Floor Statements

Debo Adegbile is a fine man, and the fact that I don't pronounce his name very well takes nothing away from his credentials. He is a very outstanding individual. I will have more to say about him tomorrow.

There will be up to three rollcall votes at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow. We expect to recess, following those votes, for the weekly caucus meetings and continue to work through nominations throughout the afternoon.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I understand there are four bills due for a second reading.

I would object to any further proceedings with respect to these bills en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order with respect to Executive Calendar No. 659 be modified so that following leader remarks on Wednesday, March 5, the time until 11:45 a.m. be equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee or their designees prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination, with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect; that if cloture is invoked, there be 4 minutes equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee or their designees prior to the vote on confirmation of the nomination; that following the disposition of the Adegbile nomination, the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the motion to invoke cloture on the Hernandez nomination; that if cloture is not invoked on the Adegbile nomination, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Hernandez nomination; further, that the remaining cloture motions filed on Thursday, February 27, 2014, not ripen prior to 2:15 p.m., Wednesday, March 5.

Mr. President, as if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have until Thursday, March 6, 2014, to report P.N. 1243, the nomination of John P. Carlin to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that today's proceedings be printed in the Congressional Record dated March 4.

Mr. President, because of inclement weather, we have had to change things around significantly. But this is a message to all Senators. We will do our utmost to get everything done on Wednesday and Thursday. There will be some debate tomorrow, but I am talking about the voting. If we can't, we will have to be here on Friday. I know that shouldn't be too hard since we haven't done anything in the first part of the week. So no one is surprised, we may have to be here Friday. We have work that needs to be done, and the weather has really harmed our ability to go forward.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business for debate only, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

The next rollcall vote will be at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 309, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans the final half.

Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1982, the veterans benefits bill.

I filed cloture on the substitute amendment and the underlying bill. As a result the filing deadline for first-degree amendments is 10:30 this morning and for second-degree amendments it is 1:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m. there will be a series of votes in relation to the veterans bill. We also expect to consider the nomination of Michael Connor to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior today.

Protecting Veterans

Mr. President, there are lots of issues on which Democrats and Republicans will always disagree. That is OK. But, historically, Democrats and Republicans have been able to agree on one issue: Congress should do everything in its power to protect those who risk their lives to protect our country.

I had hoped this work period would be more bipartisan; that the Senate could tackle issues and would be able to stop the political games we have seen so often from the minority.

That is why I scheduled floor time for a bill to expand health care and job training for veterans of the Armed Forces--a very, very comprehensive bill, worked on by the Veterans Affairs' Committee, led by Senator Sanders. The bill is loaded, as Senator Sanders and I discussed yesterday in detail, with Republican provisions that he put in the bill.

Democrats and Republicans alike should be able to support this bill, which is sponsored, as I have indicated, by Senator Sanders from Vermont.

Democrats were even willing to work with our Republican colleagues to consider relevant amendments to this legislation. So it was disappointing--but, sadly, not surprising--when Republicans almost immediately injected base partisan politics into a debate over a bill that should--should--be bipartisan, insisting on an unrelated amendment on Iran that they knew would kill the bill.

I do not know what they say to the 26 veterans groups. Millions of veterans really supported this bill and did everything they could to help the chairman of the committee, the junior Senator from Vermont, to move this bill forward. But they did it on an unrelated amendment on Iran that they knew would kill the bill. I do not know all the reasons, but we had a number of speeches, especially one from Dr. Coburn, the junior Senator from Oklahoma, who came to the floor and had questions about the bill.

I did not agree with all of his assertions, but he has a right to dispute

what is in the bill, and he wanted to offer amendments to the bill. We agreed he should be able to offer amendments to the bill, but the Republicans, I guess, are in turmoil internally and did not want him to be able to offer any amendments that they may have to vote for or vote against, so they figured the way to do it is to just kill the bill.

I hope all the veterans groups have witnessed this contortion the Republicans have done to defeat this bill--because it will be defeated. That was their aim from the very beginning.

Like our support for veterans, the Senate's Iran sanctions policy has historically been solidly bipartisan. The idea of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is unthinkable. Democrats and Republicans always worked together on this policy. Iran should not have nuclear capability. We all agree on that--I hope so at least. I know on this side of the aisle we do. But it seems Republicans are trying to erase that history and politicize an issue that has historically been above partisanship.

They are trying now--the Republicans--to mislead the American public by saying that a bipartisan majority supports moving forward with new sanctions right now. Of course, it is wrong. Absolutely, of course, it is wrong.

In fact, many Senators, including some who have cosponsored the new sanctions bill, believe we should not move forward with the bill at this time or on this important bill for veterans. It should not be used as an effort to kill this veterans bill.

But in addition to that, 10 committee chairs wrote a letter to me saying: Do not do anything now. They are some of the biggest supporters of Israel there are. But we also have Israel's strongest supporter, AIPAC, also agreeing it is not the time now to bring a sanctions package to the floor. AIPAC was unequivocal in its request for a delay on additional sanctions. In fact, this is what they said: ``Stopping the Iranian nuclear program should rest on bipartisan support and . . . there should not be a vote at this time on the measure.''

Many veterans groups have also come out against including the Iran amendment on this bill, including virtually every veterans organization but especially the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, consisting of millions and millions of veterans. We also have the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America saying: Do not do it at this time. We need help. We, the veterans, need help. This legislation would give us that help. Here is specifically what the American Legion said:

Sanctions against Iran have no place in a U.S. Senate

debate over legislation that aims to expand health care,

education opportunities, employment and other benefits for

veterans.

But Iran should make no mistake. We know that. If they fail to comply with the current interim agreement or fail to make progress toward a comprehensive agreement eliminating their nuclear weapons development efforts, Congress will act without hesitation to pass additional sanctions. We have said that time and time again.

That decision will be made in the interest of our national security, not on a partisan ploy. There is too much at stake to play politics with our Nation's Iran policy. Likewise, Republicans should stop putting American veterans at risk and help Democrats pass this crucial legislation.

Shame on the Republicans for bringing base politics into a bill to help the veterans. I have learned that the Republicans here in the Senate have many different ways of saying no, but, as always, it is just plain obstruction, I am sorry to say, again, on a bill to help millions of veterans.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following the

disposition of S. 1982, the veterans benefits bill, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 561, Michael L. Connor, to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior, that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form, and that all other provisions of the previous order remain in effect.

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