Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of H. Con. Res. 70, the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to a period of morning business until 4 p.m. today, with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Three Kids Mine Reclamation Act of 2011. My legislation transfers approximately 900 acres of federal land to the city of Henderson to facilitate the remediation and redevelopment of a dangerous abandoned mine site near Lake Mead.

The Three Kids mine was originally developed during World War I to provide manganese needed to harden steel used by the U.S. military. The mine and mill continued to support the building of warships and tanks through 1961 after which it was mostly abandoned and used occasionally as a storage site for federal manganese reserves. The Three Kids site was forgotten for decades until the population explosion in southern Nevada put the mine right in people's backyards.

The Three Kids Mine site is littered with hazards that include three large mine pits that are hundreds of feet deep, ruins from the mine facility, and a sludge pool of mine tailings made up of arsenic, lead, and diesel fuel. As a result of how the mine was developed and managed, approximately 75 percent of the area is federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, and the Bureau of Reclamation, while part of the site is privately owned. Unfortunately, because of the complicated land ownership pattern and the immense cost of clean-up, the Federal Government was never able to initiate the reclamation process.

To turn the Three Kids Mine site into a job-creating opportunity while also cleaning up this public health and safety hazard, my legislation directs the BLM to convey the Federal portions of the site to the Henderson Redevelopment Agency for the fair market value after taking into consideration the cost of cleanup for the whole mine site. The city of Henderson will then be able to take advantage of Nevada redevelopment laws and work with local developers to finance and implement a plan to remediate the abandoned toxic mine site. Local officials and developers will finally be able to turn this wasteland into safe, productive land for the local community. The project will take decades from start to finish, but the city and the developers are committed to the effort and worked hard to put together a viable plan to fix this old problem without costing taxpayers a dime for cleanup.

Keeping our communities safe, healthy, and livable is critical. Removing this physical and environmental hazard from southern Nevada is a high priority for the city of Henderson and our delegation. I appreciate your help and I look forward to working with 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 rise today to introduce the Three Kids Mine Reclamation Act of 2011. My legislation transfers approximately 900 acres of federal land to the city of Henderson to facilitate the remediation and redevelopment of a dangerous abandoned mine site near Lake Mead.

The Three Kids mine was originally developed during World War I to provide manganese needed to harden steel used by the U.S. military. The mine and mill continued to support the building of warships and tanks through 1961 after which it was mostly abandoned and used occasionally as a storage site for federal manganese reserves. The Three Kids site was forgotten for decades until the population explosion in southern Nevada put the mine right in people's backyards.

The Three Kids Mine site is littered with hazards that include three large mine pits that are hundreds of feet deep, ruins from the mine facility, and a sludge pool of mine tailings made up of arsenic, lead, and diesel fuel. As a result of how the mine was developed and managed, approximately 75 percent of the area is federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, and the Bureau of Reclamation, while part of the site is privately owned. Unfortunately, because of the complicated land ownership pattern and the immense cost of clean-up, the Federal Government was never able to initiate the reclamation process.

To turn the Three Kids Mine site into a job-creating opportunity while also cleaning up this public health and safety hazard, my legislation directs the BLM to convey the Federal portions of the site to the Henderson Redevelopment Agency for the fair market value after taking into consideration the cost of cleanup for the whole mine site. The city of Henderson will then be able to take advantage of Nevada redevelopment laws and work with local developers to finance and implement a plan to remediate the abandoned toxic mine site. Local officials and developers will finally be able to turn this wasteland into safe, productive land for the local community. The project will take decades from start to finish, but the city and the developers are committed to the effort and worked hard to put together a viable plan to fix this old problem without costing taxpayers a dime for cleanup.

Keeping our communities safe, healthy, and livable is critical. Removing this physical and environmental hazard from southern Nevada is a high priority for the city of Henderson and our delegation. I appreciate your help and I look forward to working with 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 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2011.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2011, at 10 a.m. to conduct a committee hearing entitled ``Housing Finance Reform: National Mortgage Servicing Standards.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2011, at 10 a.m. in Dirksen 406 to conduct a joint hearing entitled, ``Review of the NRC's Near-Term Task Force Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2011, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Health Reform and Health Insurance Premiums: Empowering States to Serve Consumers'' on August 2, 2011, at 10 a.m. in room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an intern in Senator Bingaman's office, Trey Debrine, be granted floor privileges during today's business.

Mr. President, first of all, I appreciate your patience presiding over the Senate at this late hour. I extend my appreciation to this staff, everybody here, for all this work. About the last month has been very difficult. I appreciate very much the professionalism that is shown here in the Senate and the efforts they go to to make all of us look good. Sometimes that takes a lot of effort. But I do appreciate their working so hard together here at the desk. If there is ever anything that is bipartisan, it is right here, Republicans and Democrats, and there is no partisanship on the Senate floor. Step back a little bit and there is when we are away from the professional staff, but I appreciate very much their hard work.

Mr. President, we have tried for days now to change what the Republicans in the House have tried to do to the American people. In fact, it appears they are going to be able to do it. We have the extension of the Federal Aviation Administration legislation that is being held up. We wanted a temporary extension for the next few weeks. We have already extended it more than 20 times. We thought we should do it again. We have done that. That has been routine until we get some of the big issues worked out. But Republicans wanted to increase the ante a little bit this time with essential air service. In Pennsylvania, some of the rural areas--the Presiding Officer is from Pennsylvania; of course, Nevada has a lot of rural areas, and other States. Even the heavily populated State of New York has essential air service. Essential air service was set up a long time ago to allow underpopulated areas to be able to be in touch with the rest of the States.

The Republicans have tried to eliminate essential air service. That is the ransom we are asking now for an extension of the FAA bill. I am not going to ask consent today; we have asked it many times. But I want the Record to be spread with how unreasonable it is, what the Republicans have done. As a result of their activities, the House Republicans, we have 80,000 people who will not be working now--80,000 people, more than 70,000 construction workers and thousands of people who are employees of the Federal Aviation Administration.

For example, in Nevada we have an air traffic control tower, a new one that needs to be built. It is going to be big, expensive, and necessary. The work has stopped. They worked there for less than a month. The work has stopped. The construction work has stopped.

I talked to the Senator from California, Senator Boxer, today. In Palm Springs they have one that is essential, is badly needed. Work has stopped on that.

Construction projects all over America are held up at our airports. It is so very unreasonable what they have done. I appreciate Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Republican Senator from Texas, who has worked with the chairman of the committee, Jay Rockefeller, to try to work past this. She agrees with Senator Rockefeller it is unreasonable that they have done this.

What I want to do is read a column out of the New York Times of July 29. The writer introduces his column by saying:

The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren't

complicated. Republicans have, in effect, taken America

hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the

essential business of government unless they get policy

concessions they would never have been able to enact through

legislation.

That is where we are with the FAA problem. He goes on to say:

As I said, it's not complicated. Yet many people in the

news media apparently can't bring themselves to acknowledge

this simple reality. News reports portray the parties as

equally intransigent; pundits fantasize about some kind of

``centrist'' uprising, as if the problem was too much

partisanship on both sides. Some of us have long complained

about the cult of ``balance,'' the insistence on portraying

both parties as equally wrong and equally at fault on any

issue, never mind the facts. I joked long ago that if one

party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would

read ``Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'' But would that cult

still rule in a situation as stark as the one we now face, in

which one party is clearly engaged in blackmail?

He went on to say more and then he said:

The answer, it turns out, is yes. And this is no laughing

matter: The cult of balance has played an important role in

bringing us to the edge of disaster. For when reporting on

political disputes always implies that both sides are to

blame, there is no penalty for extremism. Voters won't punish

you for outrageous behavior if all they ever hear is that

both sides are at fault.

Mr. President, I wish the press would report this outrageous conduct on the part of the House Republicans, in effect closing down work for 80,000 people in America because of their trying to eliminate essential air service.

The issue is certainly more than that. We know it is a labor issue. We have one airline that is terribly anti-union and they are the ones behind all this. They are using the essential air service as a guise to get what they want.

I am not going to ask consent, but I want the American people to know why essential air service is being attacked

and why 80,000 people are basically today not going to be able to go to work tomorrow.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, at 5 p.m., the Senate proceed to Executive Session to consider Calendar No. 109; that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of that time the Senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on Calendar No. 109, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 87, H.R. 1249.

I have a cloture motion at the desk.

I now ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, September 6, following the disposition of the nomination of Bernice Bouie Donald and the resumption of the legislative session, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 87, H.R. 1249; further, that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the following Environment and Public Works bills, en bloc: Calender No. 72, S. 710; and Calendar No. 117, S. 1302.

It is my understanding that the Chair has granted consent for the Senate to proceed to the consideration of those two bills; is that right?

I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed, en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and any relevant statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 104.

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 relating to the matter be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 254.

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 relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent to proceed to S. Res. 255.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 95, 230, 232, 254, 255, 256, 257, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 288, and Calendar Nos. 291 through 323, and nominations placed on the Secretary's Desk in the Air Force, Army, Foreign Service, Marine Corps, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, 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 related statements be printed in the Record; and that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action.