Floor Statements

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to H.R. 6118.

Mr. President, I now ask that 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 related to this matter be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent to proceed to Calendar No. 507,

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a voice vote on passage of this bill.

The bill (H.R. 6131) was read the third time.

I now ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 596.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9 a.m. on Thursday, November 15, 2012; that following the prayer and the 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 the majority leader be recognized, and that the time following leader remarks be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; that at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow morning, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 3525, the Sportsmen's Act of 2012; further, that the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to S.

3525 be 9:10 a.m. on Thursday, tomorrow.

Mr. President, the first vote tomorrow will be at 9:15 a.m. on the Sportsmen's Act.

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, after our election, I welcome everyone back. For some it was a nice break. For others it was a lot of hard work. We welcome everyone back and look forward to a very productive next 6 weeks.

Schedule

Mr. President, the Senate is considering the motion to proceed to S. 3525, the Sportsmen's Act, postcloture. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a rollcall vote on the motion to proceed to the legislation.

Facing Great Challenges

Mr. President, for the last year, the country has been focused on the difference between Republicans and Democrats. And for the last 2 years, this Congress has not accomplished nearly enough. But as we close the 112th Congress, it is time to focus on our shared goals and our common purpose.

We all agree, I hope, that today--now--great challenges face our country and this Congress. Those challenges are large--too large to be solved by Democrats alone. They are too large to be undertaken by Republicans alone. And they are too grave for us to allow political differences to stand in the way of success.

On the day Gerald Ford became President of the United States, at a time of great national turmoil, he said:

There is no way we can go forward except together and no

way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent

needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go

forward now together.

So said Gerald Ford.

Mr. President, that is as true today as it was back then. Today the American people have many urgent needs. They need more jobs. They need economic certainty. They need opportunity and fairness.

It is within our power as a Congress to quickly address these urgent needs.

It is within our power to forge an agreement that will give economic certainty now to middle-class families who can least afford a tax hike.

It is within our power to forge an agreement that will ask the richest of the rich--the most fortunate among us--to pay a little extra to reduce the deficit and secure our economic future.

It is within our power to forge an agreement that will protect important tax deductions for families and businesses still struggling.

It is within our power to forge an agreement that will take a balanced approach to reduce spending.

In fact, we could avert the fiscal cliff for 98 percent of American families and 97 percent of small businesses today. The House must only consider the Senate-passed bill freezing tax rates for those making less than $250,000 a year. This Congress is but one vote away from avoiding the fiscal cliff for middle-class families and small businesses.

As influential conservative Bill Kristol said this week:

Let's have a serious debate. . . . It won't kill the

country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. It

really won't.

So said Bill Kristol.

So solutions are in our grasp. We only have to make the choice to pull together instead of pulling apart.

The hands of the Democratic Caucus are reaching toward our Republican friends, our Republican colleagues. I urge the Republicans to join us to do the difficult but necessary work that is ahead.

If there is a message to take away from this year's election, it is this: Americans are tired of the politics of

division. They are tired of obstruction and distraction. The American people--Democrats and Republicans--want cooperation and conciliation.

I urge any of my Republican colleagues who are considering the same strategy of obstruction to turn away from the divisions of the past and join in cooperation, compromise, and consensus.

Gridlock is not the solution. It is the problem.

How this Congress deals with the challenges ahead will be the test of our character, both as individuals and as a body politic--the U.S. Senate.

As the British playwright John Osborne said:

They spend their time mostly looking forward to the past.

We cannot look back. We must show the American people we are equal to the challenges we now face. The challenges are here. We know the challenges. We see the challenges. We can feel the challenges.

There are many reasons why--as we wind down this 112th Congress and embark upon the 113th--we must succeed.

But the best illustration of our duty--our obligation--comes from the words of Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye. Senator Inouye's son asked his dad why--after people were designated as enemy aliens, after being put in internment camps--why did he and the members of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team fight heroically the way they did.

Asked why he fought, Senator Inouye told his son--many years after the battle had ended and Lieutenant Inouye's wounds had healed--that he fought ``for the children.'' Senator Inouye said that he fought for the children. So I say to my colleagues--Democrats and Republicans--we must legislate, legislate for our children. They deserve it. We owe them the future.

It is time for Democrats and Republicans to go forward now together-- ``go forward now together,'' as Gerald Ford said--and show the American people that we are equal to the challenges we face. The challenges are there. We must face them and face them together.

Recognition Of The Minority Leader

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Tester, I have a substitute amendment which is at the desk.

Mr. President, it is a shame. We have a bill that is bipartisan. Cloture has already been invoked on it. We are on the bill. Why in the world can't we just finish this bill, have a couple amendments and go on?

I am going to go ahead. I am going to fill the tree. I am sure I will get some outrageous response back, as if we are still in the Presidential election, saying we want this many amendments. We are not going to have that many amendments. This is a bipartisan bill. People are going to have an opportunity to vote for or against the bill. If they want to kill the bill, they can. It is one of the most popular bills we did all last Congress. We didn't do many, but this is one that was popular.

I cannot imagine why we are trying to refight an election that took place 1 week ago. The clerk is going to report the substitute amendment.

Amendment No. 2875

(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.)

I have a perfecting amendment at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I now have a first-degree amendment at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

I have an amendment at the desk to the language that is proposed to be stricken.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

I have a motion to commit the bill with instructions.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

I have an amendment to the instructions that is also at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment.

I have a cloture motion on the bill that is already at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent mandatory quorum in accordance with rule XXII be waived.

I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 419.

Mr. President, we are going to complete work on this bill, that is the one we had prior to the clerk announcing the Defense authorization bill. We are going to complete the work on the sportsmen's bill before we go home for Thanksgiving. People are going to have an opportunity to vote for that bill, either for it or against it. As I indicated, it is a widely popular bill. If Republicans want to drag it down and kill it as they have a lot of other things, they will have that opportunity to do that. We have more than 20 bills that are important to sportsmen around the country.

As I said a few minutes ago, I cannot imagine why we are still fighting the battles of the last election. We are going to have a vote on cyber security. I spoke to the chairman of the committee a short time ago, Senator Lieberman. He is going to come over tomorrow and give a speech about the importance of this legislation. He and Senator Collins have worked so hard to come up with a bill. They have compromised and compromised and compromised until the point where people are going to have an opportunity to talk on this also. Senator Lieberman is going to talk about how important this bill is to protect our country.

I left the White House an hour or two ago. They believe, the President of the United States believes the cyber security bill is one of the most important issues facing this Congress now--not next Congress, now. I have said on a number of occasions that the Pentagon and the intelligence community believe this legislation is vitally important to the safety and security of our country. So before Thanksgiving we are going to finish the sportsmen's bill. The Republicans can either kill the cyber security bill--they have been following the lead of the Chamber of Commerce, which is an arm for the Republican Party anymore. It is just a front for the Republican Party. They spent huge amounts of money that they get from unknown sources to defeat Democrats. They wasted their money this time. But that is the way it is.

They are opposing this bill for not any logical reason, and then Senators Levin and McCain have asked to go to Defense authorization. I think, if this bill is as important as they say it is--and they say it is important--I know how Senator Levin and Senator McCain feel about it--it looks like they would clear up some of this stuff that is standing in the way of getting that bill done.

I think it is a bridge too far to complete the Defense authorization bill before we leave, but we need to get on that bill. We are not going to stall around on this and spend weeks on the Defense authorization bill. I have told the two managers of that bill, Senator McCain and Senator Levin, that is the case, and that is what we are going to do before Thanksgiving.

I would like to get out of here so we can go home to our States, our families, for Thanksgiving early, but if we have to stay here until the day before Thanksgiving, we are going to do it.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise to briefly honor a distinguished former Republican environmental and conservation leader. As my colleagues know, Russell Train passed away on September 17.

Mr. Train was the first head of the Council on Environmental Quality under President Nixon and the second EPA Administrator, serving under both Presidents Nixon and Ford. He was the chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund and helped found the organization in the 1960s. He founded the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation in 1961 and was president of the Conservation Foundation from 1965 to 1969.

He was a shining example of the age when the political parties cooperated on environmental protection, and Republicans even sometimes led the way forward. He implemented and defended the Clean Air Act and helped protect the health and welfare of millions of Americans. In recent years, he specifically criticized the modern Republican party's rejection of health and science-based decisionmaking, especially as related to EPA's authority to address climate change and carbon pollution. In a 2010 interview, he stated that he had become a registered Independent.

I hope that the Republican Party will soon return to the example of statesmanship and good governance set by Russell Train. Our Nation has enormous environmental challenges, like

climate change, that must be addressed in a bipartisan fashion.

If today's Republican Party leadership continues to keep its members' heads stuck in the sand on the matter of the manmade carbon pollution that is contributing to record-setting drought, heat waves, floods, and other extreme weather in the United States and globally, they will bear the greatest responsibility for the economic, ecosystem, and public health damages that will only accelerate and grow over time.

They would be wise instead to adopt Mr. Train's worthy counsel from his memoir: ``Today, as a nation, we urgently need to develop the political will to overcome our avoidance of difficult environmental decisions. The problems will only get worse, and we have a long way to go.''

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Leahy, I ask unanimous consent that Michelle Lacko, a fellow on the Senate Judiciary Committee, be granted privileges of the floor.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 504.

Mr. President, the next hour will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans the final half.

As I think we should know, and I am happy to restate it, the next rollcall vote will occur about 1 a.m. this morning, an hour after we come in. I am, of course, hopeful we can work something out in order to complete our work. We can either do it all tonight, tomorrow, or, if that doesn't work out, as the Presiding Officer knows, under the rules of the Senate we will have that vote at 1 a.m., and then we would have another vote on the CR. Final passage of that would be around 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning on Sunday. Then we would immediately follow to the motion to proceed on the sportsmen's package.

We continue to have discussions. We are working to see if we can schedule these votes at a more convenient time for Senators. Everyone should know we would finish by Sunday morning. We are not going to go into next week.

Measure Placed on the Calendar--S. 3607

Mr. President, S. 3607 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings with regard to this bill.

Mr. President, over the past week I have listened to my Republican colleagues come to the floor and lament how little the Senate has accomplished during the 112th Congress. I, above all, share that concern. In fact, it is a wonder we have gotten anything done at all, considering the lack of cooperation Democrats have gotten from Republican colleagues.

I have said before, and it bears repeating: In my time as the majority leader, I have faced 382 Republican filibusters. That is 381 more filibusters than Lyndon Johnson faced during his 6 years as majority leader.

Time and time again my Republican colleagues have stalled or blocked perfectly good pieces of legislation to score points with the tea party, and they have done nothing but hurt the middle class in this process. Even the most noncontroversial, consensus matters--items that would have passed by unanimous consent in the past--have been obstructed or stalled.

Take, for example, the bipartisan sportsmen's bill. The junior Senator from Montana, Mr. Tester, has assembled a broad package to support the needs of sportsmen across the country. Just so everyone understands I am not making this up, there are more than 50 groups--50 organizations in this country--who support this legislation. It is

a wide range of organizations, including the National Rifle Association, Ducks Unlimited, American Sports Fishing Association which, by the way, has more than 2 million members, Boone and Crockett Club, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited. If we put labels on just these 10 organizations I have mentioned, it goes from the more conservative, many would say, National Rifle Association, to the more progressive Trout Unlimited.

I ask unanimous consent that a list of these organizations I have referred to, as well as others, be made a part of the Record.

Mr. President, this measure combines about 20 bills important to the sportsmen's community--bills that promote hunting, fishing, and recreation. They would foster habitat conservation through voluntary programs and, as I have indicated, more than 50 national sportsmen and conservation groups support this bill unequivocally.

This legislation should be passed like that. As I indicated yesterday, I have read Capitol Hill newspapers where Republican Senators said: What a great piece of legislation; I will vote for it.

We should pass this in a matter of seconds. We shouldn't be spending all this time on it. It is one of those things where there shouldn't be a fight and there has been a fight.

So I hope, as we try to get back to working on campaigns and doing the work things we have to do at home, that we can move along and get this done.

In the process, though, we are holding up a lot of other things. I am hopeful we can get something done on the Iran containment resolution, which is something Lindsey Graham, Senator Lieberman, Senator Menendez, and many others, have pushed very hard to get done. I hope we can confirm our Ambassadors to Iraq and Pakistan, and the continuing resolution to fund the government for 6 months.

Republicans say this Congress has been unproductive, but if Republicans want to know why it has been unproductive, they should take a look in the mirror. Benjamin Franklin once said: ``Well done is better than well said.'' Well done is better than well said.

So it is time Republicans stop talking about how much they want to get things done and start working with us to actually get things done.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 11:30 p.m. this evening, there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided between the majority leader and Senator Paul or their designees; that following the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the following items in the order listed: passage of S. 3576, passage of S.J. Res. 41, cloture on H.J. Res. 117; that if cloture is invoked on H.J. Res. 117, the pending amendments be withdrawn and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of H.J. Res. 117; that immediately following that vote, the Senate proceed to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 3525; that if cloture is not invoked on H.J. Res. 117, the Senate proceed to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 3525; that the vote on passage of S. 3576 be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold; that if S. 3576 does not achieve 60 affirmative votes, then it be returned to the calendar; that following the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 3525, the majority leader be recognized; finally, that no amendments, motions, or points of order be in order during the consideration of these measures.

That all begins at 11:30. Mr. President, usually we have a 15-minute vote for the first one, but I think, with the time we are doing this, I would like all votes to be 10-minute votes, so I also ask unanimous consent that be the case and that between each vote there be 2 minutes equally divided so the sponsors and those opposing the passage of that legislation can speak on them.

Mr. President, this agreement paves the way for the completion of our remaining business for this work period. It is going to be a very early morning or late night, however you look at it, but it is the right thing to do. I expect that upon the completion of the scheduled votes, the motion to proceed to the sportsmen's bill will be pending, postcloture. I am gratified that we are on track to attempt to move this measure when we get back. After we address that bill, when we return in November, I intend to move to Senator Menendez's housing bill. But I will be in touch with the Republican leader several times before the election, I am sure, anyway.

Mr. President, before we leave here, everyone should understand that what we are going to try to do this evening--I have spoken with the Republican leader--is that when people finish their talking--we hope it can be early this evening--we would go into recess--and hopefully we can do that at 5 or 6 o'clock tonight--until 11:30 tonight. I hope that can be done.

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

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, the House bill is this big. It has three provisions. The bill we are going to vote on has 20, supported by over 50 groups--NRA, Ducks Unlimited, and more than 50 others, a wonderful piece of legislation that is robust, it is conclusive, and it is not partisan. It is a very good piece of legislation. It should be widely accepted. It is a fine piece of legislation supported by conservation groups, sportsmen's groups all over America.

I object.

I yield back all time.