Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not agreed to on the motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 66 be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be agreed to; that the time until 4:15 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; and that at 4:15 p.m., the Senate proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 66.

Mr. President, there are a lot of things going on on Capitol Hill this afternoon. We will make sure people have ample time to vote, as long as somebody doesn't carry it to extremes.

My friend is absolutely right. We need to do this. During the caucus that was completed, the Senators from New York indicated, for example, that the Mohawk River because of the storms changed course. The Erie Canal lock doesn't work. They are going to have to spend lots of resources to get the Erie Canal back, which handles commerce in that part of the State. That is just one thing.

So the answer to my friend from California is, yes, we need to get people help now. People are desperate.

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

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

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m. today. At that time, the Senate will resume consideration of H.J. Res. 66. At 5:30, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 66. At 5:50, Members will gather in the Rotunda and proceed to the 9/11 remembrance ceremony on the east front of the Capitol.

Mr. President, I remember Tuesday, September 11, very clearly.

Room 219 is where Senator Daschle held his Tuesday morning leadership meeting, which started at 9 o'clock. I was the first Senator in that room. John Breaux of Louisiana came in a short time later, and he said: Something is going on in New York. Flip on the TV. And we did, and there was a tower burning, and we were thinking, how could an airplane run into that tower?

We basically didn't pay any attention to that TV. We turned it off because there was a meeting there. We assembled for a meeting, Senator Daschle called it to order, and just a short time after the meeting was started, he got a note. Somebody came in and took him out, and he came in and said: We have to vacate the building. There is an airplane headed toward the Capitol. So of course we all hurriedly left 219.

I remember that day so very clearly. Senator Nickles was my Republican counterpart, Senator Trent Lott was Senator Daschle's counterpart, and the four of us were taken off the west front of the Capitol to a secret location, where we spent most all the day. The Vice President was there and kept us informed as to what was going on. As we left 219, Mr. President, you could look out the window and see the smoke billowing out of the Pentagon.

It was a very difficult day for all of us. Yesterday, we observed the 10th anniversary of those attacks, but the truth is I remember that day as if it were only yesterday. That day, Osama bin Laden and his radical followers didn't just launch an attack on planes or buildings. They launched an attack on the American spirit. They launched an attack on our freedom and our democracy.

Rather than being crippled by the terrible acts of those madmen, rather than allowing uncertainty and fear to rule us, this Nation was again stronger than ever. And we really did it in one way, and that was by coming together. The darkness that day reminded us of our collective strength and power. It reminded us that there is nothing we cannot achieve together, as one Nation under God, indivisible, and, of course, with liberty and justice for all. So we pledged to bring justice to the perpetrators of those terrible acts, and we followed through on that pledge with an unfaltering campaign to dismantle al-Qaida and its supporters. This year, our brave Navy SEALs and others gave Osama bin Laden his due. We also pledged to rebuild, and I am very happy to see the proud towers of the new World Trade Center rising from the ashes of Ground Zero.

That doesn't mean the memory of that day is not painful, because it is, especially to those who lost loved ones.

Thousands of people lost loved ones. Nothing could ever make up for the loss of a mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister, friend, or a spouse who was just catching a plane, going to work, or at work on that horrific day. They are the reason we will never forget--ever.

So today, as yesterday, I honor the memory of the thousands of innocent people who died at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, on the hijacked planes in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. I honor the memory of the firefighters who knew the danger they faced when they entered those buildings but went in anyway. I honor the police and rescue workers who rushed to the scene and combed through the debris, some of whom died that day. I honor the many dedicated members of our Armed Forces, our State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and our intelligence community who have sacrificed their lives to keep us safe and keep September 11 from ever happening again.

Today, at approximately 6 o'clock, we will gather on the east front of the Capitol. In looking at the program, I see the final thing that will happen there is one of the military bands and choir will sing ``God Bless America.'' That happened on September 11. Senator Daschle and I had come back, and we gathered on the front of the Capitol. We really were there not knowing what to do; we just wanted to be together. As I remember, Senator Mikulski said in her usual voice, which demands attention, ``Let's sing `God Bless America.' '' And we did. I don't know how well we sang it, but it was a memorable event. So I will remember that very clearly tonight when we close our recognition ceremony out there on the east front of the Capitol singing ``God Bless America''--something we did 10 years ago.

Mr. President, I honor America's spirit of perseverance and commitment to freedom. May we never forget.

Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

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

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

Mr. President, if we would pause a few minutes and think about what has gone on in America this year: We have had flooding on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and other rivers in the Midwest. To show the power of this flood, on the Mississippi River alone there are 3 million acres underwater--farmland. We have had devastating tornadoes in the South. These tornadoes don't have names but they have a viciousness that is hard to comprehend. In Joplin, MO, about 200 people were killed. There was devastation. It is believed those winds reached nearly 300 miles an hour. Some say they are the highest recorded winds ever. They eliminated everything in their path.

Wildfires in the South and the West have been extremely harsh. Take Texas alone. Fires have been burning in Texas for the last month. Two thousand homes have been destroyed, burned to the ground. The fires are still present. I heard today that they are about 50 percent controlled.

We now have had Hurricane Irene. The wake of damage from Hurricane Irene hit numerous States, States that usually have no damage, all up the coast. Vermont has no coastline but they were devastated. Hundreds of bridges were washed out in Vermont. Vermont is a sparsely populated State. There are about 600,000 people, I understand, in the whole State, but it has been really hurt. The largest office complex in the whole State, with some 1,700 employees, is out of operation, underwater.

Tropical Storm Lee quickly followed Irene. Tropical Storm Lee has left damage in lots of places. We haven't been hurt real hard here in the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia. I have been here quite a while and I can never remember it raining for a week at a time, but that is what we just had. It rained basically all last week. The Potomac River is very high, but other States have been hurt worse by Tropical Storm Lee. I don't remember the exact number of deaths because of Lee, but it is approximately 20. Here in Virginia a 12-year-old boy in his backyard was washed away.

Since the first of this year, President Obama has issued disaster declarations

for 48 States and the hurricane season is not over yet. The Commerce Department said this year we have had 10 disasters, each with more than $1 billion in damage, and $1 billion is an understatement when you talk about what happened with Irene. They say that will reach $25 billion, that one storm. That is the most we have had in decades--probably the most ever.

No one should be surprised that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is about broke. As of today, they have a few hundred million dollars left, probably in the $300 million range. In just the last 2 weeks, FEMA spent almost $400 million out of the fund for Hurricane Irene and other disasters. That should not be out of that fund. That should be forward funded. So FEMA is dangerously close to running out of money.

To make sure FEMA will have enough money to meet the immediate needs for food, water, and emergency housing for victims of new disasters, on August 28 FEMA stopped approving funding for disaster recovery projects from past disasters. This means funding is on hold to rebuild schools, hospitals, roads, public utilities from past disasters like Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, the Mississippi River flood of 2008--they are still doing work there to renovate that area--the Tennessee flood of 2010 and tornadoes in Missouri and Alabama of days past. So we have hundreds of millions of dollars that need to be spent in places such as Joplin, MO. They are not spending money there in Joplin, MO. After all they have been through there, no money.

The need is urgent. That is why we are seeking to move to the House- passed revenue measure to serve as a vehicle for disaster relief. The House insists, as they should, that because of our Constitution's Origination Clause, all appropriation measures have to originate in the House. So we had to take a bill--the House bill we have here on the calendar--and that is why we have to move to the Burma revenue measure tonight to allow the Senate to address this disaster assistance.

The Burma sanctions bill is a bill that the Republican leader has been out in front of for ages. He has been the watchdog of this terrible war and adverse nature that is taking place in Burma. He has been out front on this issue, and I appreciate that very much.

Every year we pass these Burma sanctions unanimously. No one opposes them. The only reason anyone might be holding up this Burma sanctions bill is because my friends on the other side of the aisle, the Republicans, do not want to allow the Senate to vote on disaster assistance. Why do we need to do that? How much more specific do I need to be? We need to help communities hit hard by flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other acts of God. I would think twice if I were one of my Republican friends. I have gone over some of the areas where these tornadoes and these fires and other natural disasters have occurred and this is our only hope of getting help for these States.

The House is indicating they are going to send us a bill, but they are playing around the edges of what needs to be done. We have a bill that was reported basically out of the Senate Appropriations Committee--from Democrats and from Republicans--supporting it. What is needed is about $9 billion. We want to be in keeping with the Budget Deficit Reduction Act because in there we are allowed $7 billion. That is the number we are going to put forward tomorrow on this bill. It would be a real shame if we are not allowed to move to this Burma sanctions bill because everyone voting no to proceed to this is voting no on assistance to these States. There is no other way to do it. We are not going to accept some small number the House sends over. We cannot do that. The House is planning on doing some of its usual stuff--I will say that in a positive sense--in sending us a continuing resolution that we must enact by the end of this month, and they want to stick in the funding for FEMA, which is very low. We cannot allow that to happen.

I hope everyone tonight at 5:30 will vote to allow us to go forward on this most important piece of legislation.

I would ask that the quorum call begin.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time during the quorum call I am about to suggest be divided equally between the majority and the minority.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 12, 2011, at 4 p.m., in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business. During that period of time, Senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. There will be no votes today.

I am working with the House to find out what they can work with us on. We know we have the FAA bill, which expires next Friday. The highway bill expires at the end of this month. Those are the two primary issues we are working on, in addition to the FEMA problems we have in Virginia and around the rest of the country. We are going to make a decision today on what we will move forward on, but I need to hear from the House first.

Mr. President, I applaud the bipartisan approach taken by the President last night regarding his jobs act. He described it and described it well. It is really a commonsense plan, and this plan will be a tax cut for middle-class families and even small businesses. It will put laid-off teachers and first responders back to work. It will send construction workers to jobsites around the country to renovate schools and to build roads and bridges. It will also ensure that Iraq and Afghan veterans who have returned from serving their country come home to a job. It will also help Americans who have been unemployed for far too long keep their families afloat while they look for jobs.

Reagan Republicans would have embraced this reasonable, commonsense approach, the so-called American Jobs Act. All the ideas in this legislation have been supported by Democrats and Republicans in years past. Some of the ideas originally came from Republicans.

This jobs plan won't add a single penny to the deficit. In fact, we all know reducing unemployment is the fastest way to reducing the debt.

I urge reasonable Republicans to resist the voices of the tea party and others who would oppose this legislation and root for our economy to fail. It is sad that they do, but they do, and they do it for political reasons. They should see that this proposal is made up of bipartisan ideas, supported in the past by Members of both parties. They must not continue to bow to the tea party Republicans, who are willing to do anything to hurt the President. Instead of hurting the President, they are causing a tea party recession. We cannot allow their radical political agenda to crowd out America's jobs agenda.

The uncertainty of this summer--the fight over whether to default on our financial obligations and a shocking credit downgrade--has rocked an economy that was already shaky. But this fall and this legislation offer us an opportunity to set the American economy back on the right track, and we need to do that.

I look forward to studying the President's bill. The Senate will begin debate on this proposal as soon as possible. I know not every Republican will support this legislation, and I know not every Democrat will support all aspects of the legislation, but it is a good piece of legislation, and we need to work together. I look forward to an open, honest, and respectful debate. So I hope my Republican colleagues will

contribute constructively to this process in the coming weeks rather than resorting to the obstructionist tactics which have so dominated Washington for the last 8 months. I hope a new day of compromise is dawning.

Mr. President, on the eve of September 11, I would ask that we all remember this: The challenges we face as a Nation, whether threats to our security or to our economic security, are the same. Our Nation's security and our economic security are tied together.

This Sunday, my fellow Nevadans and I and the rest of the Nation will join in a remembrance to the tragic events of that fateful day 10 years ago, and we will mourn the thousands of innocent lives lost in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. We will never forget the events of that Tuesday morning, which dawned so clear. It was a bright blue sky that ended gloomy and dark.

But we should also remember the spirit of unity and determination that blossomed amidst the darkness of that day. In the weeks and months that followed, we were not Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, red States and blue States, we were Americans. Beneath the partisanship of Washington, that is as true today as it was 10 years ago. It doesn't mean we will not disagree. In fact, the same freedom that allows us to disagree is also the root of our democracy. But it does mean we must work together in the best interests of this great Nation and in the interests of every man or woman who calls America home, no matter how difficult.

Today, the greatest challenge facing this Nation is putting 14 million Americans back to work and returning some prosperity to our economy. I look forward to tackling that challenge as one Nation. We need to join together in that cause.

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

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

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 154, H.J. Res. 66.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture occur at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, September 12, and the mandatory quorum call under rule XXII be waived.