Floor Statements

Madam President, I now move to proceed to consider Calendar No. 552, the nomination of Paul J. Watford, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

Madam President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.

Madam President, what is the pending business?

Madam President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

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

Madam President, I have spoken before about the importance of the FDA bill. It is something we have to get done. Literally, people's lives depend upon it. It addresses so many things with the FDA to make it a better organization. We have to get this done. As I said before, if my Republican colleagues don't like the bill, offer an amendment--offer an amendment. Take that out. Put something in if you don't like it. But I hope we don't have to go through voting on cloture on this Monday night. We should be legislating on this on Monday. So I am stunned that once again, on a motion to proceed, when there has been an agreement that we would proceed to this with relevant amendments-- everybody says that is what they want to do. It is not germane amendments, which is very narrow, it is relevant amendments. It gives people a lot of opportunity to change this legislation in many different ways. So I hope we do not have to have that cloture vote Monday night.

Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 1905

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the Reid-Johnson(SD)-Shelby substitute amendment, which is at the desk and is the text of Calendar No. 320, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act, as reported by the Banking Committee, be considered; that a Reid-Johnson(SD)-Shelby amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table; that there be no intervening action or debate; and that any statements related to this matter be printed in the Record at the appropriate place.

Mr. President, is there an objection by either Senator Kyl or Senator Blunt?

This is such an interesting conversation here on the floor this afternoon. I did not have the papers. Now, I do not blame my friend from Arizona for not having the documents. I do not blame my friend from Missouri for only having a half hour to look at this. This was given to the Republican leader yesterday, midday. The language they are objecting to was in the base bill, so unless they did not read the base bill, they have a problem here. Now, they said they want to get it done--strange way of showing they want to get it done.

This has been a classic example of rope-a-dope. I try to be a patient man. I have been very patient with my staff working with Senator Kirk's staff, the minority leader's staff. I have tried to be as patient as I can be.

No, not right now. This is absolutely untoward, what is happening here. We have tried to get this done every day. Oh, it is just we have to do a little bit more. We have this agreement that was agreed to by all of the parties, but, of course, now there is no agreement.

I am deeply disappointed that my Republican colleagues are preventing the Senate from passing additional critical sanctions against Iran. If they want to embarrass the President, this is a strange way to do it. Two months ago I came to the Senate floor and said we needed to pass these sanctions immediately. The fastest way forward was to pass the bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Johnson and Shelby, which passed out of the Banking Committee unanimously. But Republicans then said no, as they are saying today. Republicans said they wanted to include ideas from Senator Kirk, Senator Paul, and wished to move forward with S. Res. 380 on containment.

We heard their objections. We have tried mightily to address them, with the goal of getting this bill passed and protecting our own national security and that of our ally Israel. This deal includes a bipartisan managers' package sponsored by Senators Shelby and Johnson, with items of importance to Senators Menendez, Kirk, Paul, and Johnson.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has expressed strong support for this package to Senator McConnell and to me. In a letter today, AIPAC urged us to move forward with this package as quickly as possible. I ask unanimous consent that letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, Democrats are ready to move forward and vote on an amended S. Res. 380, the bipartisan Graham-Casey-Lieberman legislation. This amendment would put the Senate on record, along with President Obama, ruling out a policy of containment on Iran. Yet Republicans have objected again. We cannot afford to delay these sanctions and slow them down any longer. On May 23 there is a round of international negotiations taking place with the Iranians on subjects related to this resolution we have.

Democrats are ready to move forward. We are ready to pass both the Iran sanctions bill and the containment resolution now--not later, now. We cannot afford any more delays. Sanctions are a key tool in our work to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, threatening Israel, and jeopardizing the national security of the United States.

I am to the end of my patience. I usually never raise my voice with a Senator. I apologize to my friend from Arizona. I did a few minutes ago. The conversation was between him and me. But I am really upset about this. I feel that I have been jerked around--that is a pretty good understanding of the language people have--because we can never quite get there. The Republicans have kept us from moving forward on this for 2 months. We should have done what Shelby and Johnson told us to do. So I hope something will happen on this in the near future, but I have to be honest with you, I do not have much faith that it will.

Mr. President, when my friend indicates, why is there any problem, and that they agree--it is just like the issue of student loans when they

say they agree, except they will not let us legislate on that bill. They think this is a great thing to do, but we cannot do it. They say they need more communication. How about 2 months? How much more do they need?

I will not get into getting anyone in trouble, but the Republicans were given this in mid-afternoon. Maybe they were busy, but that doesn't matter. The point is we have tried to get something done, and we cannot get it done.

I think it is too bad for this institution. I am not outraged; I am upset because I feel I have been used as a tool to try to adversely affect the President in some way. I will continue to keep an open mind, but I have to say that I am terribly disappointed. It looks as though we are going to arrive at May 23--and the Iranians have people around who are watching this. They are laughing at us. We cannot even come up with a simple resolution. It has no force of law--I should not say that; it does have some. But they are laughing at us.

Here is the U.S. Senate quibbling over a sentence that has been in this resolution since it was drafted.

No matter how many times you say it, the language we are told they are complaining about was in the initial bill.

Mr. President, I appreciate my friend saying most people work 5 days a week. I work more than 5 days a week, and I have been working the last 2 months trying to get this done. Every time we tried to do it in the last few weeks--and Senator Kirk is ill, and I gave him every benefit of the doubt. Let's try to do what Senator Kirk thinks is a good idea. If we can agree, we will do it.

Mr. President, we have been trying to get this done for a long time. It is not just today at 1 o'clock; I wanted to move forward on this a long time ago. They say: Let's just give it another day or so and we will take care of this. But that is not how it has worked.

I yield to the Senator from New Jersey.

Mr. President, if my friend will yield, I want to make sure the record is clear. When I talked about it having no force of law, we were talking about the containment resolution.

I ask this question to my friend from New Jersey: What does he think the Iranians are doing watching this performance today? How does he think they are feeling about what we are doing today--that we cannot pass this resolution?

Before my friend leaves, I direct a question to him. Is it true that he is a member of the Banking Committee?

It is true that this resolution came from the Banking Committee?

The matter about which we talk, the Iranian sanctions legislation, came from the Banking Committee. It was reported unanimously from the committee, right?

During the last 2 months, the Senator from New Jersey and his staff have been heavily involved in what is going on during the negotiations that have taken place; is that fair?

Jessica Lewis, who is seated by me, my foreign policy adviser--is it true that she worked for the Senator from New Jersey?

And it is true that we have worked over this period of time--our staffs, working with Republicans--very hard to try to get something done. I say to my friend, is it true that each time we were there, were not there the next few minutes, the next day--it has taken forever, 2 months, right?

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 therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Marc Labonte, a detailee on Senator Johnson's Banking Committee staff, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of today's session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following postal naming bills en bloc: Calendar No. 401, H.R. 2415; Calendar No. 402, H.R. 3220; and Calendar No. 403, H.R. 3413.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time 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 be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4045.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4119.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no interviewing action or debate; that any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 394, H.R. 4849.

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

Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaties transmitted to the Senate on May 17, 2012, by the President of the United States:

Protocol Amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (Treaty Document No. 112 5).

Convention on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities Held with an Intermediary (Treaty Document No. 112 6).

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Treaty Document No. 112 7).

Tax Convention with Chile (Treaty Document No. 112 8).

I further ask that the treaties be considered as having been read the first time; that they be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's messages be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2012; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the majority leader be recognized; further, that at 4:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 552, Paul J. Watford, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination; and that if cloture is not invoked, the Senate resume legislative session and proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 3187, the FDA user fees legislation.

Mr. President, it is my intention to resume the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187, the FDA user fees legislation, when we convene on Monday. At 5:30 p.m. Monday there will be at least one rollcall vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Watford nomination.

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 now move to proceed to Calendar No. 365,

Madam President, following my remarks and those, if any, of the Republican leader, the Senate will begin debate on several motions to proceed to Republican budget resolutions. Consent was asked last night, I am quite sure, that the first hour be equally divided between the two leaders, with the majority controlling the first half and Republicans the final half. That is already done?

There will be up to 6 hours of debate on the motions to proceed to the budget resolutions. Senators should expect five rollcall votes around 4 p.m. if all time is used, and it probably will be.

Measure Placed on Calendar

Madam President, S. 3187 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

Madam President, I would object to any further proceedings with respect to this legislation at this time.

Madam President, it is almost universally acknowledged that Republican obstructionism has reached new heights in the Senate. There are separate articles written about it. There are even now books written about it. Democrats would have to break a filibuster, I guess, to declare the sky blue or the Earth round, and passing the most commonsense and consensus legislation could take weeks or months. So with a mile-long list to do, we can't afford to waste any time. Yet today Republicans will force the Senate to waste a day on a series of political show votes. We will spend hours debating and voting on a handful of nonbinding budget resolutions even though we already have a legally binding budget. If one of the Republicans' budgets passed-- which it won't--by law, it is nonbinding. We have a binding budget resolution.

The Senate could spend the day passing tax cuts for small businesses that grow and hire people or even legislation to keep the Food and Drug Administration running. We could be considering the Paycheck Fairness Act, ensuring American women receive equal pay for equal work. We could be debating cybersecurity legislation, and the Pentagon says the No. 1 issue facing this country today is cyber-insecurity. We could be working on a farm bill. Senators Stabenow and Roberts have done such an outstanding job saving the country $23 billion and reducing the debt by that much. We should be on that bill. We could be protecting 7 million students from rate hikes on their Federal loans. We could even move a

series of appropriations bills to implement the budget we have already enacted. Instead, we will debate and vote on a series of stunt budgets.

Republicans aren't interested in getting anything done this year. They have said so from the very beginning. Their leader, my friend from Kentucky, has said the No. 1 issue is to defeat President Obama. So they don't mind wasting a day of the Senate's time on useless political show votes.

Republicans can say over and over that they are only forcing votes on four Republican budgets today because Democrats failed to pass their own budget. That couldn't be further from the truth. In August Congress passed and President Obama signed a budget that reduces the deficit by more than $2 trillion. It is called the Budget Control Act. Twenty- eight Republican Senators, including my friend the minority leader, voted for that last legally binding budget. But since August those Republicans have developed a case of amnesia. Why else would they walk around Washington claiming we don't have a budget? And unlike the hollow Republican budget resolutions the Senate will waste the day debating, the Budget Control Act actually has the force of law. If Republicans were serious about reducing the deficit, they wouldn't be working so hard to undo that August law, which cuts more than $2 trillion from the deficit.

Democrats agree that the across-the-board cuts to domestic spending and defense programs--agreed to in the Budget Control Act--aren't the ideal way to solve our Nation's fiscal problems. But the cuts were designed to be tough so lawmakers were forced to reach a balanced deal. Unfortunately, Republicans refuse to be reasonable. They refuse to raise even a penny of new revenue or ask millionaires to contribute their fair share to help reduce our deficit. And Democrats won't agree to a one-sided solution that lets the superwealthy off the hook while forcing the middle class to bear all the hardship. The American people agree with this.

These four stunt budgets all take that one-sided approach, which protects wealthy special interests at the expense of ordinary Americans, and they clearly illuminate the Republicans' priorities--to shower the wealthy with tax breaks paid for by the middle class. All four of the Republican plans cut investments that help middle-class families get back on their feet in order to increase tax breaks for businesses that ship jobs overseas. All four plans would double the student loan rate. It would put colleges out of reach for many students in order to protect tax loopholes for special interests. All four plans end Medicare as we know it, gutting seniors' health benefits to lavish more tax breaks on millionaires and billionaires.

Yesterday the Senate showed it is possible to advance policies that improve our economy and put Americans back to work as long as Democrats and Republicans work together. On an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote yesterday, we passed the Export-Import Bank reauthorization that will support 300,000 jobs during the next year, and these jobs will help American companies sell their products overseas. But every moment we waste refighting old battles or revisiting Republicans' failed economic policies is time that could be better spent creating jobs. The time for show votes is over. Now it is time for the Senate to get back to work putting Americans back to work.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. President, if I can have everyone's attention, we have one more vote this evening. The Republican leader and I have worked out something tentatively--I think we will be able to put it in writing in just a few minutes--where we will have two votes tomorrow at noon on the two Fed nominees.

I think most people know I moved last night to the FDA bill. I hope we won't have to file cloture on that and that we can just move to it and start the amendment process. That is what the people want, that is what we want, and that is what we are willing to do, so I hope we can do that. It is a wide-ranging bill, extremely important for the country, with relevant amendments. There are a lot of them to do, so I hope we can have an agreement to that effect.