Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Pine Forest Recreation Enhancement Act of 2011.

The entire Nevada congressional delegation has joined together in support of this important legislation for northern Nevada. The Pine Forest Recreation Enhancement Act would designate 26,000 acres of public lands within the Blue Lakes and Alder Creek Wilderness Study Areas, WSAs, as the Pine Forest Range Wilderness Area while releasing 1,1500 acres of existing WSA lands. The bill also directs the

Bureau of Land Management, BLM, to exchange federal lands nearby ranches in Humboldt County for private parcels within the existing WSAs. These exchanges will allow the BLM to more effectively manage the wilderness area and increase the economic opportunities for the adjacent ranches by providing land for agricultural uses.

This bill is the product of a comprehensive local process that took into consideration the concerns of local landowners, sportsmen, conservationists, and other interested parties in Humboldt County. This diverse group of stakeholders came together to develop this compromise proposal through a series of public meetings and field trips. This process was so successful that, for the first time that I can remember, a wilderness proposal was presented to our delegation with almost unanimous support and the Nevada State Legislature passed a joint resolution endorsing the work of the County commission and the Pine Forest Working Group.

Beyond the widespread state and local support, there is no question that the pristine natural lands and wildlife habitat in the Blue Lakes and Alder Creek WSA should receive the strongest level of protection we can provide for public lands. Rising from the confluence of the Great Basin and Owyhee deserts, the Pine Forest Range boasts high alpine lakes surrounded by granite spires that are home to a variety of large trout including our Lahontan Cutthroat trout that is native only to Nevada. The thick forests of aspen and pine that blanket these mountains provide a stronghold for mule deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. The area is also well known by sportsmen across the west for its world class chukar hunting; a favorite fall pastime for many Nevadans.

Protecting these untouched natural lands in Nevada is important to me and to the people of Humboldt County. I want to thank each member of the Humboldt County Commission, Garley Amos, Mike Bell, Tom Fransway, Dan Cassinelli, and Jim French as well as Bill Deese for their work to bring this legislation to fruition. I would also like to express my gratitude to Jim Jeffress from Trout Unlimited, Shaaron Netherton from the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and the other members of the Pine Forest Range working group for their tireless efforts that have been universally recognized as the gold standard for developing wilderness proposals.

I look forward to working with Chairman Bingaman, Ranking Member Murkowski and the other distinguished members of the Senate Energy Committee to move this legislation forward in the near future.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 353, 356; that there be 1 hour for debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote, without intervening action or debate, on the nominations in the order listed, with 2 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form between the votes; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following items en bloc: Calendar No. 130, S. 271; Calendar No. 131, S. 278; Calendar No. 139, S. 535; Calendar No. 140, S. 683; Calendar No. 141, S. 684; Calendar No. 142, S. 808; Calendar No. 143, S. 897; and Calendar No. 145, S. 997.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that any committee- reported amendments relative to these bills be agreed to en bloc, where applicable; that the bills be read a third time and passed, as amended, if amended, en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table for each of these measures, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to the measures be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 1786 be placed on the calendar.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, November 3, 2011; 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 the motion to proceed to S. 1769, the Rebuild America Jobs Act, with the time until 3 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. President, there will be up to two rollcall votes at approximately 3 p.m. tomorrow. The first vote will be on the Reid motion to proceed, and if that is unsuccessful, then there will be a vote on the McConnell motion to proceed. Also, as indicated a few minutes ago, we are going to have two votes on judicial nominations tomorrow.

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

Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 2112. There could be as many as seven rollcall votes. Likely, there will only be six.

The Senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus meetings.

There will be a Senators-only national security briefing at 3:30 p.m. in SVC-217. I haven't had an opportunity to speak to the Republican leader, but we will discuss whether we should be out of session during that hour. It is a very important briefing. I will talk to my counterpart to determine whether we should be out of session during that important briefing.

Also, I want to put all Senators on notice that we are going to stick to our timelines on these votes. The first vote will be 15 minutes, with a 5-minute grace period. The rest of the votes will be 10 minutes, with a 5-minute grace period. If people are not here, we are turning in the vote. We have two very important caucuses today and we need to start them. We cannot have the votes dragging on forever. If you have committee meetings, walk out of them. If you have business meetings in your office with constituents, leave and come here and vote. I say to both Democrats and Republicans, we are going to turn in the votes at the end of the expired time. It is not fair to Senators who are here on time to wait for others. Senator McConnell and I have caucuses today that are extremely important. We need to have the full time. It is the only time we have all week to visit with our Senators about what is going on in the Senate.

Madam President, there are two bills at the desk for a second reading, I am told.

Madam President, I object to any further proceedings regarding these two bills, en bloc.

This week, Democrats introduced legislation that will put Americans back to work rebuilding this Nation's crumbling infrastructure. It will allow us to hire thousands of people to upgrade 150,000 miles of roadways, thousands of miles of train tracks, and modernize our Nation's runways and air traffic control systems. The Rebuild America Jobs Act will invest $50 billion to ensure that our world-class economy has world-class infrastructure and get this economy working again.

This is not a new issue. It is something that is long overdue. A number of years ago, I conducted a hearing in the

Public Works Committee, where we brought in mayors from around the country, from Atlanta, Washington, DC, and other places around the country. They lamented the sorry state of the infrastructure. Sadly, in those approximately 10 years, nothing has been done--nothing.

This commonsense plan we have proposed has enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the past. Many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate have spoken glowingly about what infrastructure investments could do to put people back to work and improve the economy in their States. Yet this week Republicans have raised a hue and cry against our plan because it has millionaires and billionaires--those whose income is more than $1 million--to contribute their fair share to right our listing economy.

We don't cast a net over millionaires and billionaires, only those who make more than $1 million a year. The plan would require the richest of the rich in America to contribute a tiny fraction of income to that effort. They would pay a seven-tenths of 1 percent surtax on income in excess of $1 million a year. If someone made $1.1 million a year income, they would have to pay an additional $700 to put America back to work.

Yet my Republican colleagues adamantly oppose this fair and balanced approach because it would require Americans who have done better each year for decades to contribute a tiny fraction more than they do now. These people are the top two-tenths of 1 percent of American taxpayers--two-tenths of 1 percent, the richest of the rich. Yet Republicans have put the interests of these millionaires and billionaires ahead of those who are desperate for work, and it has cost this Nation literally millions of jobs.

It is important that we be clear about who these lucky few millionaires and billionaires are who enjoy the protections of the Senate GOP. Who are they? Here is who they are: the same millionaires and billionaires whose annual aftertax income has increased by 275 percent over the last 3 decades--I repeat, 275 percent. That is not a figure made up out of the blue by some rightwing or leftwing organization. It came from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. These are the same millionaires and billionaires whose annual aftertax income has increased by 275 percent over the last 3 decades.

Between 1979 and 2007, the bottom 20 percent of wage earners saw their wages creep up slowly--18 percent. Meantime, the top 1 percent saw theirs double again and again and again, to almost a 300-percent increase. The bottom 20 percent of wage earners saw theirs go up 18 percent. The people I have talked about--the millionaires and billionaires--have gone up almost 300 percent. In fact, their share of the Nation's income is higher than at any time since 1928--just before the stock market crash, plunging this Nation into the Great Depression. Their share of the national income has doubled since 1979. Listen to this. And now they take home more than half of all the money earned each year in this great country, even after taxes. They take home more than half the money earned each year in this country. That means this 1 percent now makes more than the other 99 percent combined. And they are not going to allow us to proceed to create hundreds of thousands of jobs for a tax increase of seven-tenths of 1 percent on the richest of the rich? No one deprives them of their prosperity. They have worked hard, and it hasn't all been inherited money. We understand that. But their tremendous fortunes mean they can afford to contribute a tiny fraction more to shore up the economic future of our Nation.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the grandfather of Jay Rockefeller from West Virginia, who serves in this body today, said:

Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an

obligation; every possession, a duty.

Seventy-two percent of Americans, including 54 percent of Republicans, support the Democrats' plan to pull this Nation out of the worse recession we have seen since the Great Depression by investing in new roadways, runways, and railways. And 76 percent of Americans, including 56 percent of Republicans, agree the Nation's most privileged citizens should contribute a little more to help pay for it. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and even the tea party favor this. They all believe in initiatives that we have proposed to jumpstart our economy, but they know the money will have to come from somewhere. They know tough choices must be made. The world out there supports what we are trying to do. The world inside this body, with the 47 Republicans who are stopping us with obstructionist tactics, is not allowing what America knows they want and need.

Again, they believe in initiatives we have proposed to jumpstart our economy. They know the money will have to come from somewhere, and they know tough choices must be made.

Asking someone making, for example, $1.1 million to contribute a few dollars more every year should not be one of our tough choices; it should be a no-brainer. Yet while Democrats fight for the middle class, it seems that Republicans will fight for the 1 percent of Americans who have every resource in America to fight for themselves.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table.

Madam President, it is my understanding that on the next vote scheduled, the Crapo amendment, Senator Crapo and Senator Stabenow will enter into a colloquy, and I ask unanimous consent that they both be given 2 minutes to explain what this is all about.

Madam President, I hope everyone just listened to and watched the exemplary way we are ridding ourselves of some of these amendments. We have two more amendments and it would be great if we didn't have to vote on those. I think the explanation given by the two Senators is an indication that progress can be made even without a vote.

I ask unanimous consent, since the amendment next in line is being delayed, that we move to the Coburn amendment.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Amendment No. 921

Mr. President, I had a conversation with the Republican leader. We have a very important briefing today at 3:30, and it will be in the classified area of the Visitor Center. We are going to have Secretary Burns, General Clapper will be there, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary Panetta will be there to talk about a number of countries around the world on which we need to focus our attention. I hope we have very good attendance at this meeting. It will be very important that we have Senators listen to what these gentlemen have to say, so I ask unanimous consent that we be in recess today from 3:30 until 4:30.

Mr. President, the experiment we have just completed on these appropriations bills has worked out extremely well. One reason it has worked out as well as it has is because of Senator Kohl. Senator Kohl has been in the Senate more than two decades, and those of us who have watched him know he doesn't spend a lot of time talking, but he spends a lot of time getting things done, and this legislation was an example of how good he is. Also, Senator Blunt--this is a new experience for him, but he had been in the House for many years and was part of their leadership and actually hit the ground running and has been a great partner in helping us move this legislation forward. So I congratulate both these fine Senators.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 213, S. 1769.

I have a cloture motion at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I am hopeful that we will not have to have a vote on this matter. This is to protect us so if we cannot work out something we will have a vote Thursday morning. I hope we can work out something to have a vote on this most important measure. It is very important. This is a piece of legislation that the entire population of America supports by a ratio of some 76 percent. Republicans support it; Democrats support it; Independents support it. The only people in

the world who do not support it are Republicans here in the Senate. So I hope we can work out something and move to this and it would be unnecessary for us to have to have cloture invoked or try to have cloture invoked.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to executive session to consider nominations numbered 412 and 414; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 308.

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