Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. Res. 200.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. Res. 201.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m., on Monday, July 29, 2013, and 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 until 4:15 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1243, the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill; further, that at 4:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 208, the nomination of James Comey to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the time until 5:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled in the usual form; and, finally, that at 5:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Comey nomination.

Mr. President, the next rollcall vote will be a cloture vote on the Comey nomination on Monday evening.

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 leader remarks there will be 1 hour of morning business, with the first half controlled by the Republicans and the second half controlled by the majority.

Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of the Transportation appropriations bill. Senators Murray and Collins have done good work. We hope to wrap up this bill in the next 24 hours. We hope to vote in relation to the Portman amendment sometime this morning. We also expect to consider the student loan legislation today. Under the orders that have been entered, we have the ability to vote on the student loan bill, which is so important. There are several hours of debate--4 hours plus other time on various amendments--so I think Members should consider that at about 4 p.m. this afternoon or thereabouts, we could have a series of votes. We also have other nominations that are subject to vote. So we should have a number of votes today. I hope that, in fact, is the case.

I admire and appreciate the work, as I have already mentioned, on the appropriations bill. Hopefully we can wrap it up soon.

Mr. President, it is hard to believe that 15 years ago, as the Presiding Officer knows, Police Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson were killed trying to prevent a crazy man from entering the Capitol. We will have at 3:40 p.m. a moment of silence in memory of these two good men. And, of course, every year their families are there.

I really appreciate the work of the Capitol Police to make this building safe for us, staff, and all the visitors, and there is no time more directed toward that than events like this. But because of the sacrifice those two men made, the Capitol is a safer place as a result of the Visitor Center, which now allows people to come into the Capitol in an orderly fashion. They can have their bags checked and everything so very quickly. In addition, there are restrooms and meeting halls. So the sacrifices made by these two men have made this place safer. It is just tragic that it took both their lives to do that.

We will likely have one more vote tonight, and then Senator Murray and Senator Collins will determine what is going to happen on the appropriations bill that is before us.

Orrin Hatch's 13,000th Vote

Mr. President, I rise now to honor our colleague Orrin Hatch. The next vote cast will be Orrin Hatch's 13,000th vote. This is a tremendous accomplishment. It speaks to his dedication to the State of Utah, his constituents, the Senate, and our country. He is the Republicans' most senior Member. He is now serving in his seventh term in the Senate. Before running for the Senate, Senator Hatch received a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and was in private practice for a number of years.

He is the ranking member on the Finance Committee today. As we know, he made a reputation for himself when he was chair of the Judiciary Committee. We worked together with him for those many years. He serves on the HELP Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation. He has truly had a significant impact on the Senate.

He is a dedicated member of the board of directors of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has done amazing work throughout his career.

His No. 1 accomplishment for me is not how many terms he has served in the Senate but his accomplishment for his wonderful family. His wife Elaine has been a great helpmate for him for these many decades. He has 23 grandchildren, 6 children, and now 10 great-grandchildren.

Although Orrin and I occasionally disagree on substantive issues, I have great respect for him. I am so grateful to him over the years for always expressing concern about me personally and his kindness and concern to my family, especially to Landra.

Congratulations.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 99, which is the Transportation appropriations bill.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the time until noon will be equally divided and controlled. At noon there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 1243. If cloture is invoked, all postcloture time will be yielded back and we will vote on adoption of the motion to proceed. I hope that will be a voice vote and we can begin consideration of the bill immediately following the vote at noon.

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

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that Senator Chiesa be recognized at 2:15 p.m. today for up to 15 minutes to deliver his maiden speech.

I am so happy to see the Presiding Officer. The Senator might have presided before but I haven't been able to witness that. So I am very happy to have the Senator here. We are so fortunate to have him here with his wide-ranging experience as a Member of Congress. My time in the House was some of the most pleasant times of my career. I so admire and respect the House of Representatives. And for the Presiding Officer to have spent almost four decades there indicates the people of Massachusetts will have someone here who will immediately hit the ground running, and we are very happy to have the Senator with us. We have the committee the Senator wanted, and with the wide experience he has had in the areas of his choice, he will be a great benefit to Massachusetts and our country.

Today the Senate will begin work on the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill. It is a bipartisan measure that received six Republican votes coming out of the full committee. This legislation will strengthen our economy by investing in roadways, railways, airports, bridges, and more. I applaud the full committee chair Barbara Mikulski for her good work and being so excited about bringing forth the appropriations bills, and long-time member of the Appropriations Committee chairwoman Patty Murray. She is chair of the subcommittee that will be working on that for the next few days. I appreciate their diligence and their bipartisan work on this measure.

The Transportation, Housing appropriations bill has always been a bipartisan bill. As we speak, we have 70,000 bridges in this country in need of major repair. We have bridges in America today where schoolbuses unload their children before going over the bridge. We have bridges that are in need of extensive repair and some that need to be replaced completely. One of every five miles of American roads is not up to safety standards, so it is easy to see why this bipartisan effort to upgrade America's crumbling infrastructure is so important. Our deficient roads, bridges, railways, and runways are a drag on our economy.

But this crisis is also an opportunity--an opportunity--to create jobs by rebuilding America, which needs replenishing, restoring, and rebuilding. This bill will make traveling safer and more efficient for American families and businesses.

We get so upset when we are on roads and freeways that are jammed and we think how inconvenient it is for us. Think how inconvenient it is for one of those trucks that is carrying products to be delivered and sold, how much it is costing each of us in our individual vehicles, and how it is costing us more every minute that truck is stopped in a road because of heavy traffic. It is more expensive than virtually everything we do in America. We have to do

a better job on our crumbling infrastructure. This bill will make traveling safer, as I indicated, and more efficient.

The Senate bill also makes crucial investments in affordable housing programs that assist low-income families in need. This legislation is an important step toward eliminating homelessness, especially among America's veterans.

By contrast, the very partisan companion bill from the House that they passed puts affordable housing out of reach for most everyone. Many who are out of reach of getting help are the elderly or disabled.

The House bill also slashes investments on new roads and bridges, and makes deep cuts to the Federal aviation efforts to modernize our air traffic control system. The Senate bill is a bipartisan blueprint, investing in modern infrastructure and creating new jobs while maintaining a vital social safety net. House Republicans obviously have a totally different version. They are jamming things through there on a totally partisan basis.

On Sunday, John Boehner, Speaker of the House, said Congress should not be judged by how many bills it passes but by how many laws it repeals. If that is true, House Republicans are failing even by their own measure. They have replaced virtually nothing. So by the Speaker's own admission they are not getting anything passed, and by his own analysis they are getting nothing repealed. So they are doing nothing. We have known that, but it is unusual for the Speaker to acknowledge that on the Sunday shows.

If my Republican colleagues are looking for a law to repeal, I would suggest they take a look at the shortsighted and mean-spirited sequester law. Democrats are happy to help them roll back these arbitrary cuts--these meat axe cuts--which threaten national security as well as the economy.

In the news today, there was a briefing by the Secretary of Defense talking about how senseless the cuts are to the Defense Department. They are done with a meat axe, as I said. So we need to roll back these arbitrary cuts--not only to the military but to all of government.

Unless Democrats and Republicans work out a bipartisan solution that replaces the sequester, crucial investments in everything from early childhood to medical research to military readiness will be in jeopardy. They are already in jeopardy.

It has been 122 days since the Senate passed its budget, but Senate Republicans still refuse to let Democrats, led by Budget Committee chair Patty Murray, negotiate a budget compromise with our House Republican colleagues. Senator Murray and others have been to the floor numerous times. We have had Republicans come here to the floor and say how foolish it is not to be able to go to conference. We have not given up on reversing the sequester and setting sound fiscal policy through regular order in the budget process. We know Democrats and Republicans will never find common ground if we never start negotiating. That is what Senator Murray has said many times.

Sequester will cost us investments in education which helps keep America competitive and will cost millions of seniors, children, and needy families the safety net that keeps them from descending into poverty. Because of drastic cuts to the National Institutes of Health, sequester could also cost the country in humankind, in a cure for AIDS, Parkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's.

Congress can stop these devastating cuts to crucial medical research and programs that protect low-income children. All they need to do is work with us. We can't do it alone. We need the Republicans' help. The cost of reducing the deficit with a meat axe today is missing out on the next polio vaccine tomorrow, and the price is simply way too high.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. President, I am told there is a bill at the desk due for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV but object to my own request.

Mr. President, we hope to have a little more business of the day, but we will wait and see.

When we complete our business today, I ask unanimous consent that we adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24; 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; following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority the final half; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1243, the Transportation appropriations bill; further, that at 3:40 p.m. tomorrow, the Senate observe a moment of silence in memory of Officer Jacob J. Chestnut and Detective John M. Gibson, who were U.S. Capitol Policemen killed 15 years ago in the line of duty defending this building, the people who work here, and all the visitors against an armed intruder who killed both of them.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by me after consultation with Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 139, H.R. 1911; that the only first-degree amendment in order to the bill be a Manchin-Burr amendment, the text of which is at the desk; that the only second- degree amendments in order to the Manchin-Burr amendment be the following, the text of which is at the desk: Reed of Rhode Island- Warren, and the second amendment would be Sanders; there be up to 1 hour of debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents on each amendment; that there be 3 hours of debate on the bill equally divided between the chairman and ranking member or their designees, with Senator Boxer controlling 30 minutes of the Democratic time and Senator Reed controlling 15 minutes of the Democratic time; that no points of order or motions be in order other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the second-degree amendments in the order listed; that upon disposition of the Sanders amendment, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Manchin-Burr amendment, as amended, if amended; that upon disposition of the Manchin-Burr amendment, the bill, as amended, if amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, as amended, if amended; that all of the amendments and passage of the bill be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold; that there be two minutes equally divided between the votes; finally, all after the first vote be 10-minute votes.

Mr. President, first of all, I would like the Record to reflect how instrumental the Presiding Officer was in our ability to get this done. I appreciate it very much, as does everyone in the Senate. In the near future, the American people will acknowledge his good work on this issue.

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

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 99, which is the Transportation appropriations bill.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, there will be an hour of morning business, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor. We hope to confirm both the Perez and McCarthy nominations today.

We are ready to move on this whenever my Republican colleagues say they want to. What would be the right thing to do would be to vote on Perez this morning and vote on the cloture motion I filed regarding McCarthy. Then this afternoon, after our lunches, we would vote on confirmation of McCarthy. However, whatever the Republicans decide, I will be happy to work with them in whatever way is convenient.

Measures Placed on the Calendar--S. 1315, S. 1316, and H.R. 1911

I understand there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to all three of these matters proceeding further at this time.

Mr. President, today, as part of this week's agreement to process nominations, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the Perez nomination to lead the Department of Labor, and we will vote on the cloture motion on the nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

I hope we can move forward on these matters as quickly as possible.

Gina McCarthy is an accomplished environmental official who has served under several Republican Governors, including Governor Romney. She has worked in Democratic administrations

also. As a top environmental official in Massachusetts and Connecticut, she has expanded energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

We had a wonderful event yesterday morning where the EPA building was named after President Clinton. He stood and talked about what he and Vice President Gore had done to help the environment, and he stressed time and time again it is important to have a growing, strong economy and to make sure we take care of the environment in the process because those two things are not in conflict.

Gina McCarthy is now Assistant EPA Administrator, and it has been her job to come up with creative new ways to keep our air clean and our water safe while growing the economy, as President Clinton said.

She was nominated several months ago. I spoke to her yesterday morning, as she was with President Clinton, and she was anxious to have a vote today. She has a proven track record of public service, there is no question about that.

Tom Perez, the nominee to lead the Department of Labor, is also an experienced public servant. He is from Buffalo, NY, the son of Dominican immigrants. As we have heard, he put himself through college working at a warehouse and as a garbage collector. He graduated from Brown University, one of the most prestigious universities in America, and in fact the world, as is Harvard Law School. He went to both of those fine universities.

He served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Janet Reno, who was Attorney General for our country. He was appointed by Governor O'Malley in 2007 to serve as secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor where he helped implement the country's first statewide living wage law.

Four years ago he was confirmed by the Senate with 72 votes to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice in Washington. There he has helped resolve cases on behalf of families targeted by unfair mortgage lending.

He is very qualified, with his education and background, and he will be an excellent Secretary of Labor. So I look forward to our confirming him as soon as we can.

Student Loan Interest Rates

Mr. President, I am very hopeful we can wind up the discussions we have had for several weeks now on student loans. There has been wonderful bipartisan discussions in this regard. Again, the legislation that has been presented to me isn't everything I want, but it is the work of a number of Democratic and Republican Senators working very long hours--in fact, those Senators had a meeting the night before last with the President that lasted about an hour and a half.

So we have to get this done as soon as possible. Of course, we have made it retroactive because we know the student loan rate went up from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent the first of this month, and we need to make sure that legislation gets done before we leave. With people processing their applications to go to school this fall, we should get it done as quickly as possible. It is possible we could do it today.

I appreciate--and I hope I don't miss mentioning anyone, though I am confident I will--the Senators who have worked so hard on this issue. But those who have worked together on this compromise have been Senators Harkin, Durbin, King, and Manchin on our side; and on the Republican side, Senators Alexander, Coburn, and Burr. There have been others. In the process, we also have a number of Senators who may not be totally pleased with this agreement that is contemplated, but they have all worked so hard--Jack Reed and Elizabeth Warren.

What I would like to do, and I hope we can do it as soon as possible, with the compromise that has been worked out with the Senators I mentioned--and whatever Senator Reed and others want to do--we would have a couple of votes to make sure everyone has the ability to vote on their legislation. I hope we can do it this way. It would be the right way to go in solving this issue.

If we do this, we would not be back next year to do it. It will be done. We would not be back in 2 years. It will be done. So I hope very much we can get this done. I applaud all these Senators who have worked so hard for so long to come up with an agreement.

Again, I repeat for the third time even this morning, this isn't going to be everything the Presiding Officer wants, the Republican leader or I want, but, hopefully, it will be a step forward.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. President, if my friend from Virginia will yield to me for the purpose of doing a unanimous consent request, we have an agreement as to when we will proceed with votes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the confirmation of the Perez nomination as Secretary of Labor occur at 12:15 p.m. today; that if the 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; that any related statements be printed in the Record; and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; further, that following disposition of the Perez nomination, the time until 2:30 p.m. be equally divided in the usual form prior to the cloture vote on the McCarthy nomination.

Mr. President, while I have the floor, I want the Record to reflect how fortunate the State of Virginia is for the work done by this good man. We have a good situation with our delegation from Virginia--two former Governors, and they are both such outstanding human beings and wonderful Senators.

As I have told my friend personally, the person whom I just interrupted--and I spread this in the Record here--there is no one I know in the Senate who is able to deliver the substance of what he says as well as the Senator from Virginia. He does such a good job of explaining things. We all have an idea of what we want to say, but sometimes we don't explain it very well. He does an excellent job.