Floor Statements

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

Madam President, following leader remarks, if any, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2230; that is, the Paying a Fair Share Act. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes and the majority will control the next 30 minutes.

Order Of Procedure

I now ask unanimous consent that following the first hour, the time until 5 p.m. today be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, and that the time from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. be under the control of the majority, and the time from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. be under the control of the Republicans.

Thank you, Madam President.

At 5 p.m. this evening, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the Du and Morgan nominations--prospective judges from Nevada and Louisiana. At 6 p.m. there will be two votes on confirmation of those nominations.

Madam President, there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Madam President, I object to any further action at this time with respect to H.R. 2682, H.R. 2779, and H.R. 4014.

Madam President, today the Senate will consider the nomination of a woman by the name of Miranda Du to be a U.S. district judge for the District Court of Nevada. I was very pleased to recommend this woman because she is such an experienced litigator and very proud Nevadan.

Ms. Du has enormous love for the State and this country and a tremendous dedication to public service. Her story is about as inspiring as it gets, and it proves without any question the American dream is alive and well.

Nevada's Asian Pacific population is less than 10 percent. But if confirmed, Ms. Du will be the first Asian American Federal judge in the history of the State of Nevada.

Miranda Du left Vietnam when she was 8 years old with her family in a boat. She was one of the boat people. She was born in Vietnam. She and her family survived the war, and they left. They left voluntarily because they could not get out any other way. I said they left voluntarily--they sneaked

out and got on a boat and took off. They wound up in Malaysia. She spent more than 2 years in a refugee camp in Malaysia--this little girl. She was then, with her family, taken to Alabama: Vietnam, Malaysia, Alabama.

When she got there, she enrolled in an American school for the first time. She did not know how to speak English, and that is an understatement. But as a third grader, everyone recognized how smart she was. She picked up the language very quickly. Miranda Du speaks--it does not matter if she had an accent, but she has none--today as well as you or I.

Her family, after living in Alabama--where her father worked on a dairy farm--eventually worked their way to California. She continued to be pointed out as always one of the smartest in any class. She was able to go to college. She got a degree in history and economics from the University of California at Davis and a law degree from one of the finest law schools in the world, the University of California, Berkeley--the famous Boalt Hall. She did well wherever she went to school.

After law school, she moved to Nevada. She joined at that time a law firm McDonald Carano Wilson, which is a very respected law firm. Bob McDonald, the founder of that firm, was a protege of the famous Nevada Senator Pat McCarran, and he was involved in politics. He was a very prominent lawyer until he died a couple years go. Don Carano is also a very well known, famous man in Nevada, a lawyer, and he has done extremely well. He owns major hotels and casinos. He is one of the biggest producers of wine in the State of California. Spike Wilson was a long-time Nevada State senator. They are just a very fine group of people, these three men who started this law firm.

She was made a partner of the law firm in 2002. Her specialty is litigation. She is a trial lawyer and a very good one. She specializes in complex civil litigation and also employment law. She has appeared before the State and Federal courts in all phases of litigation--trial lawyer, an appellate lawyer before the Nevada Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

She has the support of a bipartisan coalition of Nevada officials, including the Governor. By the way, the Governor was one of my appointments to the Federal bench. He was a Federal judge, Brian Sandoval, and a good Federal judge. He resigned that position and ran for Governor against my son, and he won. He is a fine man. He is my friend, and he has come out vocally and very publicly that this woman is a great lawyer and should be on the bench--something he should know a little bit about.

She has received vocal support from the Lieutenant Governor, also a Republican; the mayor of Reno, also a Republican. In fact, Governor Sandoval wrote to the Judiciary Committee to say, Du ``has exhibited great character and is well respected in the legal community.'' He has given her his unqualified support.

Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki called Ms. Du ``intelligent, inquisitive, reliable and dedicated.'' The Republican mayor of Reno-- with whom, by the way, we had a visit yesterday--Bob Cashell said Du ``will be a great addition to our federal bench.''

In addition to being an experienced litigator, she is also an outstanding citizen. She is involved in the northern Nevada community. There are many things she has done, but she served on the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. She has also served as a court- appointed special advocate representing abused and neglected children. She now, and has in the past for a number of years, mentored high school students in Reno, NV. She is a fine example to those students.

I have had the good fortune to be able to forward to Presidents about 10 names, and I have never been more proud of one than Miranda Du. I repeat, if there were ever a success story, it is this woman who was born in Vietnam, took a boat and wound up in Malaysia, came from Malaysia to America, to Alabama, to California, and is now one of the most respected lawyers we have in the State of Nevada. This is what America is all about.

I sure will.

Madam President, this is coming from a person who was held for 7 years in a prisoner-of-war camp in that country. So I think anyone hearing this--and there are lots of people watching this--should understand what John McCain just said. John McCain and I have battled on a number of substantive issues over the years, but I do not think there is anyone--at least I speak from my perspective--for whom I have more admiration and respect than John McCain, who has done so much for his country.

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, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. The Republicans will control the first half, the majority the final half. Following that morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the repeal of Big Oil tax subsidies legislation. This will be postcloture.

At 12:30 p.m. today, the Senate will recess to accommodate the weekly caucus meetings. Senators are reminded that the official photograph of the 112th Congress will take place at 2:15 p.m. today in the Chamber.

Mr. President, I understand S. 2237 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

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

Mr. President, the Senate yesterday took the first step toward repealing wasteful taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies. I was pleased my Republican colleagues joined Senate Democrats to move this debate forward.

The country deserves to hear the truth about double dipping--double dipping--by oil companies. They take taxpayer money with one hand and raise gas prices with the other hand. There has never been a more perfect illustration of this than what has happened recently. The country deserves to hear the truth about these oil companies.

But do not be fooled by last night's bipartisan vote. Senate Republicans would never, ever side with American taxpayers against Big Oil. It is against their nature. It is against their political philosophy, as indicated by the numerous votes they have taken against this. They proved it yesterday with rhetoric. They proved exactly what I have said. They proved it last year with nearly a party-line vote against legislation to hold back handouts to oil companies that were making record profits then.

The records have been broken. There is a handful of those oil companies--one handful--that last year made $137 billion.

Despite this rhetoric of the Republicans, Americans understand it will take more than a bumper-sticker slogan to stop the pain at the pump. We have to reduce the Nation's reliance on foreign oil. But we cannot drill our way to energy independence. We are doing better. We have done so well during the Obama years. Every year he has been President, production has gone up and the use of oil has gone down.

We must continue looking for responsible new domestic oil sources. But we must also invest in the clean energy technologies of tomorrow to create good jobs for today.

Repealing almost $24 billion in wasteful subsidies to oil companies would pay for these clean energy investments--with money left over to do something about the deficit.

America has less than 2 percent of the oil reserves in the world but consumes more than 20 percent of the world's oil supply each year. So drilling on American soil alone will not solve our reliance on foreign oil.

Last year America used a lower percentage of foreign oil than at any time in almost two decades, thanks to President Obama's policies. Domestic oil production, I repeat, has increased every year during the Obama administration. Meanwhile, American dependence on foreign oil has decreased each year. Yet prices at the pump have continued to rise.

Here is why. For every penny the price at the pump goes up, the major oil companies--there are five of them--make an additional $200 million in profits each quarter. So let's say that again. For every penny you pay extra at the gas pump, these five oil companies make $200 million.

Well, it does not take a lot of math to understand that gas prices have risen 62 cents this year, so take $200 million times 62 and you have a huge amount of billions of dollars. Every time a penny is added to your purchase of a gallon of gas, oil companies make $200 million. So--62 cents--they have made billions this year.

Last year they raked in $137 billion in profits, and they are on pace for another record-breaking year of astronomical profits. So it is beyond ridiculous when Republicans argue oil companies need billions in taxpayer subsidies each year.

Middle-class families are struggling. Oil companies that last year raked in $261,000 a minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, are not struggling.

Mr. President, listen to this again. Oil companies last year raked in $261,000 a minute, 24 hours a day, no weekends off, no holidays. They did it 365 days of the year. They are not struggling at all and that, of course, is a gross understatement. That is why this matter is now before the Senate.

On another topic that is extremely important, Mr. President, I have talked about how obvious it is America needs to reduce its reliance on foreign oil. But if anyone needs another reason, just look at the regimes that benefit from the global addiction to oil.

For example, Iran. Iran uses profits from global oil sales to support its terrorism around the world, its nuclear weapons program. So it is critical the Senate act now--and act quickly--to further tighten sanctions against Iran. These sanctions are a key tool as we work to stop them from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel, and ultimately jeopardizing U.S. national security.

This country is so fortunate to have the person who is leading the Central Intelligence Agency: GEN David Petraeus. I had the good fortune yesterday to spend an hour with him. He is a good man. He understands what is going on in the world.

We must be vigilant, as we are, about what is going on in Iran. I repeat, we must act now--and act quickly--to further tighten sanctions against Iran. These sanctions are a key tool as we work to stop them from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel and further terrorizing other parts of the world.

The only way to get sanctions in place now is to take up a bipartisan bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate Banking Committee. I would like and I am going to move to this. My staff has alerted the Republican leader I am going to ask consent soon to move forward on this unanimously reported bill out of the Banking Committee.

Unfortunately, I have been told my Republican colleagues will object to moving forward with these new sanctions because they want to offer additional amendments. I have Democrats who want to offer additional amendments also, but we do not have the time to slow down passage of this legislation.

Let's move to the next step. When we put this away, we are not going to be finished with Iran. There are a number of Democrats, I repeat, who also wish to offer amendments to this bill, but in an effort to get sanctions in place now, Democrats have agreed to streamline the process and refrain from offering their amendments.

We cannot afford to slow down the process. Passing this bill now will help prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And that is a goal on which we should all agree.

Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the time until 3:30 today be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that at 3:30 p.m. today the Senate adopt the motion to proceed to S. 2204, and then the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 296, S. 1789.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on the motion to proceed to S. 1789, which is the postal reform bill, and the motion to proceed is later adopted, the Senate resume consideration of S. 2204, which is the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I think most people know I worked here as a police officer for most of the time I was going to law school. I also worked for a period of time in the post office. I am not an expert on the post office, but I know the importance of post offices.

I know what is going to happen in the State of Nevada if we do not make some arrangement to help the Postal Service survive. Scores of small post offices in Nevada will go out of business. There will be distribution centers that may not exist after a few months. So I wish to get to the postal bill as much as anyone in this Chamber, having worked for the Postal Service, through the House Post Office.

I wish to move to the postal bill. But I am not going to be forced into doing it at a time that may not work out just right for our schedule; that is, the Senate. So I will move to that shortly after the recess as quickly as I can, but I am not going to agree to a specific time.

I object to the modification.

Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote on which cloture was not invoked on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 296, S. 1789.

Would the Chair be kind enough to announce the pending business?

I have an amendment at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment that has also been filed at the desk.

I have a motion to commit the bill with instructions, which is at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

I have a cloture motion at the desk.

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