Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 don't think apologies are in order. We have been doing the best we can for several days now. We have a typical agreement, not one that either side jumps for joy about. In the near future, we are going to be able to finish this important piece of legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to recommit be withdrawn; that the pending second-degree amendment be withdrawn; that the Reid of Nevada amendment No. 1761 be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered original text for the purposes of further amendment; that the following amendments be the only first-degree amendments remaining in order to S. 1813:

Vitter No. 1535; Baucus or designee relative to rural schools; Collins No. 1660; Coburn No. 1738; Nelson of Florida, Shelby, Landrieu No. 1822, with a modification in order if agreed to by Senators Nelson of Florida, Shelby, Landrieu, and Baucus; Wyden No. 1817; Hoeven No. 1537; Levin No. 1818;

McConnell or designee with a side-by-side to Stabenow No. 1812; Stabenow No. 1812; Demint No. 1589; Menendez-Burr No. 1782; DeMint No. 1756; Coats No. 1517; Brown of Ohio No. 1819; Blunt No. 1540; Merkley No. 1653; Portman No. 1736; Klobuchar No. 1617; Corker No. 1785, with a modification; Shaheen No. 1678; Portman No. 1742; Corker No. 1810; Carper No. 1670; Hutchison No. 1568; McCain No. 1669, modified with changes at the desk; Alexander No. 1779; Boxer No. 1816; and Paul No. 1556; that on Thursday, March 8, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the amendments in the order listed; that the following amendments be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold: Vitter No. 1535; Baucus or designee relative to rural schools; Collins No. 1660; Coburn No. 1738; Nelson of Florida- Shelby-Landrieu No. 1822; Wyden No. 1817; Hoeven No. 1537; McConnell or designee side-by-side to Stabenow No. 1812; Stabenow No. 1812; DeMint No. 1589; Menendez-Burr No. 1782; that there be no other amendments in order to the bill or the amendments listed other than the managers' package and there be no points of order or motions in order to any of these amendments other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive; that it be in order for a managers' package to be considered and, if approved by the managers and the two leaders, the managers' package be agreed to; further, the bill, as amended, then be read the third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of the bill, as amended, and if the bill is passed, it be held at the desk; finally, that when the Senate receives the House companion to S. 1813, as determined by the two leaders, it be in order for the majority leader to proceed to its immediate consideration, strike all after the enacting clause and insert the text of S. 1813, as passed by the Senate, in lieu thereof; that the House bill, as amended, be read the third time, a statutory pay-go statement be read, if needed, and the bill, as amended, be passed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that upon passage, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

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 the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 263.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Harkin amendment, which is at desk, be agreed to, the committee-reported substitute, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 390.

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 any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2152, the Syria Democracy Transition Act of 2012, and the bill be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I ask for a second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar under rule XIV but object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, March 7, the majority leader be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate

completes its business today, it adjourn until Thursday, March 8, 2012, at 9:30 a.m; 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 following any leader remarks, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, and the majority will control the first half and the Republicans the final half; that following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1813, the surface transportation bill.

Mr. President, so everyone understands, we have reached agreement to complete action on the surface transportation bill. Under the order we just entered, we can finish this tomorrow. It is a huge job. We have 30 amendments we have to dispose of, so there is no question that Senators should expect a number of votes tomorrow.

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

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The majority will control the first half, Republicans the second half. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1813, which is the surface transportation bill. The filing deadline for second-degree amendments is today at 11:30. At noon there will be a cloture vote on the substitute amendment. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. At 2:15 there will be two votes on the confirmation of the Phillips and Rice nominations to be judges.

Will the Chair announce the business today.

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

We appreciate everyone's patience. The Republican leader and I wanted to come and say a few words. The measure before the Senate today is moderate bipartisan legislation. Its four component parts were reported out of four different committees with bipartisan support. Eighty-five Senators voted to begin debate on this legislation. As everyone will remember, we had to file cloture on a motion to proceed to this bill, and the Senate agreed we should move forward on this legislation.

This bill will create or save 3 million middle-class jobs, and it enjoys broad support among rank-and-file members. Over 1,000 different organizations support this legislation--from the Chamber of Commerce, to the AFL CIO, and AAA. It has the endorsement of one of the Senate's most conservative Members and one of its most liberal Members, the two main managers of this legislation. Democrats and Republicans have agreed additionally to 30 other germane and relevant amendments, so there should be nothing standing in the way of progress on this crucial legislation. Yet for weeks Republicans have refused to work with Democrats to finalize a path forward. So in a few moments the Senate will vote on whether to end debate on this measure and to end another filibuster.

The bill before this body is a bill that has been generated by the Environment and Public Works Committee. We have a provision in it from the Commerce Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Banking Committee that is before this body. But in addition to that, we have 37 amendments that are part of this measure that is before the body.

If we did nothing else but invoked cloture on this legislation and passed it and sent it to the House where we would have a conference, we would be way ahead because this bipartisan piece of legislation would help the American people save millions of jobs.

It is hard to comprehend that I had to file cloture on such a bipartisan bill, a measure Republican President Eisenhower and Democratic President Clinton could have agreed on and would have agreed on. Forty years after President Eisenhower won passage of the first highway bill, President Clinton said the law had succeeded in bringing Americans closer to each other. President Clinton said:

We were connected city-to-city, town-to-town, family-to-

family, as we had never been before. That law did more to

bring Americans together than any other law in this century.

That was said by Bill Clinton, but it was almost a copy of what President Eisenhower said in his memoir about the most important thing he did as President of the United States was this piece of legislation, and that says a lot coming from President Eisenhower.

I had great optimism that the transportation legislation before the Senate today would bring our two parties closer together as the interstate highways brought the American people closer together in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. So it is disappointing that the Republican leadership would jeopardize this legislation and 3 million American jobs to pursue this ideological agenda.

I am hopeful the Senate will vote to move this much needed jobs legislation forward. Only seven Republicans are needed to allow us to do this. Only 7 of the 47 have to join us and move forward, but it seems more likely that my Republican colleagues will continue to take orders from the tea party and filibuster this jobs measure. Republicans are quite plainly holding up the surface transportation bill when they vote against cloture. That is what ``cloture'' means; it means the Senate agrees we need to focus on the germane amendments and bring endless debate to a close.

Senate Republican leaders are taking a page out of the book of the carnival magician. They have been saying since February 9: Look over here; look over here. They have been insisting on votes on contraception, on loosening clean water standards, and on drilling for oil pretty much anywhere there is water. But as the carnival magician says: Look over here, there is no need to look over there because it is just an effort to divert attention from what is really happening. No one should be fooled by what is going on here.

A vote against cloture is a vote against moving forward on this very important bipartisan legislation, and that is true no matter what diversions anyone might use to try to distract attention from this very important piece of legislation that is now ours to move forward on.

Reserving the right to object.

I don't know why everything we do has to be a fight--not a disagreement, a fight. This bill was brought up on February 7, and we have been spending the better part of a month dealing with contraception--by the way, an amendment I had to offer because they wouldn't bring it up so we could vote on it.

My math says this agreement that has been suggested by the Republican leader calls for 34 amendments. I understand and I appreciate that some of them are related to what is in this bill--some of them are. As I indicated earlier, we have been dealing with contraception. There are amendments dealing with clean water standards and clean air standards. Nothing in this bill should deal with America having to breathe more mercury, more lead, and then, just for good measure, how about some arsenic? That has nothing to do with the highway bill.

As I said before, the amendment I looked at from my friend from Louisiana calls for drilling for oil anyplace there is water. Next they will be going to Lake Mead outside Las Vegas. We are producing more domestic oil now than in decades. The President has opened areas in Alaska that have never been opened before.

Why can't we just invoke cloture on this bill and move forward on it? It is not easy to get to conference--we know that--but we could go to conference. The House is doing its best to come up with a bill. They are struggling hard.

On the first day of April, it will be April Fools' Day for a lot of people in America because we will lose almost 800,000 jobs on April 1. It will be a real April Fools' Day. So if we can't move forward on this--why can't we get seven Republicans to break from the pack over here and say that not everything we do has to be an arm-wrestling contest?

I appreciate that we at least have something in writing. I appreciate that. I will take a look at it, but I object.

Mr. President, I am, for lack of a better word, disappointed. These amendments are going to do nothing to advance the work product of almost 3 million Americans--none of them.

We should invoke cloture. I ask my Republican colleagues: Break this impasse. Do something that is good for the American people. Invoke cloture and stop the filibuster--another one.

Cloture Motion

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the Reid amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote with respect to the underlying bill be vitiated.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, following leader remarks the Senate will be in a period of morning business. The filing deadline for first-degree amendments to the surface transportation bill is 4 o'clock today. There will be no votes today. The first vote of the week will be noon tomorrow, a motion to invoke cloture on the surface transportation bill.