Floor Statements

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

There is a bill at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for the second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar, but I object to my own request.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it recess until Tuesday, April 24, at 10 a.m.; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date 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. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act; and that at 10:30 a.m., the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36, a resolution of disapproval regarding the National Labor Relations Board offered by Senator Enzi, under the previous order; and that at 12:30 p.m., the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1925; further, that the Senate recess from 12:50 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; finally, that at 2:15 p.m., the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36.

Mr. President, the first vote will be at 2:15 tomorrow on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36. If that motion is defeated, there will be several votes in order to complete action on the postal reform bill at 2:15 p.m.

Mr. President, I would yield to my friend from Rhode Island.

Mr. President, the Senate is now considering the motion to proceed to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, if any, the first hour will be equally divided between the two sides. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes, the Democrats the final 30 minutes.

I note that the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the substitute amendment and to the postal reform bill is 11 a.m. today. We are still hopeful of working out an agreement on the postal reform bill. If no agreement is reached, there will be a cloture vote on the substitute amendment this afternoon at 2:15.

Postal Reform

Mr. President, for more than two centuries, 200 years, America's postal system thrived and grew in spite of rapidly changing technology. The Postal Service survived the invention of the telegraph, the telephone. It expanded despite radio and television. It grew regardless of the fax machine.

The post office was created in the day of the quill and ink--these inkwells we talked about yesterday--and mailbags slung across horses. The post office survived all of that. It grew through the days of horse and buggy, steamboat and railroad, into the age of airplanes. It adjusted to the expansion of the suburbs, to the growth of cities, and the explosion of our population generally.

It adapted from hand sorting and conveyer belts, with the invention of ZIP Codes and optical sorting machines. The post office has always found creative, cutting-edge ways to do more and more to move mail more quickly, and more of it.

In fact, for two centuries, the Postal Service relied on technology to cope with constant growth, growth in the volume of mail it delivered and the number of homes and businesses to which it delivered. And for 200 years, the Postal Service kept up with a flood of packages and letters and mail orders and online purchases, catalogues and fliers, life-saving medications and absentee ballots, bulk mail and overnight delivery. The post office survived.

Today the Postal Service handles nearly half the world's mail--554 million pieces every day, 6,400 pieces every second. That feat would be impossible without modern technology and world-class workers and facilities. But now technology is both a solution and a problem. In the last 5 years, the Postal Service has seen mail volume drop by more than 20 percent. That trend is expected to continue.

E-mail and online bill payments significantly contributed to this crisis. Today letters, orders, payments across the world happen with the click of a mouse. And the challenge facing the Postal Service is how to adapt to a decreasing volume of mail rather than how to deal with increasing demand.

The bipartisan compromise before the Senate will help the system do that. It will build a leaner, smarter post office which offers new products and services while protecting its mission--delivering the mail 6 days a week to every corner of our great Nation.

The postal reform legislation before this body will sensibly restructure the system while preserving overnight and Saturday delivery. The legislation will save the Postal Service from insolvency. It will responsibly reduce the Postal Service workforce and the number of facilities it maintains. But it will also protect postal employees, including 130,000 veterans from our Armed Forces. It will also safeguard the more than 8 million jobs that depend on a vibrant postal system. And, most importantly, it will account for the needs of millions of seniors, people with disabilities, small business owners, and rural Americans for whom the U.S. mail is an important lifeline to the outside world.

Unlike the unacceptable bill Congressman Issa is pursuing in the House, this bipartisanship Senate bill preserves the Postal Service we know and rely on. The House bill, by contrast, would immediately eliminate Saturday delivery, and it would set up commissions to unilaterally cut costs by closing post offices and processing plants, voiding union contracts and laying off tens of thousands of workers when our economy can least afford it.

That may be why Congressman Issa's bill has not come up for a vote. There could be other reasons. But even the tea party advocates have trouble supporting his reckless ideas. The Senate bill we are considering today is not perfect. It will not save every post office, every job, or every distribution center. It will not please every Senator, every postal worker, or every customer. But unlike the House legislation, it is a strong, bipartisan bill that will modernize an institution enshrined in the Constitution without gutting its mission.

I hope we can continue to work together to pass this worthy legislation, but we are going to have to make a decision on that this morning. I appreciate everyone's cooperation. I especially appreciate the hard work of Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins, the two floor managers of this legislation. There have been others who have worked very hard on this legislation, not the least of whom is Tom Carper who has devoted a lot of the last few years of his life to this legislation.

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

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

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the cloture votes with respect to the Lieberman-Collins substitute amendment 2000, as modified, and S. 1789 be postponed to a time to be determined by me after consultation with Senator McConnell.

Mr. President, as I indicated this morning, we are real close to an agreement. The main issue now is whether there will be a 50-vote hurdle or 60-vote hurdle. We have been through that before. Obviously, we know where we are going to wind up, in my opinion, if we are going to have a bill. So we will work on that for the next hour or so and see what we can come up with.

We are very close to getting something done. As I have said here before the last few days, Senators Lieberman and Collins have done an outstanding job to the point we are. We have made progress. We are here. We are trying to legislate. We have a rule of relevance. It is very broad. That is indicated by the amendments that people have suggested.

So I hope we can work this out very soon. If we cannot, we will have to come back and I guess walk away from postal reform, which is a shame. But everyone who is holding up things should understand, if there is no bill, you are not going to get what you want. If there is no bill, the post office will be drastically hit. The Postmaster gave us until May 15 to come up with something. We have come up with nothing to this point. So if people are concerned about some rural post offices, as well they should be, or about processing centers, as of May 15, the Postmaster General, unless we do something, will have carte blanche to do almost anything he wants to do.

That is not what the Senate wants. So those Senators who are holding up the bill because they do not like it, they may not like what the result of having no bill is.

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

Mr. President, first of all, let me express my appreciation to every Senator. We tried something a little different, and I think it is something we can look to in the future. We decided we were going to have an amendment process. Maybe it is not as far as everyone wants to go, but it is a pretty good step in the right direction. Rather than having no amendments, rather than having only germane amendments, we decided we would have a standard that is very broad; that is, relevant amendments. It has given people the opportunity to offer lots of different things. So I hope in the future--it may not happen on every piece of legislation that comes along, but I hope we get in the habit of being able to do things such as this; that gives Senators wide range on things they can do. But anyway, we have done it on this and I appreciate everyone's cooperation.

I also appreciate the good work of Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins. I have many times in the last week or so expressed that appreciation to them for their leadership. This has been extremely difficult. It is a massive bill dealing with more than one-half million postal employees, more than 30,000 post offices, 500 or so processing centers, and it has been extremely difficult to get to a point where I hope we can arrive shortly. So we are here. I have been given the nod.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motions with respect to the Lieberman-Collins substitute amendment and the bill be vitiated; the motion to recommit be withdrawn; that the pending amendments Nos. 2013 and 2015 be withdrawn and that the following amendments be the only amendments in order to S. 1789 or the pending substitute amendment No. 2000, as modified: McCain 2001; Tester 2056; Coburn 2060; McCain 2033; Wyden-Feinstein 2020; Coburn 2058; McCaskill- Merkley 2031; Coburn 2061; Snowe 2080; Udall of New Mexico 2043; Durbin 2082; Akaka 2034, with a modification agreed to by the two managers; Bennet-Blunt 2047; Corker 2083; Mikulski 2003; Akaka 2049; Paul 2025; Manchin 2079; Paul 2026; Bingaman 2076; Paul 2027; Cardin 2040; Paul 2028; Carper 2065; Paul 2029; Carper 2066; Paul 2039; Casey 2042; Paul 2038; Landrieu 2072; DeMint 2046; McCaskill 2030; Coburn 2059; Pryor 2036; Rockefeller 2073; Rockefeller 2074; Schumer 2050; Tester 2032; and Warner 2071, with a modification agreed to by the two managers; that on Tuesday, April 24, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed; that there be 2 minutes equally divided in the usual form prior to each vote; that all after the first vote be 10-minute votes; that the amendments be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold; that there be no other amendments in order to the bill, the substitute amendment, as modified, or the amendments listed; and there be no points of order or motions in order to any of these amendments, the substitute amendment or the bill, other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive; that upon disposition of the amendments, the substitute amendment, as modified and amended, if amended, be agreed to; further, the bill, as amended, then be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of the bill, as amended; finally, that the vote on passage of the bill be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold.

Mr. President, another important issue: I ask unanimous consent that at 2 p.m., on Monday, April 23, the Republican leader or his designee be recognized to move to proceed to the consideration of S.J. Res. 36, a joint resolution disapproving a rule submitted by the National Labor Relations Board relating to representation election procedures; that there be up to 4 hours of debate on the motion to proceed, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; further, that the first 2 hours of debate, equally divided, occur from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, April 23, and the final 2 hours of debate, equally divided, occur from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 24; that at 2:15 p.m., Tuesday, April 24, the Senate proceed to vote on the adoption of the motion to proceed; that if the motion is successful, then the time for debate with respect to the joint resolution be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the joint resolution be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the joint resolution; finally, all other provisions of the statute governing consideration of the joint resolution remain in effect.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 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 on Monday, April 23, at 5 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 528; that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote, with no intervening action or debate, on Calendar No. 528; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and there be no further motions in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and the Senate then resume legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1021.

I ask unanimous consent that a Coons amendment, which is at 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, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to S. Res. 430.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until Monday, April 23, at 12 noon; 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 then resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1925; that at 2 p.m., the Republican leader or his designee be recognized to make a motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 36, which would be under a previous order that has already been entered; further, that at 4 p.m., the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 1925; and, finally, at 5 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session under the previous order.

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

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

Mr. President, first of all, I say to the Presiding Officer, thank you very much for your patience. We often need patience, so I appreciate yours.

Unanimous Consent Agreement--S. 1789

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that in the previous order with respect to S. 1789 and the Akaka amendment No. 2034 the reference to the modification of the Akaka amendment No. 2034 be stricken.

Mr. President, there is a bill at the desk due for its first reading.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, there will be a rollcall vote on confirmation of the Wimes nomination.

This evening we reached an agreement to complete action on the postal reform bill. On Monday there will be time from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and following the vote at 5:30 p.m. for Senators to debate their amendments to the bill.