Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motions with respect to the following nominations be withdrawn: Calendar Nos. 840, Lopez; 922, Jadotte; 901, Stivers; 735, Cruden; and 553, Smith; further, that all postcloture time on the Honorable nomination be considered expired and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the Honorable nomination; that upon disposition of the Honorable nomination, the Senate proceed to confirmation votes on the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 840, Lopez; 922, Jadotte; 901, Stivers; 735, Cruden; 553, Smith; further, that if any 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 to the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session and proceed to the consideration of the House message to accompany S. 2244, which is the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act; that the majority leader be recognized for the purpose of offering a motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 2244; that there be up to 10 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to a vote on the motion to concur; that there be no motions to concur with an amendment or motions to refer in order prior to a vote on the motion to concur; finally, the vote on adoption of the motion to concur be subject to a 60- affirmative-vote threshold.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, my friend from Oklahoma seeks to amend the House-passed TRIA bill with an unrelated piece of legislation in the sense that he knows--we all know--would change the bill, it is gone, and that would be a modification to the bill. If the Senate were to amend TRIA, we would have to send it back to the House of Representatives. They are gone. They are not going to change anything in the bill. We have been told that many times. Amending the TRIA bill would be just another way to kill the TRIA bill.

I say with respect to my friend from Oklahoma, whom I have worked with for 10 years, from the very beginning we have tried to work out something with him on this bill. We have been unable to do that. It is unfortunate, but his objection is going to kill TRIA. I am very sorry about that, but that is a fact. So I cannot accept his modification.

With this nomination, this will be the last vote of this Congress.

I ask unanimous consent that the remaining cloture motions with respect to judicial nominations be withdrawn and the Senate proceed to vote on the nominations in the order upon which cloture was filed and all time on the Bough nomination be yielded back.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

Mr. President, for those watching the opening of the Senate, I am sure some are wondering why the Chaplain was dressed in a Navy dress uniform. He is an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He has spent many years traveling the world, and we are so fortunate to have this good man here.

It is always difficult to know what to call him--doctor, chaplain, mister, admiral, and on and on. But what I call him is just a fine man, a real gentleman. So for those who are watching, he has his uniform on because he is an admiral in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. President, following my remarks, the Senate will proceed to executive session to debate the Murthy, Santos, Rose, Saldana, and Blinken nominations.

Blinken Nomination

I am not going to speak extensively on any of these. I will just say now, Tony Blinken I have known for many years. He was integral to the success of Joe Biden, as U.S. Senator, and has been with him as Vice President. Now he is going to be the second in command at the State Department.

When we have our briefings in the classified room, there is no one who is more articulate and can answer the questions any better than Tony Blinken. I have great admiration for him. I think we as a country are so fortunate he is going to be in the position he is in.

At 5:30 today there will be four rollcall votes. Those votes will be as follows: cloture on Murthy to be Surgeon General of the United States, confirmation of the Murthy nomination, cloture on the Santos nomination to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and cloture on Executive Calendar No. 635, Frank Rose to be an Assistant Secretary of State.

This man has been waiting 513 days, an extremely important job: verification of plants, nuclear. I don't think the Republicans dislike him. They don't like the job he is going to have. They have left it basically empty for all this time.

So we have some important stuff to do. We can complete everything we wanted to today--today. Everything that is scheduled now for the week, we can finish today. I hope everyone understands we can move forward, but we are going to have to be here until we finish our work, whether that is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. So everyone should understand they can't be leaving.

I know we all have things to do. I haven't been home in such a long time and I want to go home. I bought a new home there. As everyone knows, I sold my place in Searchlight and bought a home in the Greater Las Vegas area. I would like to be able to see the home. I have not slept in it. We bought it in May and I have not been there. My wife is there waiting, getting ready for the move in, which is now taking place. So we have a lot of work to do. We have to work together to get it done as quickly as possible.

Mr. President, Alaska is a State unlike any other State in the country. Often referred to as the ``last frontier,'' Alaska's landscape is as breathtakingly beautiful as it is immense. Its residents are some of the most kind and accepting people one would ever meet. Any person who represents the State of Alaska must possess a true love for the exceptional beauty of this region and the vastness of it. It is so far away from everything. The capital Juneau, you can only get there in an airplane. That is the only way you can get to the capital of the State of Alaska. So I am going to spend a little bit of time talking about Senator Mark Begich and his faithful service to the people of Alaska.

There is no surprise that he is dedicated to Alaska and the people of Alaska. His father, Congressman Nick Begich, was dedicated to Alaska, as has been his mom Peggy. They moved to the then-Territory of Alaska in 1957 to teach school. Congressman Begich became involved in Alaskan politics and successfully ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Tragedy struck. The whip of the House, Hale Boggs, and he were in Alaska campaigning and they were flying to an event. The plane disappeared. They searched, they searched, they searched. After 2 months, Congressman Boggs, Congressman Begich, and the pilot were declared dead. Their plane and bodies to this day have not been found. They are hidden someplace in the vastness of Alaska, in one of the mountains or the many bodies of water. We don't know.

In spite of this heartbreaking loss, the Begich family has pushed on. His mother continued to raise six children alone while managing real estate properties and being active in local politics.

By the age of 17, Mark had already acquired his mother's business acumen, starting his first business, a jewelry venture, and also owning and managing real estate. One reason Senator Begich has been a good Senator is because of his innate business acumen.

At age 26, he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly, which is the city council, a position he held for 10 years. Then in 2003 he was elected mayor of Anchorage. He served two terms before running for the Senate.

Now, 2008 was a dark time for Alaskan politics, but Mark's Senate victory brought a fresh face and new hope to the State. From the time he stepped foot on the Senate floor, he has not let the people of Alaska down. He has fought to expand economic opportunity, to defend the rights of Alaska Natives, and to fortify rural Alaska. Senator Begich's efforts to reform the Alaskan veterans health care system was exemplary, and it is a blueprint for a bipartisan solution that the Senate reached this year to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Senator Begich has made tremendous contributions to the Senate over the past 6 years. I know he will continue to fight for what is best for Alaska as he transitions into the next stage of his life. I hope public service is somewhere in Mark's future. Every State needs a man of his quality. He will always have his wife Deborah and his son Jacob by his side.

I can remember the first time I saw Jacob was right behind us by the Ohio clock. President Obama walked by and that little boy yelled ``Obama!'' So his little boy loves politics.

It has truly been an honor to serve with Senator Begich. I am glad he has been part of our leadership team as head of the steering committee. He has done a remarkable, good job. I thank him again for his service to the Senate and certainly to our country.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 627, which is H.R. 5771.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, North Carolina's official motto is a Latin phrase which means, simply translated, ``To be, rather than to seem.'' ``To be, rather than to seem'' means don't talk about being a hard worker--be a hard worker. Don't just pretend to be honest--be honest. If you talk about being sincere, be genuine about it. Senator Kay Hagan, a native of Shelby, NC, embodies her State's motto. She is as genuine and honest as anyone could be. It is no wonder that in 2008, when the country was seeking change, the people of North Carolina elected Kay Hagan to the Senate. From the moment she arrived, she got to work. The very first piece of legislation she cosponsored was the Lilly Ledbetter Act. Having worked as a corporate executive, Kay is aware of the difficulties working women face. This legislation was personal to Kay, and she saw it through until completion. The daughter of a veteran, Kay spent her time in the Senate creating sound policies to protect and benefit members of the U.S. armed services and their families. She has done this by virtue of her position, not only as a Senator but on that important Armed Services Committee.

As a former executive of North Carolina National Bank, Kay knows all of the challenges facing businesses in her State and how women have a little different view of how difficult it is to work their way through the corporate world. She has fought tirelessly to create a better climate for small businesses to create jobs and grow. On any given issue, at any given time, Kay Hagan has advocated her position and has done it well. She refused to give up until meaningful solutions were discovered.

While I am sure Senator Hagan will take some well-deserved time off to think about her future, I am convinced that her service on behalf of the people of North Carolina and the American people is not going to end.

Senator Hagan has a lovely family. We all like Chip very much. He is a Navy Vietnam veteran. She has three children--Tilden, Jeanette, and Carrie. I wish her family the very best as they transition into a new chapter of their lives.

On a personal basis, no one has impressed me more as being a hard worker. We are so disappointed that she is now going to have to find different public service. I have no inside information, but she could be back in this body. I have no doubt the people of North Carolina are going to miss her dearly.

I applaud Kay Hagan for serving the American people with conviction, and I look forward to the great things she will accomplish for North Carolina and our country in the future.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, a noted author and analyst of human behavior, Stephen Covey, said, ``Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.''

For the last 18 years, Senate Democrats were stronger because of Senator Mary Landrieu. Her ability to shun political labels--instead of just going the route with Democrats and Republicans and Independents, she went her route. She made the United States a better place. She made the Senate a better place.

She had good training for being a consensus builder and somebody who liked compromise. I had the good fortune to serve in the Senate with other Louisiana Senators. I served with Bennett Johnston for many years on the Appropriations Committee. He was chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee on Appropriations. He was a good legislator. Not only did he help Louisiana a lot, he helped the country. And then there was John Breaux. He and I came to the Senate together. He was the dealmaker. He could put a deal together when no one thought one could be put together. So Mary Landrieu has had good Louisiana genes with those two men, and that is one of the reasons she has been as effective as she has been.

As I indicated, Mary came to the Senate with no partisan agenda. She was not interested in representing just liberals or just conservatives. She worked to represent all of Louisiana, which meant that sometimes she and I were not on the same side of an issue, and other times we were on the same side of an issue, but one thing was always certain: She was always on Louisiana's side.

The Landrieu family's political legacy runs long and deep in the State of Louisiana. She is the oldest of nine children. She is the daughter of Moon Landrieu, and her brother Mitch Landrieu is the mayor of New Orleans. Moon was a former mayor of New Orleans from 1970 to 1978, and was Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

A number of years ago, I toured New Orleans because she asked me to, as a member of the Appropriations Committee. I said, OK, I will go, but I have to see those pumps--p-u-m-p-s. I watched this show on national public broadcasting, and they talked about these old pumps that had been there since 1900 that still worked every day pumping the water.

New Orleans is below sea level and those pumps have to work 24 hours a day. I went to see those old, old pumps. They were so clean. That place was spotlessly clean using those very old pumps.

I toured Lake Pontchartrain. I learned so much about it. Most all of the highways in New Orleans were built using the seashells from that lake. Thousands and thousands of tons of shells have come out of that lake. They recently stopped doing that, after so many years, because they thought it would be damaging to the environment. But over the last 50, 60, 100 years, thousands and thousands of tons of shells came out of that lake. We all heard about Lake Pontchartrain during that huge storm that hit.

Also, as part of the tour of New Orleans, you had to go to her home, that little home where nine children were raised. It is really a beautiful little home--but nine children, wow. Her mom and dad were there. That was the first time I had been able to meet the famous Moon Landrieu.

When we came there, unannounced, he was making peanut brittle, and I got some peanut brittle. On occasion, that good man has sent me some of his homemade peanut brittle. So I think the world of Mary and her family.

She was very quick to follow in her father's footsteps. At the age of 23, she was elected to the State legislature, making her the youngest woman to have ever been elected to that body.

After 8 years in the legislature, she became the State treasurer for 8 years. In 1996, she was elected to the Senate, becoming the first woman in Louisiana ever elected to a full Senate term.

Since coming to the Senate, Mary has chaired the Senate committee on small business, and she was really good there. She is now the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the same full committee her predecessor Bennett Johnson chaired.

On the committee on small business, she reduced heavy Federal regulations and created tax relief for small businesses. As chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Mary Landrieu fought for Louisiana's industry and jobs. Even before she became chair of that committee, she did something that was impossible. People had been trying to do something like this in Louisiana for 50, 60 years, 70 years, 80 years, but she did it--she was able to get New Orleans and the whole State of Louisiana and the gulf coast some financial benefit from the offshore drilling. She did that. That is a legacy she will always have.

She always had Louisiana's interests at heart, and the people of Louisiana have been all the better because of it. For example, in the aftermath of Katrina, she stood up to the Bush administration and demanded more disaster relief for the people in Louisiana. The New York Times called her ``the national spokeswoman for victims of the hurricane.''

As her time in the Senate comes to an end, all Louisianans will miss having Mary in their corner. I wish Mary Landrieu and her husband Frank and their children Connor--who was recently married--and Mary Shannon the very best.

I remember when Mary brought that little baby Mary Shannon to the Senate. She was a tiny little baby. Now this beautiful child has grown to be an expert horsewoman. She is one of those people who rides horses all the time. She has entered her horses in different contests and has done very well.

I have known Connor since he was a little boy. He is married, and they have a little baby named Maddox, and Mary is so proud of her grandchild. Her husband Frank is a wonderful human being. I think so very much of him. I hope we will continue seeing them. Very often Mary will bring her family to my office. She takes them out on the balcony that overlooks the Mall.

Mary has touched my heart for a number of things, but the one thing she has done, which has been unsurpassed, is her caring for children who have no parents--adoptions. She led the Senate in adoptions. Her two children were adopted. Connor and Mary Shannon were adopted. She is so involved in that program, and I know she will continue to be involved.

Here on the Senate floor we will all miss Mary, her voice of reason and moderation. I consider her to be a good friend, and I appreciate all she has done for me, the people of Louisiana, and our country.

Madam President, there is only one combat veteran of the Iraq war in the Senate, and that is GEN John Walsh--Senator John Walsh.

In 2004 General Walsh led the deployment of several hundred National Guard men from Montana to Iraq. He did the same thing a year later. It was a very difficult time for Americans in Iraq. General Walsh's men were in some of the heaviest battles. Many of them were wounded, and a number of them gave the ultimate sacrifice.

He led the largest deployment of Montana soldiers and airmen since World War II. For his service, John was awarded the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit Award, and the Combat Infantry Badge. John came to the Senate a hero, and he will leave the Senate a hero.

He treated his time in the Senate like his time in the Army--he volunteered for the most difficult assignments here in the Senate. For example, Saturday night it was late--we thought we may have to be in here all night--and he volunteered to be here all night, not having to be relieved. He agreed to be here all night. He said: That is what I am here for.

He served the people of Montana admirably in the Senate. I thank him for his service over the past year.

I thank his family--his wife Janet, his sons Michael and Taylor, and granddaughter Kennedy--for their sacrifice in supporting his work here in Washington, DC.

I wish him the very best. He was the lieutenant governor of Montana, a job I held in the past, and we talked about that.

I don't know what the next chapter in his life will be, but knowing the courage and integrity of John Walsh, it will be an important chapter.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

We have three more votes tonight. I ask unanimous consent that they be 10 minutes in duration.

Mr. President, the two votes scheduled in the morning will be done by voice. The first vote is going to be at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act

Mr. President, shortly, the senior Senator from Connecticut, Senator Blumenthal, will ask consent that the Senate take up and pass the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act.

The reason Clay Hunt was used as a model for this situation we have is because of his outstanding record. And ``60 Minutes'' has done specials about him. He had two tours of duty. He was a marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received the Purple Heart. He was a wonderful human being. He even helped out in Haiti after they had an earthquake. But he could not overcome what happened to him in his combat mission.

This issue is so important for our veterans. Since 7 a.m. this morning until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning, 22 veterans will have killed themselves. They commit suicide every day. They don't take weekends off. It happens 7 days a week. We need to stop this devastation--and that is what it is.

Suicide is very personal to me. As some of you know, my good dad killed himself. The heartbreak that is caused--the total loss and inability to understand--from a needless and preventable death of a loved one is hard to comprehend.

The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act is bipartisan legislation. The bill passed the House last Tuesday.

I thank Senators McCain and Walsh for their work on this veterans suicide issue. They have both introduced their own legislation to address this important issue--a Vietnam veteran and an Iraq veteran.

I commend Senator Blumenthal for all of his efforts to get this important bill passed. We should not delay a minute more in passing this legislation. The bill is supported by an overwhelming majority of the Senate. We could pass it just like that if we could have cooperation. It is my understanding that there is only one Senator standing in the way.

Let's do what is right for our veterans one more time before we close the 113th Congress. Twenty-two veterans are dying by their own hand every day.