Floor Statements

At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, there will be a rollcall vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S. 3187, the FDA bill.

It has been a long hard week. We have accomplished quite a bit. We have a lot more to do, but it has been one of our better weeks.

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, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.

Madam President, I have a cloture motion at the desk I wish to be reported.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

Madam President, following leader remarks today, the Republican leader will move to proceed to S.J. Res. 37. Following that motion; that is, the one Senator McConnell will make, the time until 11:30 a.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first 15 minutes and the majority controlling the next 15 minutes, and I have designated that Senator Rockefeller will take that 15 minutes. At 11:30 a.m. the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 37. If the motion to proceed is not agreed to, the Senate will then resume S. 3240, the farm bill, and the votes in relation to amendments that remain in order to the bill. So Senators should expect a long day of voting, starting at 11:30 a.m.

Madam President, we did extremely well yesterday. We were able, as indicated last night, to even turn in votes earlier because everyone was here. There are lots of events going on in the Capitol today, but we are going to have to stick to our business at hand and make sure we get through this long list of amendments because we are going to have to finish this and the flood insurance legislation before we leave here this week. That is a large assignment. We have to do that.

Unanimous-Consent Agreement--S. 3240

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that with respect to any amendments voted on during Tuesday's

session, where motions to reconsider were not made, that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, if I could have the attention of the Senate, we did very well yesterday. We have a lot to do. We have to work on this. We have flood insurance. Both are important issues.

This is going to be a 10-minute vote. The order that has been entered is that all the remaining votes are 10 minutes. We had a 15-minute vote on the first one. I know there are a lot of things going on today, but we are going to have to work around them. That is the most important part of our job--voting. So let's work. Let's try to get out of here. We are going to try to finish this bill tonight.

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

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, right now we have 34 amendments left plus final passage. That is 11 hours. I was hoping we could dispose of quite a few of these on voice, but that has not worked out very well. We have had a number of people who offered to have their votes by voice, but those were objected to.

We have to finish this bill. We have to do flood insurance this week. I know people have schedules. We have all kinds of things going on, but we have to show a little bit of understanding about the ordeal we have ahead of us.

I am confident we are not going to stay here until 2 o'clock this morning, but we are going to stay here a while because until we have a way of finishing this bill that is set in stone, we are going to have to proceed forward. This is an important piece of legislation but also flood insurance is an extremely important piece of legislation. If we do not complete that by the end of this month, there will be thousands and thousands of people who cannot close their loans every day--not a month, every day.

With the economy in the state it is in now, we need to close every loan, every home that is purchased, every commercial piece of property that is bought. We have to close those now. We cannot tell the American people we tried to get it done, but we could not because we were-- whatever.

People have indicated they want to get out of here early tonight. There may be somebody who wants to get out of here earlier tonight than I, but I would be happy to debate that subject with them. But we need to show some cooperation. We have two of the finest Senators we could have managing this bill. Let's work together and get this done.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, I have been in contact with Senator McConnell. We are making good progress here. The goal is to get down to 10 votes. Once we get down to 10 votes, we will stop for the night. We should be able to do that in the next hour or hour and half, give or take a few minutes. I think the goal is reachable.

We will come in tomorrow. We have some important votes tomorrow. Don't forget that we have flood insurance. I hope we can move up the vote on cloture on flood insurance tomorrow. If not, we are going to have to vote on it on Friday. We have done that in the past. We should be able to do that. The goal is 10 votes left by the time we leave here this evening.

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

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, we have made a lot of progress on this legislation. We are down to 10 or 11 amendments. We are going to come in tomorrow and finish this bill. We are going to try to get permission--I understand we can--to have a cloture vote tomorrow.

We have to figure out where we are going on flood insurance. It is obvious, with all the problems we are having with flood insurance, we are not going to finish that tomorrow or the next day; but we have to work toward completing that as quickly as we can next week. Remember, the program expires at the end of the month--and the end of the month is coming very quickly. We have two voice votes, but this will be the last recorded vote. We will come in tomorrow and work through these. We will have the staff work with the requests people have for time on the floor and other things that need to be done.

We don't know exactly what time we are coming in tomorrow or what time the votes will start, but as soon as we can. There will be votes all through the lunch hour. Everybody should understand that. We hope to be able to finish by 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Amendment No. 2340

Mr. President, I would like to engage in a colloquy with my good friends and colleagues the Senator from Michigan and Chair of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Stabenow, and the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus from Montana.

The Senate has been working the past few weeks to get an agreement to move forward and complete our work on the Farm Bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee passed a strong bipartisan bill out of the committee under the strong leadership of Senator Stabenow.

The Farm Bill is a reform bill which cuts federal spending by $23 billion. This is a rare example, this Congress, of Senators working across the aisle to pass a bill which helps to expand our markets abroad, keep food on the table for working families, and ensure our conservation dollars are funding projects to protect the land for years to come.

With all of the changes in the farm bill the largest changes have been made to the Commodity Title of the Farm Bill.

Congress has eliminated direct payments for a market-based safety net which will pay producers when they actually experience a loss, known as the Agricultural Risk Coverage program. As direct payments are eliminated in this farm bill, how does the bill protect producers against multi-year price declines?

I thank Senator Baucus. I look forward to working with the Senator to ensure any final measure on the farm bill will address the Senators remaining concerns on multi-year price declines. It is vital to our farmers across the country that their safety net is not actually a rug that can be pulled out from underneath them.

Ms. STABENOW: I thank the majority leader and Senator Baucus for their continued work and advocacy for ensuring the farm bill works for parts of the country and all commodities.

Through the committee process, Senator Baucus has been true a leader to improve the Agricultural Risk Coverage program so it offers an adequate safety net to all farmers.

I think we have made great strides through the Senate Agriculture Committee markup in April but I understand that is the beginning of the process and not the end.

I believe the amendment Senator Baucus filed is thoughtful and would provide the Agricultural Risk Coverage program with an additional layer of protection from several years of steep price declines. I will continue to work with my colleague from Montana to ensure as the process moves forward Senator Baucus has my full support to address this issue in conference and include a market-based solution to multi- year price declines.

The farm bill supports over 16 million jobs nationwide. The farm bill is the truest jobs bill Congress has considered in the 112th Congress. As Senator Baucus said, we need to guarantee that our farmer's safety- networks for every farmer and rancher in America.

vote explanations

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 250,

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, there will be 2 hours equally divided and controlled, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half.

Order Of Procedure

The hour that is under the control of the majority has been given and I ask unanimous consent now that Senator Kerry be recognized for the hour we have allotted to us.

That will be a full hour to Senator Kerry and a full hour to the Republicans.

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

Last night, we reached an agreement to complete action on the farm bill. As a result, there will be several rollcall votes beginning at 2:15 p.m. today.

Everyone who has amendments here should understand, if you know the result of your amendment--it is pretty easy to figure out most of them because Senators Stabenow and Roberts will tell almost everyone how the vote is going to wind up--we should be able to dispose of a lot of these by voice vote. I hope so. Otherwise, people can look to some very long nights the next night or two.

We will also begin debate today on the joint resolution of disapproval regarding the EPA's mercury and air toxics standards. That will also occur during today's session.

The DREAM Act

Mr. President, Republicans in Congress are fond of complaining that this country's immigration system is broken. We have heard it for months and months, going into years. But they are less interested in working with Democrats to fix this problem they say is broken. We have tried. They are totally opposed to our doing anything. We have tried, but we just get a handful of Republican votes.

No one I know disagrees that our immigration system needs repair. It certainly does. But every time we as Democrats offer to work together on comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans find an excuse to fight sensible change.

And every time Democrats propose bipartisan legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for children brought here illegally through no fault of their own, Republicans have found an excuse to oppose our practical reforms.

There is no better illustration of Republicans' hypocrisy than their phony outrage this past weekend.

On Friday, President Obama announced the administration would suspend deportation of young people--upstanding young people--brought here by their parents as children, provided these young people attend college or serve in the military.

More than 800,000 young people who have done well in school and stayed out of trouble will benefit from this policy and become productive members of society. That is what we should all be very happy about.

In this Congress, and the last Congress, Republicans expressed broad support for the principles of President Obama's directive.

Senator Mark Rubio, the junior Senator from Florida, has even talked up a similar idea to the press for months, although he never actually produced a proposal. This was just talk. There was not a single word ever in writing.

Yet Republicans' glowing expressions of support for the President's decision were not forthcoming. Instead, Republicans have cried about the way the directive was issued. They prefer a long-term solution. Well, of course we all do. They do not like the timing; they should have been consulted; and an issue this important should have been left to Congress. Being left to Congress--we have tried to do that for years, and we cannot because they will not let us. They stopped us procedurally.

Their complaints are varied, but they have one thing in common: None of them actually takes issue with the substance of President Obama's directive. And with the polling results today announced in the national press, clearly, it is overwhelmingly supported by Independents, overwhelmingly supported by Democrats, and, frankly, Republicans are not that much opposed to it either. But the only Republicans who are opposed to it by a large margin are the Republicans in Congress.

Leading Republican voices on immigration have yet to actually disagree with the decision. They just do not like the way the President made the decision--I guess because he will get credit for bringing out of the shadows 800,000 trustworthy young men and women who know no other home but the United States. America is their home. It is the only home they have known.

I talked about a girl here yesterday from Nevada, Astrid. She came here to America as a tiny girl. She does not know anyplace else. This is her home. She is an American. She pledges allegiance to her flag.

So I remind my colleagues in both Houses of Congress, the next move is yours. This reprieve for DREAMers should not be seen as a free pass for Congress. We have lots of other issues we have to deal with dealing with immigration. Instead, we should see it as a chance for Democrats and Republicans to work together on a lasting answer to the serious shortfalls of our broken immigration system. And as we work, we will have the benefit of knowing the specter of deportation no longer hangs over the heads of hundreds of thousands of young people.

Now is hardly the time to walk away from the DREAM Act, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for young people brought to the country through no fault of their own. And it is certainly no time to abandon calls for comprehensive immigration reform that is tough, that is fair, and is practical. But that is exactly what Republicans are doing. They are taking their marbles and saying: Well, OK, we will quit and go home. Quite frankly, a number of them have not been here anyway to go home. They have not helped us anyway.

Since last Friday, leading Republican voices on immigration reform have all but ceded the debate until after the election. Republicans who once favored a permanent solution for America's broken immigration system are now abandoning efforts to find common ground.

And the same Republicans who complained they were not involved enough in the President's decision are now giving up any involvement in the broader immigration conversation. It makes you wonder whether they were committed to passing the DREAM Act or tackling immigration reform at all, because Senate Republicans have twice had their chance to vote for the DREAM Act. Both times they filibustered the measure to a legislative death. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that my Republican colleagues are more interested in complaining about a system that is broken than in working with Democrats to fix it.

Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Reservation Of Leader Time

Mr. President, for the benefit of all Senators--if I could have the attention of the Senate--we have before us why we are here. This was very difficult, to get to the point we are now, where we have a very important bill. We do these every 5 years. Senators Stabenow and Roberts have worked very hard to get us to this point. I congratulate them both, but we have a long way to go.

First of all, everyone understand all the next votes will be 10- minute votes. That means at the end of 15 minutes we are going to cut off the vote. It doesn't matter if a Democrat is missing or Republican is missing; it does not matter. If it is a close vote, we always are careful with that, we understand, but let's understand when the time is up, we are going to turn in the vote.

Second, I have instructed all of the presiders, we are going to have 1-minute speeches--1 minute for Democrats, 1 minute for Republicans. When the time is up, the time is going to end so everyone will be treated the same. We have 73 amendments we have to work through. We have a lot to do the rest of this week, but this is important. No. 1, we are going to keep the vote. I have an important meeting at 4 o'clock. I have instructed my staff, if I am not here I will not be counted. That is what we have to do. If you have important meetings, you might have to miss a vote or two.

Second, I repeat, we will have 2 minutes equally divided before each vote, and it will be 2 minutes.

Amendment No. 2429

Mr. President, we have done very well today. We have 2\1/2\ pages, and we almost have a page of our amendments finished. We are going to have 2 hours of debate of the time set forth for the resolution of disapproval. That will start at 7:50 tonight or thereabouts. One of the Senators agreed to take a voice vote, and that saved us 15 minutes. So we gave them 10 minutes off.

If everybody will look at these amendments, we have to finish this bill and flood insurance this week. We have to do that. I don't want to be crying wolf that we are going to have to be here Friday. We need to finish our work, and we can do that. People have been here, and we have finished some of our votes before the time even expired. That is difficult. The floor staff has a difficult time recapping the votes, but everybody did a good job.

I hope one of the things we can look at is that perhaps Senators Boxer and Inhofe could look at giving back an hour of their time for debate. I think virtually everybody knows how they will vote on this issue. The debate could be stunning and somebody could change, but I doubt it. If they will consider giving back an hour of their time out of the 4, it will help us.

I don't want to be here until 2 o'clock Friday morning. I don't want to do that. I hope we can work through this. We will have a limited amount of morning business tomorrow and we will start voting as soon as we can and we will move quickly like we have today. I ask everybody to look at the amendments and see if they are willing to take a voice vote. We are going to stop voting at about 7:50 p.m.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 250,

Mr. President, the Senate will continue debate on the farm bill today. At 5 p.m. the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Mary Lewis to be U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina. At 5:30 this evening there will be a rollcall vote on confirmation of the Lewis nomination.

Moving Forward

Mr. President, I have spoken to Senator Stabenow several times in the last couple of days. In fact, I spoke to her today--what time did I get back? It is 3 o'clock--at 2 o'clock or thereabouts. She indicated to me they are making progress on the bill. There was one amendment she was concerned about. I worked that out and told her she could go ahead and have that as part of the consent agreement. So I have worked very hard to try to make the lives of Senators Stabenow and Roberts easier, and I have worked through some of the problems my people had.

But, Mr. President, the issues on this bill overwhelmingly are on the other side, and I hope we can work something out. They have worked so hard--Senators Stabenow and Roberts--and I hope we can find a path forward. It is important. I commend them for their dedication to this measure which cuts subsidies and protects 16 million American jobs.

We have spent so much precious time on this bill--precious time we do not have--and we need to move forward on it. We are going to move forward or off of this bill. I hope we will be able to move forward today with this bill; otherwise, we are going to have to file cloture on the bill because it is the third week of jockeying around on this bill.

The DREAM Act

Mr. President, Astrid Silva is an average American 24-year-old from all outward appearances. She is a Las Vegas resident. She is fascinated with Nevada history--whether it is Area 51 or about the time when it is alleged the mob ran the casinos. She is active in her community, school politics, and local politics.

One day Astrid would like to come to Washington, DC, to see, as she said, the Declaration of Independence--see it herself. She recently completed her associate's degree at the College of Southern Nevada, and she dreams of completing her bachelor's degree at UNLV.

But there is one issue standing in her way: Astrid is not an American citizen. Twenty years ago this week this little girl, 3\1/2\ years old--a little baby girl--was brought to the United States by her parents. She has no knowledge of Mexico. America is her country. The country where she was born--Mexico--she knows nothing about. She speaks perfect English. She was an honor student in high school, and she has never called anyplace but Nevada her home.

So, of course, I thought of this brave young woman when President Obama announced last Friday he would suspend the deportation of young people

like Astrid who were brought to this country illegally when they were only children.

I had a difficult campaign, as everyone knows. During that campaign, on occasion I would be given a little handwritten note. I would look at it later. One was from Astrid telling me of her dreams--her dreams that she wanted fulfilled, that could not be because she was not a citizen even though this is her country.

She has been looking over her shoulder for many years now--since the time she was old enough to understand--afraid of deportation. She decided she was going to step out of the shadows and be no longer afraid and become an advocate for the DREAM Act. She is truly a DREAMer.

As we know, the DREAM Act would create a pathway to citizenship for outstanding young people who were brought to this country through no fault of their own and want to attend college or serve our Nation in the Armed Services.

The DREAM Act is not amnesty. It rewards responsibility with opportunity.

Astrid's handwritten letters convinced me years ago of the importance of this issue. Unfortunately, Republican opposition has stalled this legislation.

I was stunned listening to the Republican nominee for President say: Why doesn't Congress do this?

Mr. President, we have tried. We cannot get Republican votes. We have tried.

Thanks to President Obama, Astrid and 800,000 other young people just like her who are American in all but paperwork no longer need to live in fear of deportation. President Obama's directive to suspend deportation of the DREAMers comes after a yearlong review. It will be applied on a case-by-case basis. It frees up law enforcement resources to focus on people who actually threaten public safety and national security, and it removes the specter of deportation that has hovered over deserving young men and women.

For a long time the Presiding Officer was the chief attorney, the chief enforcer of the law in the State of Connecticut, and he had to direct his resources where they could best be used. He wanted to focus on people who were threatening public safety and national security.

What good would it do for us as a country to say to people such as Astrid: You cannot go to school. What you can do is go ahead and be part of a gang. Women become gang members too. Some of those violent gang members we have in America today are now women. Are we better off preventing these young men and women from going to school, from going into the military, even though this is the only country they have ever known as home?

Are we better off saying stay in the shadows or are we better off letting them get an education and serving our country in the military? The answer to that is so easy.

It removes the specter of deportation that has hovered over deserving young men and women. That is what President Obama did. So I congratulate him for this courageous decision--a decision that benefits both the DREAMers and our Nation as a whole.

Like Astrid, these young people share our language, share our culture, share our love for America--the only country they know. They are talented, patriotic men and women who want to defend our Nation in the military, get a college education, work hard, and contribute to their communities and this country.

When they pledge allegiance, it is to the United States of America. Unfortunately, President Obama's directive is temporary. The onus is now on Congress to protect the DREAMers and fix our broken immigration system once and for all.

For all of these people who are saying: Why didn't you do it in Congress, we tried. We invite them here. If they want to make it permanent, it could be done very easily.

Comprehensive immigration reform should be tough, fair, and practical. It should continue efforts to secure our borders, hold unscrupulous employers accountable, and reform our Nation's legal immigration system. It should require 11 million undocumented people to register with the government, pay taxes and fines, work, and learn English. Then they do not go to the front of the line, they go to the back of the line and work their way up.

Some Republicans have suggested a solution to the DREAMers' terrible dilemma should have come from Congress, not the President. I have talked about that today already.

I repeat, it is Republican opposition that has prevented Congress from acting. In fact, Senate Republicans have blocked the DREAM Act twice. Many Republicans who once said they favored a long-term fix for America's broken immigration system are now abandoning efforts to find common ground.

It was interesting to note that on one of the Sunday shows yesterday, the former Governor of Massachusetts refused to answer the question when asked four times by Bob Schieffer: What is your proposal? He would not answer four times. We all know he said if the DREAM Act passed he would veto it. But he is saying: Why don't you work it out in Congress? But he is saying: If you do, I am going to veto it.

Obviously, efforts to find common ground have been abandoned. So the President took decisive action in offering this directive. But he can only do so much by himself. So for Astrid's sake and for the sake of every American, it is time for Congress to become part of the solution.

I hope my Republican colleagues will finally join Democrats to find a bipartisan way to mend this Nation's flawed immigration system instead of just complaining about the system being broken. The pathway is there. We know what needs to be done. We just need a little help from our Republican colleagues.

Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Reservation of Leader Time

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, this is a day I did not think would ever arrive. But we are here, I think. I so admire, having managed a few bills in my day, the work done by Senator Stabenow and Senator Roberts. I will say more about that later. This is not a great agreement, but it is a good agreement, and they worked so hard to get where we are. I so appreciate what they have done. As I said before, I did not think we would be here.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of S. 3240, the pending motion to recommit be withdrawn; that amendment No. 2390 be withdrawn; that the Stabenow-Roberts amendment No. 2389 be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered original text for the purposes of further amendment; that the following amendments and motions be the only first-degree amendments and motions in order to the bill: Akaka No. 2440, Akaka No. 2396, Baucus No. 2429, Bingaman No. 2364, Brown of Ohio No. 2445, Cantwell No. 2370, Casey No. 2238, Coons No. 2426, Feinstein No. 2422, Feinstein No. 2309, Gillibrand No. 2156, Hagan No. 2366, Kerry No. 2187, Landrieu No. 2321, Manchin No. 2345, Merkley No. 2382, Schumer No. 2427, Stabenow No. 2453, Udall of Colorado No. 2295, Warner No. 2457, Wyden No. 2442, Wyden No. 2388, Leahy No. 2204, Nelson of Nebraska No. 2242, Klobuchar No. 2299, Carper No. 2287, Sanders No. 2254, Thune No. 2437, Durbin- Coburn No. 2439, Snowe No. 2190, Ayotte No. 2192, Collins No. 2444, Grassley No. 2167, Sessions No. 2174, Nelson of Nebraska No. 2243, Sessions No. 2172, Paul No. 2181, Alexander No. 2191, McCain No. 2199, Toomey No. 2217, DeMint No. 2263, DeMint No. 2262, DeMint No. 2268, DeMint No. 2276, DeMint No. 2273, Coburn No. 2289, Coburn No. 2293, Kerry No. 2454, Kyl No. 2354, Lee No. 2313, Lee No. 2314, Boozman No. 2355, Boozman No. 2360, Toomey No. 2226, Toomey No. 2433, Lee motion to recommit, Johnson of Wisconsin motion to recommit, Chambliss No. 2438, Chambliss No. 2340, Chambliss No. 2432, Ayotte No. 2195, Blunt No. 2246, Moran No. 2403, Moran No. 2443, Vitter No. 2363, Toomey No. 2247, Sanders No. 2310, Coburn No. 2214, Boxer No. 2456, Johanns No. 2372, Murray No. 2455, McCain No. 2162, Rubio No. 2166; that at 2:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 19, the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the amendments in the order listed, alternating between Republican- and Democratic-sponsored amendments; that there be no amendments or motions in order to the amendments prior to the votes other than motions to waive points of order and motions to table; that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form between the votes, and all after the first vote be 10-minute votes; that the Toomey No. 2247, Sanders No. 2310, Coburn No. 2214, Boxer No. 2456, Johanns No. 2372, Murray No. 2455, McCain No. 2162, and Rubio No. 2166 be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold; that the clerks be authorized to modify the instruction lines on amendments so the page and line numbers match up correctly; that upon disposition of the amendments, the bill, as amended, be read a third time; that there be up to 10 minutes equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote on passage of the bill, as amended, if amended; finally, that the vote on passage of the bill be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold.

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

I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of Senator McConnell, if any, the next hour will be divided and controlled between the two leaders. It will be equally divided. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans will control the final half.

We are still working on trying to finish an agreement to the farm bill so we can move forward. It is disappointing we don't already have something, but hope is still here, and I hope we can get that done. It is a very important piece of legislation, but a few Senators are holding this up and that is too bad. I have agreed we can have some amendments. I had a nice colloquy on the floor yesterday with Senator Coburn, who is concerned about this bill and legislation generally. He indicated that he thought it was a good idea to have a number of amendments and start voting on them, so I hope we can get there. We can't do all 250 amendments that are out there, but we can do a lot of them, so let's see where we are. I hope we can get it done.

We are on the flood insurance bill. We have to get to that. The flood insurance expires at the end of this month.

We will continue to work on an agreement with the farm bill.

I also hope to reconsider the failed cloture vote on the nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte, to be an ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador.

Votes are possible throughout today's session. Senators will be notified when they are scheduled.

Would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Reservation of Leader Time

I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I yield back all postcloture time on the nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 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; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, very quickly, that was the last vote today. It appears we will have no votes tomorrow. But Senator Stabenow and Senator Roberts are working very diligently to come up with an agreement on the farm bill. We are going to have a vote Monday evening. We have not decided exactly what that will be on. We have a number of different alternatives. But we hope we can have common sense prevail and be able to come up with an agreement, if for no other reason than to recognize the hard work of the two managers of this bill.

It is so important we get this done. There are issues we are going to vote on, one of which Senator Kerry will talk about. There are relevant amendments. We have a lot of them. We will agree to vote on those. We are trying to work out also the nonrelevant amendments, and we are not there yet.

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.

The Senate will continue to debate the farm bill today. We have a couple of votes lined up. We expect to have those this morning.

Not to Compromise

Last week, in a moment of candor, House Republicans, led by Representative Cantor, admitted they have given up legislating until after the election. Although there is far more work to be done, they have said they are going to have a timeout. I repeat, there is so much to be done--especially building on 27 straight months of private sector job growth--Republicans in the House are lurching from one recess to the next long recess. They don't take short ones, they take long ones. Last week's unscripted moment was a window into today's Republican Party--a party that obviously cares more about winning elections than creating jobs.

Then a couple of days ago we had another frank assessment of the Republican agenda. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said Monday that his father, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan would not fit into today's Republican Party. He went on to elaborate about some of the issues in which they are simply headed in the wrong direction. Governor Bush said today's GOP is defined by ``an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement.''

He is right. The Republican Party no longer has room for moderates or anyone unwilling to march in lockstep with the radical tea party. That is apparent every day on Capitol Hill--more so in the House than in the Senate, but it has now infected the Senate. It was obvious from the first weeks of this Congress that the House was taken over by extremists with no desire to work for the sake of the economy and

no concept of the meaning of compromise--and legislation is the art of compromise.

But over the last year and a half it has become clear that Republicans in the Senate are also in thrall to the tea party. We see the extremism in this Chamber--I have just mentioned that--where Republicans have blocked or stalled most every jobs creation measure we have brought to the floor. We see it on the campaign trail, where Mitt Romney told a crowd he opposes hiring anymore teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Putting more teachers in the classroom used to be a goal Democrats and Republicans could agree on. But all over the country, things are happening just as happened in Nevada a couple of days ago, where the school district--let's see, it must be about the third or fourth largest school district now in the country, the Clark County school district, with well more than 300,000 students--indicated they were going to lay off 1,000 teachers. But as a result of not filling some positions because of retirements, they were able to have to only lay off about 400-some-odd people. It is happening all over the country.

Sending more cops out on patrol used to be something that--I can remember when Joe Biden was down here fighting for his COPS Program. Police departments in Nevada loved the opportunity to get more people on the street. That is the way it was all over the country. We used to fight to get more cops on the street. Now we are doing everything we can to stop the layoffs, and we can't do enough because we can't get a bill passed over here to help. Hiring more brave men and women to fight fires and save lives used to be a goal Democrats and Republicans could agree on. Not now.

Because of global warming, there are fires raging all over the West. I spoke to Senator Bingaman from New Mexico yesterday. That fire in New Mexico is 400,000 acres and, he said, we have another fire that has broken out of only 40,000 acres. On the news this morning out of Colorado, one person has been killed, scores of buildings and homes burned to the ground. The tankers they are using to fight these fires are old. One of them crashed in Nevada last week, killing the pilots.

But today's radical Republicans have another agenda--not hiring more cops and not doing something to stop the teacher layoffs, but their goal is to drag down the economy because it is good for their politics. They believe the more horrible the economy is, the better off they are going to be in November. They love bad news.

We still have the fact that even though there were more than 8 million jobs lost during the Bush administration, we have been fortunate to bring back 4.3 million of those jobs. But we could have done so much more with the jobs measures we have brought before this body that were lost on procedural grounds over here.

Yesterday Governor Bush said his father and President Reagan--neither of whom could win a Republican primary today--both ``sacrificed political points for good public policy.''

I believe that. I was not a pal of Ronald Reagan's. I met him and worked with him. But Paul Laxalt--who retired, and I ran for his spot-- was his pal, his friend. Ronald Reagan would not put up with what is going on here today, because there is no question that with Ronald Reagan the country came first, not elections.

I have great admiration for the first President Bush. I have in my private possessions a couple of handwritten notes he wrote to me. He would not put up with what is going on today. He was a pragmatist. He wanted to get things done for our country. He wasn't an ideologue. He was conservative. Certainly no one is better qualified to be President than the first Bush. He was a Congressman, head of the CIA, head of the Republican National Committee, the Vice President, Ambassador to China. He was interested in his country, not elections. He was a Republican, but we could work with him.

Today's Republicans aren't interested in good policy and, obviously, they aren't interested in creating jobs. They are too obsessed with defeating President Obama. That is their No. 1 goal. But don't take my word for it. The minority leader said so himself. This is what he said:

The single most important thing we want to achieve is for

President Obama to be a one-term President.

That is a quote.

America is battling its way back from the greatest recession since the Great Depression. And although we have created 4.3 million private sector jobs, there is so much more to be done.

I just left a meeting with people interested in infrastructure. We have 70,000 bridges in America that need repair and replacement. Not 700, not 7,000 but 70,000. The highway bill is hung up over in the House someplace. They aren't focused on jobs because they are too busy checking the political scoreboard.

Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Reservation of Leader Time

Madam President, I note the absence of a quorum.

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

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken.) Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, I now withdraw my motion to proceed to S. 1940.

Mr. President, it is my understanding that we are now on S. 3240, and the motion to recommit with a second-degree amendment numbered 2339 is now pending. Is that right?

Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 2393. I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion to table.

Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 2392, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 4 minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote, and that the time be controlled by Senator Stabenow and Senator Paul.

MR. President, I now ask unanimous consent the pending motion to recommit be withdrawn; that amendment No. 2390 be withdrawn; that the Stabenow-Roberts amendment, No. 2389, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered original text for the purpose of further amendment; that the following four amendments be the first amendments in order to the bill with no other first-degree amendments in order until these amendments are disposed of: Coburn, No. 2353; Hagan, No. 2366; DeMint, No. 2385; McCaskill, No. 2222; that there be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees on each of these amendments; that upon the use or yielding back of this time on all four amendments the

Senate proceed to votes in relation to the amendments in the order listed; that there be no amendments or motions in order to the amendments prior to the votes other than on motions to waive points of order and motions to table; that upon disposition of these amendments, I be recognized.

Mr. President, I wish my friend was near as exercised over the year, 18 months, on getting on a bill. It takes us a week to get on a bill because we have to file motions to invoke cloture every time we proceed to a bill. We could save a lot of time if we could get on a bill. One reason there used to be so much, as he said, tradition-- tradition has been spilled into the spillways--is that it was a rare occasion you had to do anything to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed. Now it is what we do every time because the Republicans demand that.

In direct answer to the question, I have worked with Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow. We are trying to get some amendments up. They may be low priority on his part, my friend from Oklahoma, but some people think these are important amendments. The two we just finished, no one can consider those low priority amendments, dealing with foodstamps and with sugar. These are always big deals on this farm bill.

So I say to my friend, Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow are trying to come up with a list. The Republicans are having some kind of a steering meeting or whatever it is now. Maybe the Senator can go and visit with them and try to help us get a list.

I am not going to talk out here about a number, but as we did on the highway bill, we have done it on the FDA bill, come up with some amendments. There is plenty of dead time around here, and we don't have to spend a lot of time on the amendments themselves. Once we agree to them, we keep on talking about them forever.

To answer the Senator's question, yes, I would be happy if we could get, as we have been trying to get for a long time, an agreed-upon group of amendments. I want to finish the farm bill. I think it is extremely important to our country.

So, I say to my friend, I hope we can work something out. I have told my friend, the junior Senator from Michigan and the chairman of this committee, I would like something so we can enter into an agreement today and start voting on some of these amendments tomorrow.

Yes.

In response to my friend's question, the reason we had these two votes this morning is while we are working on coming up with a finite list of amendments, why sit around and twiddle our thumbs? At least through this process, we have gotten two major amendments out of the way. They are gone.

If my friend continues his objection, I am going to set up some more votes this way. Listen, this is not my preference for doing these bills. But I say to my friend, I would hope with the concern the Senator has for the finances of this country and how he cares about our country, care a little bit about these motions to proceed which are such a waste of our time.

Before my friend leaves the floor, I also look back at the days, as is recounted in Caro's book and as we have heard here, to the days when the majority leader truly did some things. During the days of Lyndon Johnson, we couldn't even have a vote on anything unless he gave the nod. I don't have that power anymore. That has changed over the years, but I would love to be able to have a bill brought to the floor. If we were able to get rid of these senseless motions to proceed that I have to file cloture on, we could spend a lot of time debating and amending these bills, and that is what we need to get to.

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2406 to the instructions, which is at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I now call up amendment No. 2407, a second- degree amendment, which is at the desk.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.