwyer. Sheila has a long history in the U.S. Senate, but Sheila's time started long ago--and I am not going to talk about how long ago, but she was a Senate page during the time, of course, when she was in high school. But after her semester as a page, she, like all these young pages who are here for a semester, returned home to Connecticut. She loves to boast about the great State of Connecticut, and I have listened to her do that for many years. But her heart has always been with the Senate from the time she was a page, and so she returned after her education.

Sheila got a degree from Suffolk University. She returned to the Senate in many different capacities, but we have had wonderful conversations about her time with Chuck Robb. She is a family friend of the Robbs--and I mean a family friend--very close to them. She later worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

I talked to his widow within the past couple of weeks. What a unique man Senator Moynihan was. There is a new book out about him, and I have asked my staff to get a copy of it, which talks about this unusual man. I am anxious to read it because he was brilliant, but also he had a few--he was eccentric in some ways. And Sheila loves to tell privately--and I will not repeat here on the floor--some of the things he did that would appear to a lot of us to be a little bit eccentric. But that was part of his unique quality and she handled him so well--as well as anyone could.

She worked for another man with a huge personality: Senator Fritz Hollings. He would, even though he is over 90 years old, still be here in the Senate except his wife became ill. He is physically strong today, bright of mind, and I can hear this man's voice from where he stood. What a voice he had, a man who was the epitome of what a Senator

should look like. He was a handsome man. I repeat, he had this great voice, and he was very tall, stood very erect. I was always very envious of how he could stand so tall, and he has such a sense of humor that is quite remarkable. Sheila is his friend. She visits him in his home in South Carolina now, and she has helped me keep in touch with Fritz Hollings.

Then she worked for me. I was so fortunate. I was looking for someone to do my fundraising during a very difficult election I had before me. I knew who I wanted, but I didn't know that I could get her. Well, we worked things out. And it wasn't just because I offered her more money, it was because she wanted to work with me, and I am so happy that came to be.

For 14 years, she has been part of my team--and I mean part of my team. During that entire time, she has done an incredible job doing my Senate business as a candidate. Doing Senate business here as the Assistant Secretary, she has been the best.

So after having worked for the Senators I have mentioned, including me, when the time came to fill the role of Assistant Secretary of the Senate, she was a perfect candidate, and in this position she has not disappointed me once.

Everyone who has ever worked with Sheila knows she is a meticulous planner. If you want something done--an event--and done right--and I mean done right: help setting up the program, what the flowers are going to look like, what the food is going to be, what time it should start, what time it should end--and she is very, very precise on when it should start and when it should end--we learned that last night during a farewell for a number of Democratic Senators--she really spares no effort, leaves no detail unattended.

Her time here in the Secretary's office has been a smashing success. It is not easy to attend to the needs of 100 Senators--100 Senators-- Democrats, Republicans, Independents, their families and staffs, but Sheila handles it with skill and with grace. That is why many call her the ``Mayor of Capitol Hill,'' and for good reason.

Whether she is escorting the President's daughter to the inauguration podium in her bright pink coat, or planning a ceremonial dinner in Statuary Hall, Sheila does the job exceptionally well.

Just one example, 2 years ago the Senate hosted the screening of Steven Spielberg's now legendary film, ``Lincoln.'' There were some real big-shots there. Spielberg, Daniel Day Lewis, the guy that wrote the script--they were all there. So there were, frankly, a lot of prima donnas there, including of course all the Senators. So it was an exceptionally difficult feat to pull off, coordinating attendance for 100 Senators who all wanted to go to see these famous people.

She was preparing a panel discussion for the cast and crew, all while following strict Capitol protocols as to who could go where and what we could do in the places we went. But she had a secret weapon, and that was she. She didn't know it, but that was the secret weapon. She took care of every possible problem and coordinated every single detail, even down to a makeshift concession stand in the lobby. It was a wonderful event, a marvelous event, because for the briefest moment it brought the Senate together in the spirit of unity that we haven't had in some time. It all happened because of her.

She is very devoted to her family, her mom Lois, about whom she has talked endlessly, and of course her deceased father. I was trying to help in comforting her as I could when she lost her mom Lois. I can't imagine how proud her parents would be--and are, from wherever they are, looking down on us--at the work that Sheila has done in her life. I know how proud I am of her now, as she prepares to move on to her next chapter of life, and I will do everything I can to help that chapter be a good one. I wish her the best.

I, along with the entire Senate, thank her for the steadfast diligent service she has rendered as Assistant Secretary for the last 8 years.

Sheila has a dog she loves, little Ava, and I hope she takes that little dog on a trip to have a good time. I am sure she will.

On a personal note, I wish to say publicly how much she has meant to me. She has been really a part of my family the last 15 years. As most everyone knows, my wife was involved in a really bad accident. Who was there? Sheila. Battling, as she did for 1\1/2\ years, ravaging breast cancer, who was there? I would come home after having been unable to do the things around the house. I would have a refrigerator full of food. Not junk--it was wonderful food. She did that not once, not twice, but many, many times. She is my friend--my forever friend.

She interacts with my children as if they were her siblings. She knows everything about them. So even though I will not see her at work every day, as I have for 14 or 15 years, she will always be part of my life.

Mr. President, I rise to thank the current and past Democratic staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for their hard work and diligence on the Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program.

Committee staff spent 7 years preparing the report, going through more than 6 million pages of documents and writing a final report that is over 6,700 pages, including 38,000 footnotes. Staff worked incredibly long hours over many years and sacrificed time with their families and friends. They overcame significant obstacles to put out this report. They took no short-cuts in their research. And they took no liberties with the facts.

The staff produced a report of historic importance, which will be studied for many years to come. Because of their work, the true facts about the CIA's interrogation program under President Bush are now available for all Americans to understand. Because of their work, we as a country can commit that never again will we repeat

these mistakes. This report, and the work of the staff, is an outstanding example of the constitutional oversight role that the Senate can and should play.

I want to particularly thank David Grannis, the committee's staff director and Daniel Jones, the lead staffer and author of much of the report. Many other committee staffers past and present participated in producing the report including: Evan Gottesman, Chad Tanner, Alissa Starzak, Nate Adler, Jennifer Barrett, Nick Basciano, Michael Buchwald, Jim Catella, Eric Chapman, John Dickas, Lorenzo Goco, Andrew Grotto, Tressa Guenov, Clete Johnson, Michael Noblet, Michael Pevzner, Tommy Ross, Caroline Tess, James Wolfe, and Andy Johnson.

Mr. President, we note you open the Senate every day, but today you had a little extra something in your step and a gleam in your eye because of the guest Chaplain, who is your lovely wife Marcelle's brother, so I am glad you have had the chance to have a small visit with him again.

Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m. this morning.

At 10:30 a.m., the Senate will proceed to two rollcall votes on the Lodge and Walter nominations. If cloture is invoked on either nomination, a confirmation vote will occur at 6 p.m. this evening.

The Senate will recess from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons.

Mr. President, I am told there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with respect to both of these bills.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the commerce committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1204 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rockefeller-Tester substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and there be no intervening action or debate.

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2719 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Ayotte amendment, which is a substitute amendment, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, if the words Hemingway said so clearly-- ``man is not made for defeat''--applied to anyone in the world, they certainly apply to Tim Johnson. He is a testament to this sentiment because he never ever acknowledged defeat. He refuses to be defeated.

Tim never lost an election. He served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997--for 10 years. He served in the State legislature. They weren't all easy votes and weren't all easy elections. He won his election in 2002 by 524 votes. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast, but he won by 524 votes.

Senator Tim Johnson refused to succumb to defeat because he knew he was fighting for the people of South Dakota. He fought for South Dakota jobs when he fought to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base open and running. It was based near Rapid City, and he saved it from closing. He worked to this end, saving thousands of jobs, preserving a thriving economy based on that Ellsworth Air Force Base.

During his tenure in the House and Senate he fought for water, which is so important. People from so many other States don't realize how important water is to States such as South Dakota and many Western States. Water is something you always have to keep your eye on. He secured funding for the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Project and the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System. Combined, those two projects provided clean drinking water to some 400,000 people. That is half the population of the State of South Dakota.

Without question though, Tim's biggest fight took place in 2006. I can still remember that so clearly. I got a call from his chief of staff saying: You need to go to the hospital. Tim has been taken by ambulance to George Washington. So I went there because Tim had suffered a very bad bleed on the brain. He was born with this situation--no one knew of course--but it suddenly hit him. Lots of people have this condition, but most people don't have a bleed on their brain, but Tim did. I was there in the hospital with him. Barbara was there, his daughter Kelsey, and his two boys, Brendan and Brooks, came in as soon as they could. One was serving in the military after having seen combat duty as a member of the U.S. Army. The other boy is a lawyer and is now a U.S. attorney in South Dakota.

It was a very difficult time for his family and a difficult time for him especially. He was in surgery on more than one occasion. His life was threatened. Many people don't survive this difficult situation he was hit with. But he is a huge man. I, frankly, never realized how physically big and strong he was until I saw him lying there in the hospital. But Tim met these physical challenges, and they were very difficult. Ten months later he was back working in the Senate. He was here on the floor.

After this incident, his physical body would never be the same, but his mental capacity is better than ever. With the support of his wife Barbara, since 1969, and their three children, whose names I have already mentioned, he made this remarkable recovery. It was all very difficult. He had to learn to talk again, he had to learn to walk again, and much of his life now is physically different than it was before. He is now, a lot of times, in a wheelchair, but he has never asked for any sympathy. He has pushed forward as he always has his whole life.

Regardless of these changes to his body, his honorable, indomitable spirit is the same. One newspaper recently said, in speaking of Tim's return to the Senate:

Loss of integrity is a greater handicap to any politician

and, once lost, cannot be regained with confidence. Johnson's

integrity has never been in question.

Tim Johnson has his integrity. He has his unbreakable determination to fight for the people of South Dakota and just fight to do the things he needs to do.

Tim is retiring after 18 years in the Senate and 10 years in the House. To say he will be missed by the people of South Dakota is a gross understatement. He worked here with my predecessor, the Democratic leader Tom Daschle, and they got so many good things done for the State of South Dakota. Senator Daschle is missed as Tim will be missed, but their friendship is something I have long admired.

To show the type of person he is, the person he beat by 524 votes came back the next election and endorsed him--a Republican and long- time Member of the House and Senate, Larry Pressler. He endorsed Tim Johnson in his reelection. That is the kind of integrity Tim Johnson has. People admire him very much.

Tim Johnson leaves the Senate as he entered it, undefeated. I will miss him very much. My wife will miss Barbara. They are members of a book club, and I have seen their exchange of emails back and forth as to what books they should read, what they thought of the book, and where they are going to meet. So the Reids will miss the Johnsons. South Dakota will miss the Johnsons. But Tim will still proceed forward and be a great blessing to the State of South Dakota, as he has always been, and to his family.

Tom Harkin

Mr. President, Abraham Lincoln once said:

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I

always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought

a flower would grow.

Today I stand for just a few minutes to honor a man by the name of Tom Harkin. Throughout his time in the Senate he has planted many flowers--so many we can't count them all. Tom Harkin's legacy of fighting for all Americans, particularly those who are disadvantaged, will never be forgotten. In fact, no one in the history of this institution has done more for people who have a physical disadvantage, an emotional disadvantage, a mental disadvantage, and disadvantages generally, than Tom Harkin.

Tom's life wasn't easy. His father was a miner. His mother, a Slovenian immigrant, died when Tom was 10 years old. He and his family pushed forward, living in a house without hot water or a furnace.

Not one to use his difficult upbringing as an excuse, Tom Harkin pushed himself very hard. He attended Iowa State University. He came there on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the Navy and became an Active-Duty pilot--a naval pilot.

I have such admiration for naval pilots, for all pilots, really, but thinking of landing on an aircraft carrier out in the middle of the ocean, that postage stamp size you have to try to find and land out there is something Navy pilots do, and Tom Harkin did this.

In 1974 he was elected to represent Iowa's Fifth Congressional District, a seat he held for 10 years. When he came to the Senate in 1984, Tom, similar to President Lincoln before him, encountered many thistles.

He was especially motivated to help millions of Americans with disabilities, as I have already said. Here is what Tom Harkin said once:

I heard stories from individuals who had to crawl on their

hands and knees to go up a flight of stairs, who couldn't

ride a bus because there wasn't a lift or couldn't cross a

street in a wheelchair because there were no curb cuts.

Millions of Americans were denied access to their own

communities and to the American dream.

Tom did a lot to make sure people did have the ability to dream. What did he do? He encountered the injustice faced by millions of disabled Americans and responded by authoring the Americans with Disabilities Act.

People don't realize now what those disabled people had to go through. There was a big dispute here in the Senate and in the House as to whether Members of Congress should vote for this. It created a lot of issues for businesses. A former Member of the House of Representatives, James Bilbray of Nevada, was getting a lot of pressure not to vote for this, but he voted for this, and here is why he voted for it:

Just like Tom Harkin saw this long before many of us did, James Bilbray had a friend whose daughter was confined to a wheelchair. This man wanted to visit Congressman Bilbray and his family here in Washington, DC. What an ordeal it was. They couldn't find a place with a hotel room. They had trouble getting airline reservations. It was extremely difficult. So Jimmy Bilbray said: That is enough for me. I am voting for this.

This landmark legislation that was pushed and pushed by Tom Harkin has helped to move areas of employment, public services, transportation, and telecommunications for people with disabilities. Tom Harkin's work to protect the disadvantaged hasn't been just reactive, it has been preventative.

Tom has lost four siblings to cancer. In response to that heartbreak, what has he done? Senator Harkin fought to double the funding for groundbreaking medical research at the National Institutes of Health. He had a partner in this for many years, Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania. They worked on that subcommittee, Labor-HHS, and Appropriations. Some will remember that this was an unbelievable thing he did to force us to spend more money on medical research. But in hindsight, what a blessing this was for America and for Members of the Senate who voted for this. It was good for us, and it was good for the country. It was good for our constituents. With the extra money NIH got, they have engaged in a landmark effort to cure cancer, heart disease, and a myriad of other diseases.

We have a long way to go. Funding hasn't been adequate the last 6 years. The only boost we got in NIH funding was in the stimulus, the first few months of the Obama administration where we got additional money. That was done as a result of the work by Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter, and that money now is not there. We need to do more for the National Institutes of Health.

Tom Harkin has been tireless. He worked to triple the funding for the Centers for Disease Control. In fact, in ObamaCare he is the one who was responsible for the prevention title in that bill.

He has spent his career coming to the defense of the defenseless. A longtime defender of human rights, Tom has worked to fight child labor, both domestically and abroad. His tireless efforts gave him the U.S. Labor Department's Award for the Elimination of Child Labor.

I have spent much of my Senate life on the Senate floor. I can remember when I would look and see one of his staff come to the floor, and I thought: Oh, no. I knew we were in for some trouble. His name was Richard Bender. I really have such admiration for Senator Harkin's staff, but it was epitomized when Richard Bender walked in this door because I knew Harkin was going to do something we had not planned. Sometimes it took a lot longer to get things done because of Bender and Harkin, but in the end it was always better for our country.

So after a lifetime of service, Tom will finally be able to spend his post-Senate time in another direction, still involved in a form of public service. I have such great admiration for Ruth, whom I know extremely well. I don't know Amy and Jenny, his daughters, but I do know they are going to be able to spend a little more time with their dad and her husband.

On a side note, Tom Harkin is one of the few Senators who has been to my home in Searchlight. I was there one day, and I got a call. He said: ``Are you going to be home?''

``Yes.''

``Do you mind if we drop by?''

``No, I don't mind if you drop by.''

So within an hour he was at my home in Searchlight.

So as Tom Harkin closes a chapter of service to the American people, I salute Tom Harkin on a job very well done. He has become the longest- serving Democratic Senator in Iowa's history, and he will be greatly missed.

Mr. President, what is the matter before the Senate?

Mr. President, today for the first time the American people are going to learn the full truth about torture that took place under the CIA during the Bush administration. I have served for 22 years with the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein. She is dignified. She is very thorough in whatever she does. She is intelligent and she cares a great deal. She has proven herself to be the one of the most thoughtful and hard-working Members of this body. The people of California are, as well they should be, very proud of this good woman.

I am appreciative of the work the Senate Intelligence Committee has done under her direction. We are here today because of her efforts. She has persevered, overcome obstacles that have been significant, to make this study available to the American people.

I am gratified for the work done by Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. We are here today, again I repeat, because of their efforts. We do not often mention, as certainly we should, the work of our staffs. I want to throw a big bouquet to the intelligence staff. They have worked so hard. Under the direction of Senator Feinstein, they have worked for 7 years--7 years--working on this vitally important matter. It is a report that was not easy, but they did it.

Here is what they did: Committee members and staff combed through more than 6 million pages--6 million pages--of documents to formulate the report. The full committee report is 6,700 pages long--7 years, I repeat, in the making.

The unclassified executive summary, which is going to be released today, is more than 500 pages. I want everyone to understand, the Select Committee on Intelligence, along with the House Committee on Intelligence, is the only group of people who provide oversight over our intelligence community. They actually have the ability to investigate what happened. No one else. Not the press, not Senators, nor the public, or outside organizations have the ability to investigate the CIA. But we did it. The implications of this report are profound. Not only is torture wrong, but it does not work. For people today, we hear them coming from different places saying, It was great. It was terrific what we did. It has got us so much.

It has got us nothing, except a bad name. Without this report, the American people would not know what actually took place under the CIA's torture program. This critical report highlights the importance of Senate oversight and the role Congress must play in overseeing the executive branch of government. The only way our country can put this episode in the past is to come to terms with what happened and commit to ensuring it will never happen again. This is how we as Americans make our Nation stronger. When we realize there is a problem, we seek the evidence; we study it; we learn from it. Then we set about to enact change. Americans must learn from our mistakes. We learned about the Pentagon papers. They were helpful to us as a country. The Iran contra affair. I was here when it went on. It was hard on us, but it was important that we did this. More recently, what happened in that prison in Iraq, Abu-Ghraib.

We have three separate branches of government, the judicial, the executive, and the legislative branches of government. To me, this work done by the Intelligence Committee, of which the Presiding Officer is a member, cries out for our Constitution, three separate, equal branches of government.

We are here today to talk about the work done by the legislative branch of government. We can protect our national security as a country without resorting to methods like torture. They are contrary to the fundamental values of America. So I call upon the administration, the Intelligence Committee, and my colleagues in Congress to join me in that commitment, that what took place, the torture program, is not in keeping with our country.