Floor Statements

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, following my remarks and those of the Republican Leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans the final half.

Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. We will debate the sexual assault issue for up to 6 hours today. I hope we will reach an agreement on the ability to vote on those two amendments. We have worked very hard on arriving at a point where we can debate this issue. I hope we can do that. I think it would be very appropriate to have that issue resolved as quickly as possible.

I am told that S. 1737 is due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill at this time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to recommit be withdrawn; the pending Levin amendment No. 2123 be set aside for Senator Gillibrand, or designee, to offer amendment No. 2099 relevant to sexual assault; that the amendment be subject to a relevant side-by-side amendment from Senators McCaskill and Ayotte, amendment No. 2170; that no second-degree amendments be in order to either of the sexual assault amendments; that each of these amendments be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold.

I am told each side would like 10 minutes; that is, the McCaskill side and the Gillibrand side would receive 10 minutes to close. If there are other people who wish to speak, now is the time to say something.

How much time does the Senator need if I get a consent agreement?

So we need 10 minutes for McCaskill also. That would be 20 minutes on each side.

That the time then until 5:30 be equally divided between the proponents and the opponents of the Gillibrand amendment and the McCaskill amendment; that the Senate proceed to vote in relation to Gillibrand first; that upon disposition of the Gillibrand amendment, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the McCaskill-Ayotte amendment; that there be 2 minutes equally divided between the votes; finally, that no motions to recommit during the consideration of these amendments be in order.

Mr. President, we went through this yesterday. I reluctantly object.

Mr. President, we have 350 amendments which have been filed on this bill. I know every person who has filed an amendment feels entitled to offer that amendment. I just think we are not in a position to deal with this for all the reasons we have talked about here for several months. We are not seriously legislating anymore.

We can pass the blame to anyone we want, but we have tried all kinds of things. How about so many amendments on each side? We have done that before. It is not anything unique. We have done that lots of times in the past. It doesn't work. How about 13 amendments? No. It won't work because we want more amendments after that.

So I understand, and I am not denigrating anyone's intent. I know the intentions are good. The record reflects how I feel about this bill. I am sorry we are at the point we are. Couldn't we at least have everybody vote on this amendment which people have spent days of their lives working on? It doesn't matter how we feel about what has been done, but there has been tremendously important work done on the sexual assault issue, and we should at least have the opportunity, with the work that has been put into this, to have a vote. No one is disenfranchised by doing that--or move to try to figure something else out after that. But, gee whiz, couldn't we do that? Otherwise, we will walk away not having done anything on this. I think that is just so unfair to the people who worked on this.

I know other people have worked hard on their amendments. But I have to say, in the last year or two, no one has worked harder on amendments than the proponents and opponents of this amendment.

So having said that, I ask unanimous consent that we move to a period of morning business for debate only until 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Yes, it was.

I am sorry.

I would say, while they are reserving the right to object, there is still time left. With the tentative agreement we had, which was just kind of a handshake, there would be 6 hours, and there is still time left on that. So that time for debate only, that time could still be used.

I know there is a unanimous consent pending. I have no problem in the world with continuing to work to see if we can come up with something. We have tried. It is not as if we have not tried. But my disappointment is that we are just not doing any legislating here, and people can bring the blame to me all they want. We can get into all kinds of statistics that we want about what has happened in years past and why it has been necessary to fill the tree, but that doesn't accomplish anything. Everyone knows what is going on around here. So I am not going to get into a he said, they said situation.

I know the two managers of this bill want to get something done. Let's give them the time it takes to get that done.

So my consent is pending, and I would like the Chair to rule on that.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I renew my request that was just denied.

I also add to that that I be recognized at 7:30.

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

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 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 Senate proceed to the immediate consideration en bloc of S. Res. 304, S. Res. 305, S. Res. 306, S. Res. 307, and S. Res. 308.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles, where applicable, be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I am told that S. 1752 is due for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading but object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 21, 2013; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1197, the National Defense Authorization Act, under the previous order; that the filing deadline for all first-degree amendments to S. 1197 be 1 p.m. on Thursday.

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

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of Senator McConnell, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The time will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The Senate will recess today from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings.

We will work on amendments to the Defense bill today. Everyone will be notified when votes are scheduled.

Mr. President, today we are going to continue work on the Defense bill. It is really an important measure, and that is an understatement. It safeguards this Nation. It ensures our troops have the resources and training they need. It provides for military families who support our fighting men and women. This is a serious bill, and it deserves serious debate--not to be bogged down by unrelated political issues.

For example, this legislation encompasses a lot of issues, including a pay raise for members of our Armed Forces. It authorizes dozens of special pay rates and bonuses, such as bonus payments for servicemembers who see combat or who are stationed overseas.

This important legislation also includes robust and far-reaching provisions to combat the scourge of sexual assault in the military, including changes that would ensure perpetrators are punished and victims are protected. Senators Levin, Gillibrand, McCaskill, and others have done exceptionally good work to confront this problem. As we build on their work, there are additional amendments concerning military sexual assault the Senate needs to consider.

The Senate must also consider amendments relating to the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Everyone is aware that we cannot complete this bill until we vote on the sexual assault and Guantanamo provisions.

I know this bill has a lot of provisions people would like to change. Frankly, we won't be able to change a lot of it. The committee did really good work in coming up with the bill. The two issues I have just talked about, though, must have votes. I would accept the language in the Defense bill as it relates to Guantanamo; I think it is a significant improvement. But my Republican colleagues want to have an opportunity to change that, and I understand that. That is why I said that should be the first measure we vote on. I have said that more than once, and I say it again.

The matter dealing with sexual assault is a controversial matter, and we have to have a vote on that. We have to do that. That is why I said that is the second most important issue we deal with in this bill.

Why couldn't we get these two important issues out of the way? I am speaking only for myself. If we have votes on those two measures, I think the bill would be ready to go to conference. I know people don't like to hear that, but I think that is, in fact, the case.

The time, effort, and wisdom led by Senator Levin to come up with a bill, working with the new ranking member Senator Inhofe has been a labor of love for both of them. But these two issues need to be resolved on the Senate floor. I ask that it be done.

I asked last night by unanimous consent to get these things done, but there was objection from my Republican colleagues. So if we can't vote even on these amendments to these two crucial issues--and I know there are other issues, but no one can in any way disparage what I have just said, that these are two very important issues. Everyone, I think, agrees they have to be considered before we can complete the work on this underlying legislation. So if we can't get these two votes done, how are we going to address any of the other issues we need to work on?

Maybe I shouldn't be optimistic, but I can be hopeful that we will be able to schedule votes on these amendments soon. In the meantime, Senators should not wait to debate these issues. Let's take just these two issues until we schedule votes on these amendments. Senators should come to the floor to speak on the issues now. There is a limited time to complete this bill before the Thanksgiving holiday, and Senators should use that time wisely to engage in meaningful debate.

I am totally aware of the number of Senators who wish to offer amendments on other issues as well, both defense-related and otherwise. So Senators should file their amendments, and I hope we can figure out a way to have a robust amendment process. However, we cannot allow this important legislation to be sidetracked by debates on amendments unrelated to our Nation's defense.

Our Nation's defense is a relative term and some people have different ideas as to what that should mean. But the United States has passed this bill for more than half a century. This is a sign of respect for this institution and for the people this legislation represents--our Nation's Armed Forces. So let's give this bill the respect it deserves.

Mr. President, it is hard for me to find the words to express my disappointment for our country in yesterday's vote on another person to go to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

The last three people have been filibustered, and they are good people. They are qualified. Their records are outstanding for their work in the courts--scholastically brilliant, every one of them. But Republican obstruction has become endemic in the Senate over the last five years, grinding the work of this institution to a halt, threatening the integrity of this institution and damaging our country. No President should have to put up with what President Obama has had to put up with.

Madam President, I am going to announce a consent agreement, and I will read through it in just a minute. It seems to me this debate we had today was extremely important. As I said last night, one of the issues in this bill is Guantanamo. I felt it was appropriate--even though I agree with the language in the bill--that the Republicans have an opportunity to see if they could change it. That is what this was all about this afternoon.

On the sexual assault issue, there is language in the bill that Senator Gillibrand and others want to change. Senator Levin and especially Senator McCaskill have come up with a side-by-side, just like we had today, and that deserves a full debate. That is an issue which has been in all the papers over the last several months.

The Senate deserves and the American public deserves this debate. I hope we can get this done.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending Levin amendment No. 2123 be set aside for Senator Gillibrand or designee to offer amendment No. 2099 relative to sexual assault; that the amendment be subject to a relevant side-by-side amendment from Senators McCaskill and Ayotte, amendment No. 2170; that no second- degree amendments be in order to either of the sexual assault amendments; that each of these amendments be subject to a 60- affirmative-vote threshold; that when the Senate resumes consideration of the bill on Wednesday, November 20, the time until 5 p.m. be equally divided between the proponents and opponents of the Gillibrand amendments; that at 5 p.m. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Gillibrand amendment No. 2099; that upon disposition of the Gillibrand amendment, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the McCaskill-Ayotte amendment No. 2170; that there be 2 minutes equally divided in between the votes; and that no motions to recommit be in order during the consideration of the sexual assault amendments.

Madam President, with the deepest respect to my friend the senior Senator from Oklahoma, we are not in a position to have a bunch of amendments on this bill. It took us weeks to get the drug compounding bill done--weeks, plural. What we should do is get this very contentious amendment out of the way and move on to other amendments. There is no reason why we can't agree on going from one amendment to another amendment. Everyone has to understand that this is not going to be an open amendment process. It is not going to happen. We have tried that. Remember? People said, we haven't done anything on energy for 5 years. That pretty well says it all. But we said, OK, what we are going to do is work on something that is bipartisan in nature led by Senator Shaheen. Senator Portman was heavily involved. We never got off first base. We never even got headed toward first base. So we can't do that.

There is going to have to be a change of atmosphere around here where we agree to do legislation. We talk about remembering the good old days when we had unlimited amendments. I remember those too. I also remember the good old days where the majority would have a few amendments, the minority would have a number of amendments, and we would move forward and pass legislation. But no one is willing to do that anymore. We are, but they are not.

So I know how well-intentioned my friend is, but that was then and this is now. I object. I don't accept his modification to my request.

Thank you very much.

Motion to Recommit With Amendment No. 2305

I have a motion to recommit S. 1197 with instructions at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on this amendment.

I am so sorry. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk that I totally forgot about.

Madam President, what I hope we can do tomorrow, as we did today--I know people feel strongly about this sexual assault issue--is people will come and talk about that. It is so important. We were able to do that today on this amendment we had, and by the time 5 o'clock came, there had been a full discussion of the amendment. No one was crying for more time. So I hope in the morning people who feel strongly about this issue will come and talk about it. We did have some people who came and talked about this issue and that was important. So there are very strong feelings about this amendment. It is a difficult issue. It is sexual assault in the military. It wasn't long ago we wouldn't even be discussing such a thing on the Senate floor. We have to now, because it is an issue the military has, and we are trying to work through this. People have different views on how to proceed, but everyone agrees it needs to change. It is a question of how we change it, and that is what this debate is all about.

So I hope Senators will come in the morning and start talking about this issue; tee it up for a vote sometime tomorrow afternoon.