Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 584, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon 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 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 20, 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 until 2 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

For the information of Senators, there will be up to five rollcall votes at 2 p.m. on confirmation of the Pepper, Sannes, Arleo, Beetlestone, and Bolden district judicial nominations.

I would ask of my friend, the Senator from Iowa, how long he is going to speak.

For up to 30 minutes.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Grassley.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of S. 2280. There will be 6 hours of debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents of the bill. Senator Boxer will control the opponents' time. Senator Landrieu will control 1 hour of the proponents' time, and Senator Hoeven will control 2 hours.

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

At about 6:15 p.m.--give or take a few minutes--this evening the Senate will vote on a bill to approve the Keystone Pipeline.

There will be three rollcall votes on confirmation of the Abrams, Cohen, and Ross nominations, followed by the confirmation of five Ambassadors, which are expected by voice vote.

There will be 30 minutes of debate prior to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the USA Freedom Act.

As I have indicated, this evening we will vote on the motion to proceed to the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act, which reforms the U.S. Government's domestic surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, as we have come to call it.

In 2013 the American public first learned that the Federal Government collected telephone and Internet records of ordinary Americans--even when those Americans were not suspected of any wrongdoing. Earlier this year Senator Leahy introduced the USA FREEDOM Act to end this bulk data collection. This bill has the support of the entire U.S. intelligence community, including the Director of National Intelligence, Gen. James Clapper. It enhances privacy and civil liberties protections, and it continues to give the U.S. intelligence community the ability to gather the information it needs to help keep America safe.

Two weeks ago the American people sent Congress a simple message: Let's work together. The USA FREEDOM Act is an excellent opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to work together to pass legislation that is good for this country.

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy, has done tremendous work in crafting this bill. I hope we will invoke cloture today to allow us to proceed to this matter. Chairman Leahy will manage the bill on the Senate floor in what I hope will be an open, bipartisan process.

In working to craft this bipartisan legislation, I expect Senators on both sides will want to offer amendments. Everyone should understand that there is not going to be any effort to stop this by the procedural avenue we call tree-filling. Instead, if we get on the legislation, the bill's managers will address amendments as they are offered. So I hope Democrats and Republicans will be able to come to agreements for votes on a number of amendments--hopefully a reasonable number or, of course, we will have no alternative than to try to terminate that by trying to get cloture on the bill itself. I am optimistic that we can work together--I hope so--to forge a compromise and pass this essential legislation.

Madam President, I am going to use leader time for these remarks, and it will not interfere with any of the time that has been allocated to these gentlemen and ladies.

In far away Israel, during morning prayer, a horrific attack took place. A number of people were having their morning prayer. Four rabbis were savagely beaten, hacked to death, with a meat cleaver. Two Palestinian men entered the synagogue in Jerusalem and savagely murdered these four rabbis in the midst of morning prayer. Three of these victims were American citizens, the other, I am told, was a British citizen. One of them was a leading scholar, Hasidic scholar. More than one dozen others were hacked, hacked with a meat clever, while they were there praying. A number of these people are in critical condition as we speak.

Secretary of State John Kerry today said: ``Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue.''

Places of worship have always been a refuge in times of peace and in times of conflict. Yet these terrorists hacked and brutally murdered worshippers in the midst of prayer.

This is not an isolated incident. Recently, Palestinian terrorists have carried out shocking attacks all across Israel. Seven Israelis have been killed in these horrible attacks, including a 3-month-old American infant--a baby, 3 months old--an Israeli soldier, a border patrol officer.

These attacks are a direct result of incitement, and I call upon the Palestinian leadership to condemn these attacks unequivocally. This butchery has no place in the modern world and they should stop it.

I yield back all time.

I yield back all time.

Madam President, I will yield back all time on these nominations.

Madam President, could we have order?

Madam President, under the rule that has been initiated here in the Senate and confirmed, we have 30 minutes of debate on this matter, and I have been told that it won't take that full 30 minutes. And, Madam President, the time for debate would be equally divided.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum, and ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided.

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

I send a cloture motion to the desk, and I ask the Chair to report it.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

I now move to proceed to legislative session.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of

morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

I now move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, there is a cloture motion at the desk and I ask that it be reported.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.