Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following bills en bloc: Calendar No. 344, H.R. 4014; and H.R. 4367, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read three times and passed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and any related statements to these matters be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 534, H.R. 2467.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3564 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Lieberman substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read three times and passed, the Lieberman title amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3319 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 6328 which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Gillibrand amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the report to accompany Calendar No. 514, (S. 76), be star-printed with changes at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, December 12, 2012; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 2 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the first hour equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half; and that the previous order with respect to the remarks of retiring Senators be amended to occur from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m; and that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 3637, the TAG extension legislation.

During today's session, cloture was filed on S. 3637. As a result, the filing deadline for all first-degree amendments to the bill is 1 p.m. Wednesday. Under the rule, that cloture vote will be Thursday morning.

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, first of all, it is very unusual to have one of the most senior Members of the Senate presiding and especially at this time of the day. I would say to my friend, this is how the Senator has conducted himself all the time he has been in the Senate. We had a little emergency here today. The Senator who was expected to be here was unable to make it due to the fog we have around the eastern part of the United States, and so the Senator from Vermont agreed to preside.

I say to everyone, the people of Vermont are so fortunate to have the longest serving Senator from Vermont, a man of such quality. Those of us who work with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy of Vermont, consider it an honor to be able to talk to him--speaking for myself, but I am sure we all feel this way--and to learn from him. I am the majority leader in the Senate, but I talk to my friend from Vermont often to get ideas as to how we handle the difficult issues of the day.

For me, as a person, I will always remember, as long as I am on this Earth, the kindness Senator Leahy and his lovely wife Marcelle extended to my wife. As most of my colleagues know, she was in a violent car accident. Her neck was broken in a couple places and her back was broken and so she had a lot of surgery. When that was over, she learned she had breast cancer, and so she has been fighting that. Marcelle, who is a nurse, has been so thoughtful and kind to my wife, calling her often to help her work through the sickness that comes with breast cancer. So this is an opportunity for me to say something about my friend from Vermont.

I can still remember the first day we met, the first night we met in Florida. He was running for reelection and I was running for the Senate. I want the Record spread with the fact that I have so much confidence and appreciation for this good man who, on a minute's notice, came over to make the Senate work again. I thank our Acting President pro tempore very much.

Mr. President, there will be a period of morning business until 5 p.m. today. At 5 p.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3637.

What has happened--and the reason the Senator from Vermont is in the Chair--is airports in parts of the country are closed because of the fog, especially in Washington, DC. As a result, even people coming from the West weren't able to leave. The Sun might have been shining brightly there, but airplanes scheduled to come here couldn't be given a time to land. So we will have people who will not be here for our scheduled vote this evening, so we will reschedule that vote for tomorrow.

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 3637 be postponed to occur at 2:15 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, December 11; further, that if cloture is invoked on the motion to proceed, the motion to proceed be agreed to and the majority leader be recognized.

Mr. President, I ask for a second reading of S. 3664.

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

Mr. President, last week the country received more good economic news. The private sector created 150,000 jobs--these are new jobs--and once again the unemployment rate fell. Unemployment is now at its lowest rate since December 2008. While too many families across the Nation are still struggling, especially in Nevada, there is no doubt our economy is headed in the right direction.

America is poised for a rebound this year if a few good things happen. The last thing we can afford is yet another crisis manufactured by Republicans in Congress just as the economy finally gains some momentum. If Republicans force a $2,200 tax increase on 98 percent of American families and 97 percent of small businesses to protect the richest of the rich, the economy will suffer greatly.

If Republicans again threaten default on the full faith and credit of the United States, the economy will suffer. We have seen the terrible impact of these contrived emergencies before. When Republicans threatened to shut down the government and force a default on the Nation's debt, the economy stumbled and middle-class families were in a state of peril. Who paid the price? Middle-class families.

Republicans face a real difficult choice in Congress. Will they cooperate with Democrats and put the country on a path to provide certainty for families and investors? As my friend the senior Senator from Missouri said, the Speaker has a chance to do some good things, but he also has a problem because he has to decide whether he is going to work to save his speakership or the country.

Will they cooperate with Democrats or will they force us to lurch from one crisis to the next in 2013 as they did in 2011 and 2012? We need long-term solutions, not temporary fixes to problems that dragged down the economic recovery over the past 2 years.

The House should take up the Senate-passed middle-class tax cut which provides lasting security for families and businesses making less than $250,000 a year. The number of Republicans calling on the Speaker to allow a vote to give middle-class families confidence their taxes will not go up has grown. Speaker Boehner could end this suspense with just one vote.

Over the weekend, the junior Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Corker, joined a number of Senate Republicans and more than one dozen House Republicans in calling for that vote. Senator Corker, admitting Republicans have little leverage in this faceoff, said: ``I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take.''

Democrats agree sending the Senate-passed tax cut to President Obama's desk is the quickest and most sensible way out of this crisis. But avoiding the fiscal cliff is no excuse for Republicans to replace this artificial crisis with another one.

Congress should also pass Senator McConnell's proposal to end periodic standoffs over the debt ceiling. His plan would give President Obama the authority to avoid default on the Nation's bills without a protracted fight. Senate Democrats are ready to vote on the minority leader's sensible suggestion at any time, but first Senator McConnell needs to stop filibustering his own legislation.

Right now, Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell are the only ones standing between Congress and compromise. It is time for them to prove to American families they are more interested in protecting the middle class than pleasing the tea party.