Floor Statements

Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 396, H.R. 2072.

Mr. President, we are now on the motion to proceed to the Export-Import Bank reauthorization bill. I ask unanimous consent that the hour following my remarks and those of the Republican leader be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans the final half.

Mr. President, at 11:15 today the motion to proceed to the Export-Import Bank will be adopted, and there will be up to 2 hours of debate on the bill, and there will be up to five amendments. At 12:30 the Senate will recess until 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. As early as 2:15 there will be up to six rollcall votes in order to complete action on the Export-Import Bank. There could possibly be five votes as part of the order--I have been told they may not all be offered--and then we will have final passage on the bill.

Measure Placed on Calendar

Mr. President, H.R. 5652 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I would object to any further proceedings on this issue at this time.

Mr. President, I am happy to announce that Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement to move forward with reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank legislation.

This bank helps American companies sell their products overseas and hire workers here at home. It helped private companies add almost 300,000 jobs last year in more than 2,000 American communities. That is why the labor groups, manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and many other organizations have urged the Senate to move quickly to reauthorize this bank, whose lending limit is just about to expire.

The second ranking officer at the chamber of commerce wrote to all Senators yesterday.

Failure to enact this legislation would put at risk . . .

American jobs at 3,600 companies that depend on Ex-Im to

compete in global markets. . . . Because other countries are

providing their own exporters with an estimated $1 trillion

in export finance--often on terms more generous than Ex-Im

can provide--failure to reauthorize Ex-Im would amount to

unilateral disarmament and cost

tens of thousands of American jobs. China, for instance, has

three export credit agencies that last year provided $300

billion in export finance to its exporters--ten times more

than Ex-Im provided. This bill would help level the financial

playing field in export markets and ensure transparency in

Ex-Im's operations.

This is directly from the chamber of commerce.

This legislation helps American businesses export their products instead of exporting jobs. Reauthorizing this important legislation is the kind of consensus proposal that should not result in any kind of a partisan fight. I spoke to Senator McConnell yesterday, and we made the decision that this is the best way to move forward. I am hopeful that the Senate will pass it overwhelmingly, signaling to American businesses that Congress will do what it takes to help them compete in the global market. But while Republicans say publicly that they support this important measure, they have instead insisted on votes on a number of amendments that would gut or even kill the bill.

The chamber of commerce will consider votes on this measure--and any amendments that would weaken the bank--to be keys to determine whether Senators are business-friendly. The extreme amendments offered by my Republican colleagues would certainly weaken the bank. One amendment just eliminates the bank. These kinds of amendments are unacceptable to the business community.

The National Association of Manufacturers issued a similar warning yesterday, which I read here on the floor. We agree, we can't afford to give an inch to our global competitors. Canada, France, and India already provide seven times the assistance to their exporters that America does. China and Brazil provide 10 times the support.

So Senate Republicans are faced with a choice: They can continue to support these extreme amendments that would effectively kill the Export-Import Bank and risk the wrath of the American business community or they can work with the Democrats to reauthorize this bank without adding amendments that would undermine its ability to help businesses grow. We have been told that the House is going to accept no amendments. It was very hard for them to get done what they did. I admire and appreciate what they did do. I am optimistic that my Republican colleagues will make the right choice and help us defeat these vexatious amendments.

Recognition of the Republican Leader

Madam President, I move now to proceed to Calendar No. 365.

Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to the Stein nomination.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 647, Jerome H. Powell, of Maryland, to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

I send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to that nomination.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum under rule XXII for both cloture motions.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I want to express my appreciation for the good work done on this most important measure that just passed the Senate on the Export-Import Bank. It was reported out of the Banking Committee. Senator Johnson did a great job with his committee.

In addition to that, the work of Senator Cantwell was exemplary. She is a terrific legislator. When she gets her teeth in something, she won't let go and she would not let us take our eye off the prize; that is, passing this important legislation. I have such admiration for her legislative skills, and at this time I spread across the Record my admiration and congratulations on this legislation, which means so much to her and the entire country.

Mr. President, the national flood insurance program is to expire the end of May, this month. The insurance program provides coverage for almost 6 million people who work in flood zones. It is self-sustaining. For more than 40 years it has guarded American homeowners against flood-related disasters. If the program expires, new housing construction will stall, new housing construction will come to a halt, and taxpayers will be on the hook for future disasters.

We have not been able to bring flood insurance to the floor because we have had a lot of problems with Senate procedure that some believe is abusive. It has left us with so little time. As you see, I have filed cloture on two nominations to the Federal Reserve. I will file later on a judge who has been waiting for almost a year.

No one believes there is enough time to pass, conference, and enact a long-term flood insurance bill before the end of this month, so under the situation we will have to do another short-term extension simply to keep the bill from expiring. Thus I will seek to pass an extension of this important program now.

Therefore, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 366, S. 2344, which is an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, that that bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and there be no intervening action or debate.

The Senator can go ahead if he wishes.

Seriously, I am anxious to hear it.

Mr. President, before my friend leaves the floor, I hope we can do a short-term bill. As my colleague knows, the impediment to the regular function of the Senate this year has been the offering of irrelevant amendments. I am wondering if I could say through the Chair to my friend, the junior Senator from Oklahoma, what kind of agreement does he think we can get on the number of amendments on something like this?

I say again through the Chair to my friend, how many amendments does he think he would need?

I thank my friend from Oklahoma. It is something I wish to be able to do. We have so much to do--we have the farm bill, we have cyber security, we have the FDA bill, I am filing cloture on nominations--people who have been waiting to change their lives. So I am sorry we cannot legislate more.

I have sympathy with my friend from Oklahoma. I don't agree with everything he said, but this is a program that needs to be changed and I recognize that. I will continue working with my friend. Maybe there is some way we can work together and figure out a way to move this forward. It is hard.

What I would suggest is I would be happy to work on my side, because Senator Johnson has talked to me twice today on this legislation, to figure out what amendments my folks want to offer, because they want to offer amendments. If my friend from Oklahoma would also make a decision on his side of, as he indicated, cogent

amendments, relevant amendments, we could put this in a little package and move to it without having to file cloture and do these amendments. I wish to do that.

I will work on my side to find out what amendments there are. If my friend will do that, on Monday or Tuesday we will talk about this and see if we can get a very concise agreement to do it. This is important legislation. My friend is not denying that. But I think we do have to make some changes in it. I am happy to move forward on it. I think the House is going to take something up real soon.

I yield the floor.

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 permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 460.

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

Before we leave this, Mr. President, I might say that Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe, the chair and the ranking member of that most important committee--the Environment and Public Works Committee--are doing their utmost on a bipartisan basis to complete the conference with the House to get the highway bill passed, which means 2.8 million jobs. As this legislation concerns National Public Works Week, it would certainly be a big celebration if we could get that bill done. I appreciate very much Senators Boxer and Inhofe working so closely together on that committee.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 461.

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

Mr. President, I understand that S. 3187 was introduced earlier today by Senators Harkin and Enzi, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for its second reading but object to my own request.

Mr. President, this is a very important piece of legislation done in the right way. Senators Harkin and Enzi have done something in the way we always used to do things: They moved a bill out of committee to the Senate floor, truly a bipartisan bill, so important to our country, the FDA bill--Food and Drug Administration.

Senator Enzi has always been very focused on when we bring something to the floor, it must have the committee mark on it--and this bill does.

The reason I move to the bill today the way I have is to line this up for filing cloture on Thursday. I hope we don't have to file cloture, we move to proceed to it. Why don't we get on the bill? If we can get on the bill, we can start on it Monday, we can start offering amendments, and get this moving along.

I have talked to Senator Enzi, I have talked to Senator Harkin. We had good luck on the highway bill. We had good luck also on the postal bill with relevant amendments. This is a very important piece of legislation. I hope we can move to this without having to file cloture. If I have to file cloture, I will have to file cloture, but I sure hope not. I admire the cooperation and the working together of Senators Harkin and Enzi.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 on Wednesday, May 16; 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 use later in the day.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks tomorrow morning, the Senate will begin debate on several motions to proceed to resolutions introduced by Republican Senators. This is an agreed-upon method of proceeding on these resolutions.

Order of Procedure

It is my intention to equally divide the first hour, with the majority controlling the first 30 minutes and the Republicans controlling the second 30 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that be the case.

So there is 6 hours of debate time allowed under the consent agreement that was approved earlier today. I certainly hope we can get this done expeditiously. Senator Conrad will be leading efforts on our side opposed to this; and once we get this out of the way, we should move forward.

Tomorrow morning, after we understand the morning hour will be deemed expired and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized at that time.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.