Floor Statements

Madam President, this past Sunday, a young pitcher for the Oakland Athletics threw a perfect game. For those of you who do not know baseball, the Oakland Athletics is a baseball team, and throwing a perfect game is truly a big deal. It is such a big deal, it is only the 19th time this has ever happened--and baseball started keeping records in 1880-something--and this is the first time it happened on Mother's Day.

Someone did throw a perfect game on Father's Day. On that Sunday, more than 45 years ago, one of our colleagues made history by accomplishing one of the most remarkable, most elusive, and most coveted accomplishments in all of athletics, throwing a perfect game in Major League Baseball. That pitcher was the junior Senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning. He threw the second no-hitter of his Hall of Fame career, and I repeat: this time, a perfect game.

To show how stupendous this game Senator Bunning pitched was, understand this young man who pitched a perfect game last Sunday did so, I think, throwing 108 pitches, something like that. Jim Bunning threw 90 pitches. This is unbelievable, that in 9 innings someone could pitch a whole baseball game and throw only 90 pitches. It is a rare occurrence in modern day baseball for someone to complete a game, but to complete a game--and a perfect game--in 90 pitches is truly amazing.

Sometimes in this body, this Senate, our political passions or legislative objectives get in the way of our personal relationships and the respect we show for one another. When that happens, we do a disservice to the citizens we serve. The Senate was created as a place for leaders to work for the American people, and the only way to do that work is to work together, not against each other.

We surely have our differences, just as those we represent do not see eye to eye on every issue. That is inherent in a representative democracy, and none of us is perfect. As Senator Jim Bunning once said:

Everybody makes mistakes. The only time I've ever been

perfect was for about two hours and 10 minutes on June 21,

1964.

But we should also be able to appreciate those differences and appreciate the distinguished men and women who make up this body, the Senate. We have combat veterans. We have a man who has won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor in combat. We have doctors. We have teachers, farmers, entrepreneurs, Governors, Cabinet Secretaries. We have an astronaut, the Senator from Florida, and we have a Hall of Fame pitcher, whom I just talked about.

Wall Street Reform

The day before the perfect game on this past Sunday, a story appeared on the front page of the Washington Post. The story began this way:

Something unusual is taking place on the Senate floor:

Republicans and Democrats are working together on a major

piece of legislation.

It is a shame that bipartisan cooperation passes for news these days, not to mention front-page news in one of our Nation's largest newspapers.

But I hope that collaboration continues this week as we vote on amendments from both sides, as we move closer to a final vote on this very important piece of legislation. Reforming the rules of the road on Wall Street is critical to our Nation's future. We need to restore the American people's trust in our financial system.

The American people demand we act. Families demand we safeguard their savings. Seniors demand we protect their pensions. They have seen big bankers gamble away so much of their money--not the bankers' money but our money--their retirements, and their home equity, which has been shaken. The last thing they want is for their leaders to waste their time also.

So I still hope we can pass Wall Street accountability reforms this week. I am going to do everything I can to see that happens.

Supreme Court Nominee

Let's talk about the Supreme Court for just a short time. We have accomplished much in the first few months of this year. It has been difficult, but we have done a lot. But we have so much more to do. On that list is one of our most important responsibilities as Senators: giving our advice and consent to the President's nominees for the courts and in this instance the Supreme Court.

In the day or so since President Obama asked our Solicitor General, Elena Kagan, to serve as the Court's 112th Justice, she has received bipartisan praise for her intellect, her dedication to public service, and her ability to bring people together, especially when they disagree. She has produced impressive work as an academic, contributed to lifesaving legislation as a lawyer, and has been a policy aide at the highest levels. She has inspired students as the dean of Harvard Law School and made her country and her fellow citizens stronger as Solicitor General. So I commend President Obama for choosing her to serve on the Supreme Court.

My No. 1 goal for this new Supreme Court Justice--I have stated it publicly before the Judiciary Committee; I have told the President himself--let's stop having judges go on the Supreme Court. I wanted someone who had not worn the robe, someone who had a little common sense separate and apart from the Supreme Court.

I know those Justices have common sense, but they have worn those robes a long time, and I think it is good to get a fresh insight into what is going on in the world. Elena Kagan is a lawyer and scholar so respected because she knows the value of listening to all sides of an argument before making a judgment. In that sense, she is a good role model for her own confirmation process. Let's listen to what she has to say, to what those who know her have to say about her, and to the American people, who demand that the Supreme Court puts the rights of people ahead of the wallets of corporate America.

My Republican colleagues--I have heard some in the media say: Well, she is not experienced enough. I developed a personal relationship with Chief Justice Rehnquist. I developed that respect for him for a couple reasons. No. 1, when I was chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, I did something for which people said: Why are you bothering? He will never do that. I called him and said: Mr. Justice, would you come over to the Senate and talk to my Democratic Senators? He said: I would be happy to.

Over he comes. What a wonderful meeting we had. He had a great sense of humor. He handled all the questions with ease. Then, shortly thereafter, he was sitting where the Acting President pro tempore is now sitting, as we did the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Again, he had such a good sense of fairness as he worked his way through those very difficult proceedings.

He had a bad back, and he would have to get up once in a while--stand where the Acting President pro tempore is now sitting. When the breaks would be taken, he would go back into one of the rooms back here, and we would all go visit with him--a terrific man. You may not agree with a lot of the direction of his opinions, but they were brilliantly written. He had no judicial experience--zero.

One of my favorite Supreme Court Justices, in recent years, has been Sandra Day O'Connor, not because she is a Republican but because she was a good judge. She had run for public office. She served in the legislature in Arizona. That is why she could identify with many of the problems created by us legislators, and she could work her way through that.

I think Solicitor General Kagan will bring a lot of those same views of these two Republicans to the bench; that is, she has fresh ideas. She has been out in the real world recently. I think she is going to be a terrific addition to the Supreme Court.

Would the Chair now announce the business of the day.

Mr. President, I have spoken to the distinguished Republican leader. It is my understanding we are going to do these two judges by voice vote, and following that, it is my understanding the two managers have worked out an arrangement to have a couple more amendments voted on within the next half hour or 45 minutes.

Yes.

And Senator Merkley has agreed, also, and Senator Klobuchar.

If we could do the judges now.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the Wall Street reform bill. There will be no rollcall votes today or on Monday or on next Friday. The following Monday, we will take a look at that. That is now scheduled as a no-vote day. We may not be able to do that. Other things have come up, not the least of which is a conversation with Secretary Gates yesterday about the supplemental war funding bill.

We are going to do our utmost to finish the bill we are on now next week. We have today and all day Monday for people to work on amendments, and we would hope we can make some progress in that regard. Yesterday, there were a few difficult spots, but late in the evening we were able to get the Senate back on track. We had some important legislation done last night.

I repeat what I said last night: There doesn't need to be long periods of time for debating most of these issues. We have all studied them. This bill has been in the public eye for a long time. Sherrod Brown had a controversial, important amendment. I supported that amendment. But he spoke for 5 minutes. The opposition spoke for 5 minutes. Everyone understood what they were doing. It was a good vote. I use that as an example. We can move through this stuff much more rapidly.

We want to make sure Senators have opportunities to offer amendments. As I said yesterday, there are lots of amendments. A lot of them are in the same area. We need to focus on these. Senator Durbin has six amendments. He is going to offer one of his amendments. That is an example for all of us to follow.

Again, we ended the day on a good note. I believe that is important. We have already lined up some things to do when we begin legislative session on Tuesday, but on Monday, the two managers will be ready to do business on work they are doing. A number of these things can be worked out. The two people managing the banking part of this bill are longtime legislators. They have handled many bills on the Senate floor. They will accept a lot of these amendments.

The derivatives part of this bill is, by some standards, a little more complicated, but even there the issues are fairly clear. Senators Lincoln and Chambliss are ready to work with Senators who have ideas as to how, if at all, they want to change the legislation. They are also ready for business.

I hope people understand the urgency of our agenda. We have many things to do and a very short period of time to do them.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4899, FEMA supplemental, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which legislation is at the desk; that the only amendment in order to the bill be a Reid amendment regarding settlement of lawsuits against the Federal Government and emergency disaster assistance; that the amendment be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; and that any statements related to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, last weekend's close call is a wake-up call. The attempt to bomb New York City's Times Square should remind us both of the vigilance we must maintain to keep Americans safe, and the triviality of political fingerpointing.

I first want to once again thank the men and women who helped avert disaster--and saved untold lives--in one of America's most iconic and crowded spaces. The system in place appears to be working as designed: improved aviation security measures helped authorities apprehend the subject as he attempted to flee, and the suspect is now reportedly providing valuable information that could help disrupt and prevent future attacks. I am confident he and anyone else who contributed to this atrocious act will be held to account.

But I have been disappointed that some have tried to politicize this attempted attack on our homeland. Let's use this opportunity to pursue justice and make sure our law enforcement, military, and intelligence services have every tool they need to do their jobs. Let's also be sure we examine what worked and didn't so we can improve the system. But let's not mistake it as an opportunity to score political points or make baseless accusations that do nothing to ensure our citizens' safety.

A thwarted terrorist attack in the heart of our Nation's most populous city reminds us that we have enough real enemies--we need not be our own.

Let's also put this latest incident in context: It follows a successful series of steps the administration has taken to protect us here at home.

We have disrupted numerous terrorism plots and prosecuted dozens of terrorist suspects, including the ringleader of a plan to bomb New York City's subway system last year. Attorney General Holder called that plot ``one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11th, 2001.'' That attack never happened; we cannot know how many lives were saved, and our country is safer because of this administration's swift and smart leadership.

Our Nation is also prosecuting David Headley, who is accused of plotting with the Pakistani terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba to launch the devastating terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, as well as to carry out other plots in South Asia and Europe. Attorney General Holder has credited the criminal justice system for achieving both a guilty plea and valuable intelligence about terrorist activities from Headley.

And earlier this year, the FBI disrupted an international network of extremists operating through the Internet to plot attacks, raise funding for terrorism and recruit new terrorists. Two Americans-- Colleen LaRose and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, also known as Jihad Jane and Jihad Jamie--were arrested along with six foreign co-conspirators. The two Americans will soon be tried in Federal court.

That's not all. We have also enhanced intelligence sharing, strengthened aviation security and boosted human-intelligence collection capabilities. We have fully implemented the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. And we have significantly increased funding for the FBI, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community.

At the same time, we're keeping Americans safer at home by taking the fight to terrorists abroad. In recent months we have helped kill or capture the most wanted terrorist leaders across Iraq, southeast Asia, Africa and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. We have disrupted al- Qaida's operations, finances and safe havens, and killed or captured more than half of its top 20 leaders. It is widely agreed that al-Qaida is the weakest it has been since 9/11.

We have also begun to reverse the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, in part by tripling the number of U.S. troops there. And we have strengthened our partnership with Pakistan, empowering it to mount major offensives against terrorists within its borders.

I am praising the administration's vigilance not because the President is a Democrat. I am praising it because it is, by any objective measure, successful. America is as prepared as ever to defend against any threat, domestic or foreign.

If, as this past weekend showed us, private citizens, street vendors, law enforcement and intelligence officials can work together in everyone's best interest, I would expect U.S. Senators to be able to do the same.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the Senate to proceed en bloc to consideration of the following calendar items: Calendar No. 261, S. Res. 297; Calendar No. 262, S. Res. 275; Calendar No. 287, S. 1053; Calendar No. 291, S. 1405; Calendar No. 295, H.R. 689; Calendar No. 297, H.R. 1121; Calendar No. 300, H.R. 1442; Calendar No. 305, H.R. 2802.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to en bloc; the preambles be agreed to en bloc; that the committee- reported amendments, where applicable, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, if amended, where applicable, be read a third time and passed, as amended, if amended, where applicable, en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc; that the consideration of these items appear separately in the Record; and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 3217, which is the Wall Street reform legislation. The time until 10 a.m. will be for debate with respect to the Tester-Hutchison amendment dealing with FDIC insurance premiums. At 10 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a vote in relation to that amendment. Additional votes are expected to occur throughout the day in relation to amendments to the Wall Street reform bill. Currently, Shelby amendment No. 3826 regarding consumer protection is pending. The next amendment upon disposition of that amendment will be the Sanders amendment regarding an audit of the Federal Reserve. That is amendment No. 3738.

As a reminder, there will be an all-Senators briefing on the START treaty and related national security issues from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. today. We will remain in session during that time.

We expect to arrive at a time for voting on the Shelby amendment. If not, there will be a motion to table that amendment. We have a lot of amendments to get through, and we are going to work into the night. We have work we need to do tomorrow. So everyone should be aware, we have a lot of issues we have to resolve on this most important legislation.

Will my friend yield?

Mr. President, for all the Senators here, we may have 141 amendments, but this is not the first time we have had 141 amendments on a bill. I have looked at a catalog of the amendments, and a lot are on the same subject. What we are trying to do is find out different categories and not have everybody offer the same amendment.

Our goal tonight should be to try to get rid of four amendments. If we could have four amendments out of the way tonight, we could look-- and I thank my friend because I told him we are going to have votes in the morning, or at least a vote. I can create a vote. I hope we don't have to start creating votes. I hope they are on amendments people want to debate.

Senator Sanders has an amendment. Has he agreed to a time?

Senator McCain, has he agreed to a time?

Mr. President, if I may talk to the two managers through the Chair, I know how important everyone thinks their amendment is. But you can have half an hour on each side, an hour for an amendment. Someone can say quite a bit in 5 minutes. I think we are going to have to have some guidelines as to what we are going to do. Everyone thinks their amendment is the most important, and I am sure in their mind it is. We have to set some standard. I have been very accommodating in this last 24 hours because I think so much of the comanager of the bill, Senator Shelby. We could have moved to table his amendment a long time ago.

Let's understand, there are other ways we can move forward. If somebody says: I need 3 hours on an amendment--there is not an amendment on this bill that is worth 3 hours, OK? We have had a good conversation.

I hope the two managers can give us some guidelines as to what they expect to do tonight and tomorrow because Members have other things to do than listen to the three of us.

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

Mr. President, I enter a motion to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request the presence of absent Senators.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I am sometimes a patient person. I am really doing my best to be patient. I am going into this with good faith, as I hope my Republican colleagues are. We have not gotten a lot done. The issue we are working on is very important. But I just tell my friends on the other side of the aisle, we do not need a filibuster by some other name. I am approaching this in good faith.

People have worked very hard. We have a lot to do. I think it goes without saying that we were at a meeting today, and we were told we have to complete the supplemental for the war spending by the time we leave here. That came from Secretary Gates. We have a lot to do.

My suggestion is that people who want to offer amendments work tomorrow, they work Saturday and Sunday. The Banking staff will be available and the Agriculture staff will be available. If you have amendments, bring them together. We have a lot of amendments, but many of them are on the same subject. Work with the Banking staff and the Agriculture staff to come up with the amendments we can move through as quickly as possible. I want people, if they have something to say, to say it, but we don't need hours and hours to say it.

One of the most important amendments we are trying to do is one that has been talked about by Senators Kaufman and Brown for weeks. And he has agreed to take 5 minutes on it. It has been talked about. We have read it. Senator Brown has agreed to take 5 minutes. We have read about it in the press. Everybody knows what he is trying to do. So I appreciate very much the Republicans allowing us to move forward on this amendment tonight. But, please, over the next few days we have a lot of amendments that are important, and I understand that, but when it comes time to offer these amendments, you need a lot of work on them. It always happens because it is a complicated bill. And we only need one amendment. We do not need the same amendment offered by five different Senators.

I appreciate everyone's patience tonight. We are trying to work through this. We are not going to have votes tomorrow. We are going to have votes tonight. And it has been hard to get here.

I appreciate the conversation I had with the Republican leader earlier today, and I know how hard this has been for the two managers of this part of the bill, Senators Dodd and Shelby.

Senator Shelby has been especially gracious during the whole day. This is his birthday. His wonderful wife is waiting for him for dinner. She has been waiting for an hour now, and she is going to have to wait a little while longer, as she has waited for him a long time on other occasions. So we wish him a happy birthday.

I ask unanimous consent that the following be the next amendments in order: Cantwell amendment No. 3786, to be modified with the changes at the desk, and it is my understanding that is going to go by voice; Brown amendment No. 3733, with a second-degree amendment by Senator Ensign, amendment No. 3869; that Senator Brown will have 5 minutes, Senator Ensign will have 5 minutes, and Senator Dodd will have 5 minutes, and then we will proceed to a vote on that matter. I further ask consent that it be in order for a Democratic side-by-side to the McCain GSE amendment and that the Cardin amendment No. 3840 be considered tonight, and it is my understanding that amendment will be decided by a voice vote; that after the Cantwell amendment is called and modified, there be 10 minutes of debate with respect to that amendment, with the time equally divided and controlled in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the amendment be agreed to, and that there be no amendments in order to the amendments in this agreement prior to a vote except as we have stated.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Merkley.) Is there objection?

Yes, debate only, and the same on Monday.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the Wall Street reform bill.

Mr. President, the manager of the Wall Street reform bill-- at least most of it--is the chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Dodd. As I reflect on what we have been through with him in this Congress, it is really incredible. We withstood seven filibusters on housing legislation he was responsible for managing. At the height of the housing crisis, we were trying to deal with seven filibusters. We have worked our way through many different issues he has been front and center on, including health care. He has done this with such remarkable strength. We have had situations he has been thrown into as a result of the death of Senator Kennedy that will be written about in the history books for some time. And then, with no breathing room in store for him, immediately he had to go to this very important piece of legislation dealing with the Wall Street crisis.

We started on this 2 weeks ago tomorrow. We have been stalled ever since. Maybe today there will be a breakthrough and we will be able to legislate. We don't have a lot of time to spend on this bill. We have so much important work to do that has been held up as a result of scores of filibusters conducted by Republicans. An indication of how they treat themselves: we had amendments their Senators offered yesterday that we were willing to accept, and they refused to let us do so. But that is nothing unusual. We have had nominations they have held up for months that get virtually unanimous support after we go through all the time wasted in the cloture process to move forward.

Yesterday, I announced we had a really big day legislatively. I love classic cars. I love to watch them. That is what we accomplished. We voted on a unanimous basis to establish Classic Car Day. That was our accomplishment in this body.

We are waiting around on issues relating to the financial crisis. New Mexico, Nevada, Connecticut--all over the country, States are desperate for us to do something with this legislation so people on Wall Street can't continue to take advantage of the people. We would like to move forward and start legislating. It would seem that after 2 weeks it would be a pretty good thing to do. Basically during that 2-week time, we have accomplished virtually nothing.

I am a little frustrated, but I understand the Republicans have made a decision that they are going to be the party of no. You would think after they established that, that would be good enough for them. I guess they want to underscore and underline it and have a big exclamation mark so no one will ever miss the fact that the Republican Party in this Congress has been the party of no.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to use my leader time right now.

First, I want to express my appreciation to Senators Warner and Corker for working to improve this bill. They are very fine Senators. My friend, the Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner, has been such a great addition to the caucus, the Senate, and the country. His experience as Governor of the State has served him well. He does a wonderful job for the people of Virginia and, of course, our country.

Mr. President, I will say a few words about the first vote we are going to have today.

I am very happy I had the opportunity and the privilege to nominate Gloria Navarro to be a Federal judge for the District of Nevada. What a wonderful addition she will be to the Federal Judiciary. She has a number of outstanding qualities.

First, she is such a fine human being. She has a wonderful family--a husband who supports her entirely in this terrifically important job she is going to take. He is an accomplished lawyer himself. She has wonderful children and a mom who supports her. She is a Nevadan who has been educated in the Nevada school system. She has attended some of the finest universities in the country--the University of Southern California and Arizona State.

In my interviews with her, I was very impressed. She has proven throughout her personal and professional life that she embodies the values of our country--hard work, discipline, and respect for the rule of law. I have been impressed time and time again by this Nevadan's record and her commitment to public service in all areas of her life. She has worked for two decades in both

the private and public sectors and has experience in every aspect of the law--complex litigation at both the Federal and State levels; murder cases.

She is currently the chief deputy district attorney in the Office of County Counsel, providing legal counsel and litigation defense to the Clark County Board of Commissioners. She has worked as a public defender, and in 2002 she received the Nevada State Bar Access to Justice Pro Bono Public Lawyer of the Year award. She has also worked in private practice, representing clients in Federal and State litigation relating to criminal, civil, and family law. In 2001, she was awarded the very prestigious Louis Wiener Pro Bono Service Award.

She is committed to the State of Nevada. She is committed to her community. Among other things, as president of the Latino Bar Association, she created a mentoring program pairing high school, college, and law school students with community lawyers.

It is my pleasure to have recommended her to be a judge, and everyone can rest assured that she will do an outstanding job for the people of Nevada in dispensing fair, equal justice under the law.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge an important achievement for Nevada's Cold War veterans and their families. These individuals served their country at the Nevada Test Site, where over one thousand nuclear weapons detonations took place over four decades of nuclear testing. The work at the Nevada Test Site, NTS, helped America win the Cold War, but it also left thousands of workers with debilitating cancers. Beginning today, many of these workers will now be eligible for automatic compensation, putting an end to years of bureaucratic nightmares and redtape.

On February 19, 1952, the Nevada Test Site was created to serve as the Nation's nuclear test site. 174 atmospheric and underground tests were performed there before the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 banned all atmospheric, space, and sub-sea nuclear weapons testing. Another 754 tests were completed before the United States established a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in 1992. The vast majority of testing in this period took place underground, in a network of tunnels and shafts, although some nonweapons nuclear testing continued to take place above ground. Even though these tunnels were designed to contain the radiation produced by the tests, most of the underground detonations did release radiation that reached NTS workers.

In 2000, after a number of my colleagues and I had begun to hear disturbing stories from our constituents about illnesses they had gotten from their nuclear weapons work and their inability to get any financial compensation from the government, we introduced and passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act. This legislation was designed to allow thousands of America's Cold War veterans who had worked for the Department of Energy to receive compensation that would not only help pay their medical bills but would also honor the sacrifices they and their families had made for their country.

Unfortunately, it soon became clear that even with this new law, it would not be easy for many workers to get the compensation they deserved. In 2005, I began to hear from workers and survivors complaining that they were being put through a seemingly endless stream of bureaucratic redtape only to be denied in the end. I heard stories about workers who were encouraged to remove their radiation detection devices so that they could continue to work even after reaching the maximum allowable radiation levels, yet their records showed zero radiation exposures year after year. I was enraged that these workers were denied compensation simply because their employer failed to keep an accurate account of how much radiation each worker was exposed to, so I embarked upon a three-pronged strategy to add

NTS workers to the Special Exposure Cohort, SEC, making them eligible for automatic compensation. I immediately wrote a letter to President Bush asking for his administration to rectify this horrible wrong, and for some NTS workers, the situation was set right the next year.

In 2006, employees who had worked at NTS for at least 250 days from 1951 to 1962, or the atmospheric testing years, saw a tremendous victory. They were designated as part of a new Special Exposure Cohort, SEC. However, the sacrifices of NTS workers from the years of underground testing and their families went largely unacknowledged, until now. Thanks to the new SEC which goes into effect today, some measure of justice will be brought to these employees of NTS and their families.

Unfortunately, this new SEC will not put an end to the years of waiting for all NTS workers. Some won't be eligible for automatic compensation because their cancer isn't on the official list or because they worked less than 250 days, even if they were present for a large release of radiation. I will continue to fight to make sure each and every one of Nevada's Cold War veterans and their families get the compensation and justice they deserve for the enormous personal sacrifices they have made for their country. Still, I am very happy that today an estimated 1,365 claimants may be eligible for automatic compensation under the new SEC.

After submitting legislation to add the underground testing years to the SEC in 2006, my office began the long and complicated process of working with workers, survivors, and experts to submit an SEC petition. After much hard work, on February 5, 2007, I joined with three Nevadans in submitting an SEC petition arguing the scientific problems with the radiation dose reconstruction process that was denying so many NTS workers and their families the compensation and recognition they deserve. When the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, initially recommended that the petition be denied, it was the tireless work of more than a dozen individuals standing up for what is right that prevented the petition from being rejected completely. It was as a team that we persevered to gain approval for the petition and, with this approval, justice for the underground testing workers and their families.

Today's victory would not have happened without the dedicated team of NTS workers, their families, and others who fought for years to make this day possible. I would like to take a moment to thank some of these people.

First, I personally extend a heartfelt thank you to the three petitioners who devoted their time, energy, and testimony to bring this issue to the forefront. Thank you Lori Hunton, Paul Stednick, and Peter White. Lori's father, Oral Triplett worked at the Nevada Test Site and passed away when she was only 16. Paul worked at the site from 1966 to 1994 as a laborer and labor foreman. Peter worked as a laborer, pipefitter, and welder from 1985 to 1989. Each of these individuals provided invaluable insight and support necessary to complete the petition process.

I also thank Navor Valdez, Gene Campbell, Mary Bess Holloway Peterson, William Cleghorn, Robert Lemons, Cooper Michael Boyd, Patricia Niemeier, and John Funk, for sharing their stories about what really happened on the ground in Nevada.

No thank you would be complete without acknowledging Richard Miller, formerly of the Government Accountability Project, without whom this petition would never have been filed.

Finally, I send my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have worked at the Nevada Test Site and their families. I especially would like to acknowledge workers who passed away while fighting for benefits and their widows, widowers, and children surviving them who took up the fight for their loved one. Nevada's Cold War heroes have made immeasurable contributions to our nation's security, and the sacrifices they have made their health and their lives make it impossible for us to ever adequately thank them.