Floor Statements

Mr. President, before I start the closing script, I want it to be spread on the record that we have tried all day to come up with an agreement to move forward on this legislation, and we have been unsuccessful.

This is a piece of legislation that is as bipartisan as is humanly possible. We have one of the most progressive Members of the Senate, Senator Boxer, and one of the most conservative Members of the Senate, Jim Inhofe, who are cosponsoring this legislation. It is a piece of legislation that continues the highway program, the surface transportation program. It is so needed.

Yesterday, I had the director of the department of transportation in Nevada, Susan Martinavich, come in. I am confident that most Senators have had someone from their States here and had a conference. It will bring construction in Nevada to a standstill on our highways and bridges and some of the mass transit programs if we don't move forward. But we can't even get on the bill.

I have agreed to do this unrelated amendment. My caucus agreed we will do these. We don't want to; they are not productive. They are message amendments, and they are not germane or relevant. But we will do a limited number of these bad amendments. There have been over 100 of them filed.

I am at a loss for words as to what the Republicans expect me to do-- stand around for another week and look at each other?

We started moving to this bill on February 7. The amendment we are going to vote on tomorrow, out of nowhere, on a transportation bill, is dealing with contraception. We have agreed to have votes on it. They will not let us have votes. Yesterday, I had to bring up a Republican amendment they didn't even bother to file. They just wanted to talk about it and hold press conferences on the issue.

Unless something changes, I am going to have to file cloture on this bill, and we are going to have to find out if the Republicans really want destruction all across the 50 States and have another hit to our economy by not doing highway construction, especially as the weather is getting better. In the Presiding Officer's State of Oregon, which is just like Nevada, where unemployment has not been good, a lot can go on. I have no alternative but to file cloture to stop the filibuster. It is one of these roving filibusters where all these phantom people will not let us move forward on this legislation.

I am almost embarrassed to be saying this in front of the Presiding Officer. I say that because at the beginning of the year the Presiding Officer, along with the junior Senator from New Mexico, thought maybe we should change how this place operates. A number of us, in good conscience, believed the few changes we had made would be sufficient to establish a better working situation. It hasn't been better. In fact, I am sorry to say, it is worse.

So we are going to--unless something happens--have a vote tomorrow. Can you imagine, I created a vote because they would not allow us to have a vote? So I don't see what choice I have.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, the Senate adjourn until Thursday, March 1, 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 resume consideration of S. 1813, the surface transportation bill, with the time until 11 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; that at 11 a.m. the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Blunt amendment No. 1520; and that all provisions under the previous order remain in effect.

I am going to say this now--I will ask consent in the morning, Mr. President--I want to have the full hour and a half to have this matter debated. We will come in tomorrow at 9:30, so there will be an hour and a half. I want to make sure we have that full time. So I will ask unanimous consent that the statements of Senator McConnell and myself not count against the hour and a half, but I will do that tomorrow.

I now ask the Chair to approve my earlier request.

Mr. President, at 11 a.m. tomorrow the Senate will proceed to vote in relation to the Blunt amendment No. 1520 on contraception and health care. Tomorrow we will continue to work on a path forward on the Transportation bill, as I have outlined previously.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn 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, following leader remarks the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:30. The majority will control the first 30 minutes and the Republicans will control the second 30 minutes.

The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 today for our weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. President, I am told H.R. 1173 is due for a second reading.

I would object to any further proceedings at this time to this piece of legislation.

Mr. President, last evening in an hour set aside at the request of Senators Pryor and Alexander, a very good conversation took place on the Senate floor.

Senators Pryor and Alexander are exemplary in trying to work things out; they are good legislators because they understand no side gets their way. I have been here a long time, and I have been fortunate to get pieces of legislation passed that I sponsored and worked toward, but I have never ever had a piece of legislation that I introduced that wound up with that piece of legislation; always there are changes. That is the legislative process.

That is what Senator Pryor and Alexander talked about yesterday evening. It was important. They talked about the need to bring bills to the floor. They focused on appropriations bills--and rightfully so. I am a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, as is the Republican leader, and we understand the importance of working on these bills.

In the last number of years, we haven't been able to do individual appropriations bills, except on rare occasions. We have done these omnibus and minibuses, and we are trying to get away from that. I think the framework

laid last night was extremely important.

The Republican leader and I have talked individually, personally, away from everyone, about the need to get this done for the integrity of the Senate, and the colloquy last night helped what I think the Republican leader and I wish to get done. We need the agreement of Senate Republicans and Democrats that we will work together to complete this important work, and they talked about appropriations bills.

Senator Warner and Senator Hagan joined Senator Pryor; Senators Isakson, Collins, Boozman, and Graham joined Senator Alexander. So it was a significant number of Senators who talked about wanting to do the same thing and I commend and applaud their work.

I will yield.

I have spoken to Senator Inouye, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He is beginning, with Senator Cochran, the hearing process where administration officials come in and report to the individual appropriations subcommittees.

Senator Inouye thinks that, come late April, we can start moving some of these bills to the floor. We have to wait until the House does something because otherwise we get into procedural hurdles. But the House, I am told, wants to move these quickly also. I hope we can get these bills done.

The first real good experience I had in the Senate was working as a conferee on individual appropriations bills. That is fun. That is what legislation is all about and we have gotten away from that and I hope we can get back to doing some good things in that regard.

The Auto Industry

Mr. President, when President Obama took office 3 years ago, the auto industry was on a life support system. It was in very bad shape. I am sorry to say the life support system the Detroit auto industry was surviving on, Republicans wanted to pull the plug.

One man who is now seeking the Republican nomination for President of the United States said, ``We should kiss the American automobile industry good-bye.'' We can't make up stuff like that. That is what he actually said. He called the death of American auto manufacturers ``virtually guaranteed.'' ``Virtually guaranteed'' is another direct quote. So he argued we should let Detroit go bankrupt. But he wasn't alone. If he were alone, that would be a lone wolf crying in the wilderness, but that is not the way it was. Republicans in this Chamber agreed. Many of them agreed.

Democrats, though, weren't willing to give up on American manufacturing because saving the automobile industry wasn't about saving corporations; it was about saving millions of Americans who work for these corporations. It wasn't about saving the people who own race cars; it was about saving the people who work on assembly lines making the parts to keep those race cars running.

There is no way Democrats would walk away from millions of Americans whose jobs were on the line. Americans working in dealerships and distribution centers and manufacturing plants across the country were depending on us to do something, and we did. We didn't give up the fight to save the auto industry. We didn't give up even when one Senate Republican called the efforts ``a road to nowhere.''

Here, the verdict is in. We were right. The American auto industry has added 160,000 jobs in the last 24 months alone. Last year, General Motors reported record profits and sold more vehicles than any other car company in the world. Chrysler is profitable again. People are boasting about the quality of American cars, and Chrysler is growing faster in the United States than any other major automobile manufacturer.

So when a Republican Presidential frontrunner said we should kiss the American automobile industry goodbye, he couldn't have been more wrong. We all make mistakes. We all get one wrong occasionally. The test of character is admitting when we make that mistake, and it is time for Republicans to recognize that saving the American automobile manufacturing industry and millions of middle-class jobs was the right thing to do.

There is good news from the auto industry: Twenty-four months of private sector job growth is evidence our country is headed in the right direction. But too many Americans are still hurting financially and struggling to find work, and it is crucial Congress continue efforts to create jobs and rebuild our economy. So Democrats are moving forward with a bipartisan package of bills that will spur small business growth.

These measures will improve innovators' access to capital--that is so important--and will streamline how companies sell stocks through initial public offerings or, as they are called, IPOs. These pieces of legislation will also protect the rights of investors.

Next week, Chairman Johnson, the senior Senator from South Dakota, will hold a Banking Committee hearing on this issue. It will be the third hearing on these measures since December. Senate Democrats have been working on these measures for a long time, and I am so happy to have read that House Republicans are joining Democrats to move this legislation. Commonsense issues such as these should not have to turn into knock-down, drag-out fights. This is something on which we should agree.

These companies need the ability to get cash to innovate, to grow, to build. This legislation that is being promulgated in the Banking Committee and the hearing that takes place there is very important to our country. I look forward to moving these measures and our economy forward with the help of my Republican colleagues.

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, would you state the pending business.

Mr. President, at the beginning of this month--in fact, February 7--I moved to proceed to the surface transportation bill that is before us today--an extremely important bill, a bipartisan bill. This effort has been led by two fine Senators--one quite progressive and the other very conservative--Senators Boxer and Inhofe, the chairman and ranking member of the very important Environment and Public Works Committee. This is a vital job-creating measure. The bill would create and maintain up to 2.8 million jobs.

On February 9, 2 days after I moved to this bill, the Senate voted 85 to 11 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. The bill has broad bipartisan support. But immediately after the Senate moved to the bill on February 9, Senator Blunt asked unanimous consent that it be in order to offer his amendment on contraception and women's health. I was stunned. I couldn't believe this. I said, What is going on here? I objected at the time. I didn't see why this surface transportation jobs bill was the appropriate place for an amendment on contraception and women's health.

But the Republican leader and others on the Republican side of the aisle have made it very clear the Senate is not going to be able to move forward on this important surface transportation bill unless we vote on contraception and women's health. My friend the Republican leader said it on national TV

on ``Face the Nation'' with Bob Schieffer. Senator McConnell said, ``The issue will not go away.''

So I believe it is vital to get this jobs bill done. What is standing in the way is the Republicans' insistence on having a vote on a measure that would deny women access to health services such as contraception and even prenatal screenings. So after discussing it with numerous Senators, I decided we should set up a vote on the one amendment, on contraception and women's health. There has been enough delay on this bill. So we will have a vote on this Blunt amendment on Thursday. After that, we hope to be able to work out an agreement to have votes on a number of nongermane amendments on each side. Maybe we will need to have some side-by-sides, the Republicans may need some side-by-sides on our amendments. That is fine, but let's move forth.

Meanwhile, the managers have made tremendous progress on clearing more than 25 agreed-to amendments. I know the managers will want to work on clearing even additional germane amendments. So I believe this process will be the most constructive way to move the bill forward. I hope this will help us be in a position to work through to completing the transportation bill by the end of next week.

I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the Blunt amendment No. 1520 to be called up; that on Thursday, March 1, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Blunt amendment; further, that no other amendments be in order prior to the vote in relation to the Blunt amendment.

Mr. President, I call up the Blunt amendment.

I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be waived.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the achievements of the U.S. Senate Youth Program, USSYP, an organization that has molded some of our Nation's brightest students to become the next generation of public servants.

This year marks 50 years of a commitment to educate and nurture talented young leaders interested in serving their communities. The USSYP hails from a strong family that valued bipartisanship and democratic lawmaking. William Randolph Hearst's sons, George R. Hearst and Randolph A. Hearst, envisioned this program and brought it to life with the collaboration of then-Senators Tom Kuchel, R CA, Mike Mansfield, D MT, Everett Dirksen, R Ill., and Hubert Humphrey, D MN.

The USSYP was created by S. Res. 324 in 1962 ``to increase young Americans' understanding of the interrelationships of the three branches of government, the caliber and responsibilities of federally elected and appointed officials, and the vital importance of democratic decision making not only for America but for people around the world.''

I would also like to commend the State departments of education across the country that select the outstanding students each year and the Department of Defense, which provides competitively selected military officers from every service branch to serve as guides and mentors to the students during the program. The Hearst Foundations have continued to administer and fund the program since inception, including college scholarships for each student given with the encouragement

to continue their studies in history and government.

This year, 104 impressive student delegates were selected because of their outstanding leadership abilities and volunteer work by the chief educational officer from each State to travel to Washington and serve as young ``senators'' from their respective States for 1 week. They will keep a busy schedule attending meetings and briefings with Senators and congressional staff, the President, a Justice of the Supreme Court, leaders of Cabinet agencies, an ambassador to the United States, and top members of the national media.

The USSYP has a proud roster of more than 5,000 alumni of the program who continue to use the skills they learned from their experience as delegates and many of whom have become public servants.

I am proud to serve as an honorary cochair of the program, and I send my best wishes to each of the students selected to represent their States during Washington Week. I especially send my sincere congratulations to the two Nevada delegates, Daniel Waqar of Las Vegas and Benjamin Link of Eureka.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, Senator Shaheen will be recognized to deliver Washington's Farewell Address. This is the 150th anniversary of that tradition, and we are very pleased that Senator Shaheen is going to do this. No one could be more exemplary of his service than she.

Mr. President, following the address, the Senate will be in morning business until 4:30 p.m. today.

At 4:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Margo Brodie to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on confirmation of the Brodie nomination.

I ask unanimous consent that following the vote and resumption of legislative session, the Senate be in a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with the time equally divided and controlled between Senators Pryor and Alexander or their designees.

Mr. President, last week Nevada lost a great statesman and I lost a friend and mentor. William Raggio was the longest serving State senator in Nevada's history. He died last week while traveling in Australia. My heart is with his wife Dale, whom I spoke with, children Leslie and Tracy and, of course, my thoughts go to Mark, the son Bill lost in 2004, six grandchildren, and they have a great-grandchild.

I hope it is some small comfort to know that all of Nevada mourns the loss of this very effective and fine Nevada citizen.

He was a second-generation Nevadan born and raised in Reno, NV. Senator Randolph Townsend said, ``Bill was part of the fabric of the city.'' That is true. He lived to serve.

In addition to his four decades of service in the State legislature, he volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces during World War II. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17, but the war ended before he graduated from officer training school.

When he finished his service, he attended the University of Nevada, and then went to law school in California. But he continued to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps as a United States Navy Reservist.

He was the district attorney of Washoe County, which is the Reno metropolitan area, for 18 years, including 3 terms before he became a State legislator. He was president of the National DAs Association.

He rooted out corruption wherever he served. There was nothing more corrupt, in his mind, and the minds of all Nevadans, than an illegal brothel. That illegal brothel went on by virtue of Joe Conforte being able to pass out money to people for a long time. Bill Raggio, as DA, picked a fight with him, and that fight is legend. Bill got the last word. Conforte spent 22 months in prison for trying to bribe Bill Raggio. And in 1965, Bill Raggio, to get the last word, had the local authorities declare that facility a nuisance and burn it

down. He was there watching the fire as it destroyed that place.

It wasn't until 1972 that Bill brought his integrity and dedication to the State House as a member of the Nevada State Senate. So for 38 years, there wasn't a piece of legislation that passed the Nevada legislature that didn't have his imprint on it in some way. He worked to help pass thousands of different pieces of legislation. He was an expert in the process. Nobody knew how to craft a budget better than Bill Raggio.

He was a Republican who believed government should be ``lean but not mean.'' He was never afraid to work with Democratic members, even though he was Republican leader for several terms. Here is what he said recently: I think the present leadership of the Republican Party is a little too radical and has been taken over by what I think is a radical element.

He went on to say in an interview, after he decided to retire:

The party has to reshape itself, or it won't win general

elections down the road.

That is Bill Raggio, speaking as we should all speak--not as a Republican but as a Nevadan and an American. So it is no surprise to see the outpouring of grief of Democrats and Republicans at his passing.

``No one has ever loved this state more or has had a more passionate desire to make things better for the people who live here,'' said Democratic Assembly Speaker John Ocegera.

If there was a Mount Rushmore of Nevada politics, Bill

Raggio's image would forever be carved there. The Nevada

family has lost a great patriarch.

That was what Republican Governor Brian Sandoval said.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record four pages of statements made by Nevada-elected and appointed officials, and citizens of Nevada about Bill Raggio.

He believed in doing what was right for Nevada, even when it wasn't right for his political party. I admired him and respected him. I respected him even when he and I disagreed, and that happened. But we agreed far more than we disagreed.

I can remember the first time I met him. The person I worked for had worked as a deputy district attorney for Bill Raggio. He came to visit me in our law office, and he was always very funny, very articulate, and somebody I admired and, as I indicated, was my mentor. But I can remember him being in that office as if it were 10 minutes ago.

Upon his retirement last year, Bill told a local reporter, ``Nobody is irreplaceable. You will see.'' It seems, once again, though, Bill and I disagreed. No one can replace Bill Raggio. The mark he left on Nevada politics could never be erased, but his powerful political voice and his true personal friendship will be missed.

Senator Raggio was an effective legislator and leader in part because of his willingness to cooperate with those with whom he disagreed. It would serve this Chamber well to emulate his bipartisan approach.

Working Together

We have a great deal to accomplish this work period. We need to consider postal reform legislation. It is mandatory that we do that. We have a pressing cyber-security piece of legislation that the Pentagon says is the most important thing we can do for our country. We have to clear a backlog of judicial nominees that threatens the effectiveness of our court system. But first, we must complete one of the most important tasks facing this Congress: strengthening our economy by rebuilding our Nation's crumbling infrastructure.

Today we will resume progress on the Transportation bill that will put 2 million Americans back to work rebuilding roads, bridges, trains, and their tracks.

The House is also considering transportation legislation. I was glad to see that House Republicans have moved away from that extreme proposal they were considering a few weeks ago. They are going to now try to pass something similar to our bipartisan legislation. This is bipartisan legislation.

Too much rests on our success to let this jobs measure be bogged down by partisanship. President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, was the original champion of national infrastructure investment a half century ago. He once said:

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.

He was right that it takes strength to work together. But working together also makes us strong. I look forward to working together with my colleagues on both sides as we complete transportation legislation that will make our economy strong.

We have 5 weeks during this work period. We have a lot to do. I hope we can work together to get it done.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, February 27, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 409; that there be 60 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on that nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that 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.