Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that two fellows in the office of Senator Patty Murray, Stephanie Doherty Wilkinson and Eric Brooks, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 112th Congress.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to Calendar Nos. 371 through 381 en bloc, all post office naming bills.

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 that any statements relating to the bills be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to Calendar No. 369, S. Res. 419.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 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 any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 441, S. Res. 442, S. Res. 443, S. Res 444, and S. Res. 445, which were submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to the resolutions be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 43, the adjournment resolution, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that from Thursday, April 26, through Monday, May 7, the majority leader be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President pro tempore, and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences, or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law, by concurrent action of the two Houses, or by order of the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn and convene for pro forma sessions only, with no business conducted, on the following dates and times and that following each pro forma session, the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Monday, April 30, at 10:30 a.m.; Thursday, May 3, at 8:30 a.m.; and that the Senate adjourn on Thursday, May 3, until 2 p.m. on Monday, May 7, unless the Senate has received a message from the House that it has adopted S. Con. Res. 43, which will be the adjournment resolution, and if the Senate has received such a message, the Senate adjourn until Monday, May 7, at 2 p.m. under the provisions of S. Con. Res. 43; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2343, the Stop Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act; and that at 4:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session under the previous order.

Just so that everyone understands, we have in this the pro forma sessions possibility. I am confident the House will adopt our adjournment resolution, but just in case they don't, that is why we have that in there.

Mr. President, there will be up to three rollcall votes on Monday, May 7. They will be on the confirmation of three judicial nominations--one U.S. circuit nomination and two U.S. district nominations.

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

Madam President, the Senate is now considering the motion to proceed to S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

The Republicans will control the first half hour, and the majority will control the second half hour this morning. The Republicans will also control the time from 11:30 to 12:30 today. The majority will control the time from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m. the Senate will resume consideration of the postal reform bill. There will be several rollcall votes--six to eight votes--at that time in order to complete action on the bill.

Postal Reform

I am very gratified about the work that has been done over the last many months, which will culminate today in the passing of this postal bill. It has been extremely difficult. Lots of people have worked on this bill, and it has been a bipartisan effort. It is going to send a message to the House that we can do big things.

It is an important piece of legislation--one of the biggest and most complicated we have dealt with in a long time. As I said, I am gratified, and I congratulate and applaud Senators Lieberman, Collins, and others on our side--especially Senator Tom Carper, who worked hard with the chairman and ranking member and many others who were stalwarts. We saw that yesterday when there was an effort to bring the bill down. That was the first vote we took. Senators stood at their desks in the Chamber on a bipartisan basis and indicated how important this legislation is. It was a very important day for the American people.

Violence Against Women Act

We will be on this legislation I announced dealing with violence against women. Each year about 5 million Americans are victims of violence by their spouses or partners. Every single day 3 women are killed at the hands of their abusers, and every day 9 or 10 are beaten very badly. They are hospitalized, and some have permanent injuries from their abusers. We authorize and ensure in this law that the police have the tools to more effectively stop this and prosecute those people who are the abusers.

As I said yesterday, I held hearings many years ago on this subject, and the one issue that was pronounced so clearly is that in many instances the only thing that helps these abusers is to send them to jail. It works better than counseling, better than threats, and people should realize we need law enforcement to have better ways of approaching these calls they get all the time.

I also mentioned yesterday that in Las Vegas one of our prized police officers, a sergeant on the police force for

many years, was called to a scene along with one of the junior police officers, and he was killed as soon as he walked in the door. This is an important piece of legislation. It has 61 cosponsors, and we should pass it.

Student Loans

Madam President, the Senate has a long list of things to do. One of the things we have to do is stop the raising of interest rates on students who borrow money to go to school. We were fortunate to reduce this rate from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. We cut it in half. We did this in 2007. We had just obtained a majority in the Senate, and we worked on this very hard. It went to President Bush, he signed the law, and rightfully so.

Everyone should understand this is a bill that was signed by President Bush. We need to go back to what he signed. We cannot have these rates go up. If we don't act by July 1, more than 7 million students will be forced to pay an average of $1,000 more each year for these student loans. College is already unaffordable for too many people. I hope we can get this done.

I am going to stop my comments because I was, of course, impressed by the remarks of the guest Chaplain. Many years ago I went to the Armenian Church, and it was a wonderful experience. I say to my friend from Rhode Island, to whom I will yield in a second, we went to Armenia after that very brutal winter when the Turks had cut off the oil to Armenia. The Armenians cut down a lot of trees, and they survived. Most said they could not. It was a brutal winter. Peace Corps volunteers were there and not one left Armenia, even though they suffered along with the Armenian people.

So I have fond memories of my visit to Armenia. I understand the resiliency of the people of Armenia, and I remember visiting that church.

I yield to my friend, the Senator from Rhode Island.

Madam President, there are a number of issues we are trying to resolve and we are going to try to do that as quickly as possible and notify the Senate as to what is going to happen next. At this stage, I don't know, but we are working on it. So I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the Senate will soon be considering the motion to proceed to S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

At 10:30 this morning, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36, which is a resolution of disapproval regarding the NLRB election rule. The time until 12:30 today will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders, or their designees.

The Senate will recess from 12:50 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

At 2:15 p.m., there will be a rollcall vote on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36. If that motion is defeated, there will be several votes following it in order to complete action on the postal reform bill.

We are going to do our utmost to finish the postal reform bill today. I recognize that there is an important event with the Supreme Court today with the legislative branch, the Senate. Therefore, we might have to come back after that to complete work on this bill, unless there is a way forward.

I suggest to everyone, if their amendments can be accepted by voice vote, take that. If something can be worked out with the managers, do that; otherwise, we might be here until very late tonight. I would like to avoid that, if possible, for everyone's benefit.

Mr. President, in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act passed both Houses of Congress on strong bipartisan votes. In the 18 years since then, incidents of domestic violence have fallen by 53 percent.

Despite that progress, staggering rates of abuse make it clear that we still have a long way to go. More than a third of women and more than a quarter of men in this country have been victims of violent sexual assault or stalking by a partner. Because of the unique nature of the crime, combating domestic violence and protecting those affected also requires unique tools.

Victims have been abused by the very people who are supposed to love and care for them, so Congress must make certain law enforcement has the means to stop these heinous crimes, and we must ensure communities have the resources to support victims and help them heal. That is why the Senate must move quickly to reauthorize this legislation, which expired last year.

Many of the programs under the act have been funded for the last year by continuing resolutions, but a full reauthorization is necessary to ensure authorities have all the resources they need to fight domestic violence.

Women and families across the country are depending on us to act. Several from Nevada wrote to share their stories.

When I practiced law, this law was not in effect. The only good news during that period of time that developed as I began to do more work in the domestic relations field was as a result of some generous people establishing in Las Vegas a domestic crisis shelter. What is that? It is a place where women and children can go to stay away from husbands who were abusing them. It is so important. These are secret locations; you cannot find them in the phone book. It gives these women and their children--sometimes just a woman--a place to go.

I had a leadership meeting this morning and spent some time talking to them about some examples of things that took place before this law passed. It was very difficult to find ways of helping these women. With this law, it is much easier. We must continue this extremely important legislation. The women who wrote to me had some very sad stories. Without this legislation, it would be even worse.

Coincidentally, I talked to Vice President Biden this morning and reminded him of what he had done. He has been watching what we do here. He said thanks for continuing this legislation. It was his idea, and it has been extremely valuable for this country.

Every day in America, three less fortunate women die at the hands of their abusers--by being abused by their spouses. In addition to those three who die, there are nine more who are abused very much. They have serious injuries. Some have been made paralyzed as a result of the beatings. It is hard to believe these beatings take place, but they do. It is in our power--the 100 of us--to protect them and help them.

Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act would help law enforcement continue to develop effective strategies to prosecute cases involving violent crimes against women. But also, in addition to the criminal aspect of it, it allows these women a place to go.

It would provide funding for shelters and transitional housing programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and it would help victims get back on their feet. It would make legal assistance available to victims of violence, and it would safeguard children victimized and affected by dating violence and stalking.

This reauthorization would also enact important improvements to the law, gleaned from 18 years of experience combating violence against women.

It would extend better protections for Native American women. The most significant spousal abuse and abuse to children takes place on Indian reservations. This legislation will enlarge the breadth of the bill to protect these people who are so badly in need of help.

This legislation also includes nondiscrimination protection for all victims, regardless of what they look like or where they are from.

It reduces bureaucracy and implements new accountability measures to ensure Federal investments are properly spent.

It places great emphasis on training police to respond to reports of sexual assault, which has among the lowest conviction rates for any violent crime. For police officers, it is one of the most dangerous things they can do. Last year, we had a peace officer in Las Vegas--a sergeant who had been in law enforcement many years--who went with another officer to respond to a domestic violence phone call. He was shot and killed as he walked in the door. So we do need to understand that we need to continue to help train police and also make them better trained to convict the people doing these bad things.

Many years ago, when I was a freshman in the Senate, I held a hearing, under the auspices of the Appropriations Committee, on spousal abuse. Maybe things have changed over the years--and I hope they have. There are better counseling programs. But one thing we learned during those hearings many decades ago was that the main thing that helped a man stop abusing his wife was to put him in jail. Maybe things are better now. At least we need to have better tools to make it so these people can be convicted of these brutal crimes.

We know the tools and training this legislation provides are effective. Consider this legislation's successful record of reducing domestic violence by 53 percent and helping police punish these abusers. We need to do better, but what we have done has been a big step forward from the time I was holding those hearings, before this legislation became effective.

That is why the Senate reauthorized this law unanimously in 2005, on a 95-to-0 vote. That is pretty good. Again, in 2005, we did it unanimously. And in 2000, we did it by a 95-to-0 vote. Both times it was unanimous. I hope we can do it again.

I look forward to a similar bipartisan vote this year, as Democrats and Republicans join together to renew our national commitment to ending domestic violence.