Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following resolutions en bloc: S. Res. 5, Harkin; S. Res. 15, a resolution providing a standing order to improve procedures for the consideration of legislation and nominations in the Senate; and S. Res. 16, a resolution amending the Standing Rules of the Senate relative to conference motions and bipartisan cloture motions on the motion to proceed.

Further, Mr. President, that the time until 7:55 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for the purpose of debating these resolutions concurrently; that the only amendment in order to any of the resolutions is a Lee amendment to S. Res. 15, that upon use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to S. Res. 5; that upon disposition of S. Res. 5, the Senate vote in relation to the Lee amendment to S. Res. 15; that upon disposition of the Lee amendment, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to S. Res. 15, as amended, if amended, and S. Res. 16, in that order with no intervening action of debate; that S. Res. 15 be subject to a 60-vote threshold for adoption; further, that S. Res. 16 be subject to a threshold of two-thirds of those voting for adoption; that there be no other amendments, motions, or points of order in order to any of these resolutions prior to the votes in relation to the resolutions; finally, none of the resolutions be divisible.

I yield 1 minute to the Senator from Iowa.

Mr. President, I believe I have no further requests for time on this side. If that, in fact, is the case, and the Republican leader has no request for time, I yield whatever time I have.

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

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for the Republican leader and me to have a brief colloquy about the application of the standing order related to motions to proceed and nominations that the Senate will consider. The template for this order was a bipartisan proposal developed by Senators Levin and McCain and other Members on both sides of the aisle.

In addition, the amendment process set out in this order is not to be understood as establishing a ceiling for offering amendments, but instead setting a floor for offering them. The order sets out a structure for beginning the amendment process, not ending it.

And although the order provides that in the amendment sequence, the majority party has the ability to offer the last amendment, the majority will not use that last amendment to eliminate or remove language, if any, that the minority was able to add to the underlying matter through the Senate adopting any of the minority's preceding amendments.

I agree. Furthermore, it is our expectation that this new process for considering nominations as set out in this order will not be the norm, but that the two leaders will continue to work together to schedule votes on nominees in a timely manner by unanimous consent, except in extraordinary circumstances.

That is correct. Any other resolutions related to Senate procedure would be subject to a regular order process including consideration by the Rules Committee.

In addition to the standing order, I will enforce existing rules to make the Senate operate more efficiently. After reasonable notice, I will insist that any Senator who objects to consent requests or threatens to filibuster come to the floor and exercises his or her rights himself or herself. This will apply to all objections to unanimous consent requests. Senators should be required to come to the floor and participate in the legislative process--to voice objections, engage in debate, or offer amendments.

In addition, Rule XXII makes provision for 30 hours of debate after cloture is invoked. Within the 30 hours, Senators have strict limitations on the amount of time each Senator is allowed to speak. These limits should be enforced and Rule XXII further says, ``After no more than thirty hours of debate,'' so 30 hours will be considered the outside limit of post-cloture debate time.

Finally, we will also announce that when the majority leader or bill manager has reasonably alerted the body of the intention to do so and the Senate is not in a quorum call and there is no order of the Senate to the contrary, the Presiding Officer may ask if there is further debate, and if no Senator seeks recognition, the Presiding Officer may put the question to a vote. This is consistent with precedent of the Senate and with Riddick's Senate Procedure, 1992. See page 716 in Riddick's and footnotes 385 and 386 on page 764. This can be done pre- cloture or post-cloture on any amendment, bill, resolution or nomination.

Mr. President, thank you very much.

We are going to have one more vote tonight. The next vote will be on Sandy and matters relating to Sandy on Monday night at 5:30.

I have spoken with the soon-to-be chair of the Foreign Relations Committee and Ranking Member Corker. We are going to have a vote after the business meeting sometime on Tuesday on the new Secretary of State.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

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

Mr. President, 2 years ago my friend the Republican leader and I expressed our intention that the funding allocation adopted for the 112th Congress would serve for that and future Congresses. Over the prior 20 years, the apportionment of committee funding had gone from a straight two-thirds for majority and one-third for minority during the 1990s, regardless of the size of the majority and minority, to biannual negotiations during the following decade. The new funding allocation for Senate committees was based on the party division of the Senate, with 10 percent of the total majority and minority salary baseline going to the majority for administrative expenses. However, regardless of the party division of the Senate, the minority share of the majority and minority salary baseline will never be less than 40 percent, and the majority share will never exceed 60 percent. This approach met our needs for the last Congress, and I would like to see it continue.

I thank my friend the Republican leader and ask unanimous consent that a joint leadership letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 4:30 p.m. Monday, January 28, the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 152, the supplemental appropriations bill to provide disaster assistance for Hurricane Sandy; that the only amendment in order to the bill be a Lee amendment, the text of which is at the desk; that there be 1 hour of debate on the amendment and the bill, to run concurrently, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to a vote in relation to the Lee amendment; that upon disposition of the Lee amendment, the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended, if amended; that the Lee amendment and the bill be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold; and finally that no other amendments be in order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 17, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 18.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, H.R. 325 has been received from the House and is at the desk. I would ask the clerk to read this matter if the Presiding Officer so advises.

Mr. President, 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 2 p.m. on Monday, January 28, 2013; that following the prayer and the 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 the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak during that period of time for up to 10 minutes; further, that following morning business, the Senate proceed to H.R. 152 under the previous order.

There will be two rollcall votes at 5:30 p.m. on Monday to complete action on Hurricane Sandy.

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

Madam President, yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with my Democratic Senate caucus for the first time this year. It was the first opportunity for all of us to sit down together, to break bread, and to discuss challenges and opportunities we all face. As the majority leader, I was gratified to see so many new faces and to have such an inclusive caucus. It was music to my ears to hear the announcement that the Presiding Officer today would be Heidi Heitkamp.

We have nine new Democratic Senators. Four of these new Senators are women, and so about one-third of our Democratic caucus is now women. We have, for example, the first Asian woman. We have expanded our majority. I am particularly satisfied that with each passing election cycle our caucus better reflects the Nation it serves. But despite the diversity of the caucus--and in particular its freshmen--there is one quality shared by each Democratic Senator: deep and abiding patriotism.

As Governor Adlai Stevenson said:

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but

the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

That is true. Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. If we look at the records, the careers of these new Senators, that is the way it is.

Each person coming here reminds me of my first few weeks in the House of Representatives when Tip O'Neill--we had a large incoming class, so he called us in these groups of maybe 15 or so, and he told us something I have always remembered. He said: Each of you are successful politicians or you wouldn't be here. And that is true. I say that to each of my new Senators. They are successful politicians, and there is nothing wrong with the word ``politician.'' I am proud I am a politician. I am proud I serve in government, and we should each be proud.

So I am pleased now, and I was pleased yesterday, to be surrounded by so many dedicated public servants, new Members and old alike, who have devoted their lives to making their individual States and our shared Nation a better place in which to grow up, grow a family, and grow old.

Each new Democratic Member is accomplished, I repeat, in his or her own right. Our new caucus members include a couple of former Governors, a Harvard law professor, an engineer, just to name a few. While they have each accomplished so much already, their greatest achievements are still ahead of them. I know they will look back with satisfaction on the work we do together in the Senate.

Our caucus, this Congress, and our country face immense challenges. As we approach these tests and trials, this diverse group of new Democratic Senators will be united by a single objective: to fight for fairness and balance on behalf of the middle class.

Senate Rules Reform

We are going to continue to work on Senate rules reforms. I will continue to work with the Republican leader on a package of reforms I hope we can agree on. As I have said before, if we don't agree, then we are going to do something as a Democratic caucus alone. I remain cautiously optimistic we will be able to move forward on a bipartisan basis. I hope we can do that. I will have more to say about that if, in fact, we can do that.

We are not going to get everything we want, and the Republicans aren't going to get everything they want. But maybe we can find a sweet spot in the middle and come up with something that will make the Senate more efficient. However, Democrats reserve the right of all Senators to propose changes to the Senate rules. We will explicitly not acquiesce in the carrying over of all the rules from last Congress. There must be some agreement reached or we will have to use every means to make the Congress--especially the Senate--more efficient.

Would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Madam President, I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that from Wednesday, January 23, through Monday, January 28, the majority leader be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

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

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

Mr. President, I am told there are four bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading en bloc, and I object to my own request on all four of these measures.