Floor Statements

Madam President, this has been a long time in coming--I think 7 or 8 months--and I have had the distinguished Republican leader contact me on more than one occasion asking when we were going to be able to move this bill. I appreciate his continuing to press to move this bill forward. We are at a point now where we think we have an opportunity to complete this today.

I also want to express my appreciation to my friend from the class of 1982 in the House of Representatives, John McCain, who has worked on this as hard as anyone and has pushed this as much as anyone, for his understanding as to how we should move forward.

So, Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 215, S. 2799; that the bill be

read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

The Senator from Arizona has the assurance of the two leaders--Reid and McConnell--that there will be a vote when this matter comes back from conference, and I am committed to getting it back just as quickly as we can.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed and to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Madam President, I am pleased that the Senate just passed S. 2799, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 and I thank Senators Dodd, Kerry, Shelby, Lieberman, Bayh, Kyl and many others who have worked so hard to get this important legislation passed.

I believe that passing this legislation is critical to send Iran the message that the United States is serious about keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. This legislation would impose new sanctions on Iran's refined petroleum sector and tighten existing U.S. sanctions in an effort to create new pressure on the Iranian regime and help stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

We have all watched the Iranian regime oppress its own people on the streets of Iran. And we have watched them continue to defy the international community on nuclear issues.

That is why it is so important that we move this legislation forward quickly. I know that a number of Senators had concerns, or changes they wanted to make to this legislation, including Senator McCain, who has an amendment he wanted to offer on human rights on Iran. I am committed to working with him, and others, as we move forward in conference.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar No. 474, the nomination of M. Patricia Smith to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor.

I have a cloture motion at the desk, and I ask that it be reported.

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

I further ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination occur at 5:30 p.m., Monday, February 1.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum be waived.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. 2968.

I ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times and passed,

the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4508.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that S. 2939 be star printed with the changes at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Friday, January 29; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, there will be no rollcall votes during tomorrow's session of the Senate. The next vote will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday. That vote will be on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor.

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.J. Res. 45, a joint resolution increasing the statutory limit on the debt. The time until 11:30 a.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. At 11:30 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a series of two rollcall votes. Those votes will be in relation to the Baucus amendment No. 3300 regarding a Social Security exemption, to be followed by a vote on the Conrad amendment No. 3302 regarding a fiscal task force. The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. today for the weekly caucus luncheons.

We are operating under an agreement that limits amendments to the debt limit resolution, and only a few amendments remain in order. I encourage Senators with amendments on the list to come to the floor to offer their amendments if they would like their amendments to be considered.

Order of Procedure

Madam President, with respect to the time under my control for debate with respect to the Baucus and Conrad amendments to H.J. Res. 45, I ask unanimous consent that the time be provided to Senators Baucus and Conrad and that they equally divide and control this time that was under my designation.

Madam President, at the end of last December, I made a commitment to bring S. 2799, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, to the Senate floor. This critical legislation would impose new sanctions on Iran's refined petroleum sector and tighten existing U.N. sanctions. The act will create pressure on the Iranian regime and help stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. I thank Senator Dodd, Senator Kerry, and many other Senators for their hard work.

I have had conversations with the distinguished Republican leader. We are committed to finding a time to do this legislation. This is going to be a piece of legislation dealing with just this narrow issue. We cannot get into foreign aid and all those other things. I am reaching out to my Republican colleagues to help me find a path to get that done in the next few weeks. We started this session by working on important legislation to prevent the Federal Government from defaulting on its obligations, including my amendment to put in place strict statutory requirements that will ensure the cost of any new spending or tax cuts will not increase our deficit. But everyone should know that I am looking forward to moving on the Iran Sanctions Act, as I have indicated, but we are going to need some cooperation to get this legislation done. I had a conversation with the Republican leader yesterday, and it is our goal to finish the legislation on the debt limit quickly. Hopefully, we can do that and maybe the Bernanke nomination by Thursday or Friday.

The Republicans have scheduled a retreat. We are going to have one next week. When this was scheduled, no one

knew when the President was going to give his State of the Union Message. But it happens it is on tomorrow. So we have the State of the Union tomorrow night. We have the retreat tomorrow. We are not going to have any legislative issues here unless the Republicans have agreed. We are not going to interfere in any way with their retreat. These are extremely important. The two caucuses can move alone and not be bothered by other things. It is very important. We are going to do the same next week. I think what we have done in the last year or so has been important. We used to do these retreats on Fridays, but with schedules such as they are, not many people showed up, or not as many as we wanted. With the new schedule of having votes on Tuesday and Thursday, in fact, it causes people to want to be here on Wednesday.

I look forward to working with the Republican leader and others in coming up with a glidepath to finishing these matters as quickly as we can. By virtue of some cloture motions I filed, we are scheduled for votes in the morning. I want to do everything I can to avoid that and will maybe put those over until Thursday or maybe try to get rid of those votes today would be the best thing we could do.

I am happy to yield to my friend the Republican leader.

I thank the Senator from Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the Coburn amendment, No. 3303, to be divided into four divisions, as follows, and modified to strike sections 17 and 18: section 1, division I; section 2, division II; sections 3 to 5, division III; and section 16, division IV; further, that once the Republican leader or his designee has offered his amendment, a copy of which is at the desk, no further amendments or motions be in order; that Senator Coburn be recognized for up to 15 minutes; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote with respect to the following amendments in the following order; and that prior to each vote, there be 6 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form--that is, there be 3 minutes on each side: Coburn division I, Coburn division II, Coburn division III, Coburn division IV; that on Thursday, January 28, after any leader time, the Senate then resume consideration of H.J. Res. 45; that no further debate be in order except as provided for in this agreement; that prior to each of the following votes with respect to H.J. Res. 45, there be 4 minutes of debate, equally divided and controlled in the usual form: Brownback amendment regarding commissions, which is at the desk; Sessions- McCaskill amendment No. 3308; Reid amendment No. 3305; Baucus, for Reid, substitute amendment No. 3299; passage, H.J. Res. 45; further, that the cloture motions filed with respect to H.J. Res. 45 be withdrawn; with the vote threshold requirement still in effect as provided in the order of December 22, and that the Baucus amendment No. 3306 be withdrawn; further, that upon disposition of H.J. Res. 45, the Senate then proceed to executive session, and there be 60 minutes of debate prior to the cloture vote on Executive Calendar No. 641, the nomination of Ben Bernanke to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, with the time equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees.

Mr. President, I wish to modify my consent request. I said sections 3 to 5, but it is sections 3 to 15 be division III.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor Ms. Delia Martinez of Henderson, NV, who on January 19, 2010, passed away at the age of 61. Ms. Martinez was a dedicated public servant who volunteered countless hours of service to communities around the State of Nevada.

Ms. Martinez was born in Mexico City to U.S. Foreign Service officer Charles Coop and his wife Concepcion Martinez. When Delia was 7 years old her family moved to Nevada, where she would spend the rest of her life. After graduating with honors from Rancho High School in Las Vegas, Ms. Martinez went on to receive a degree in business management from the University of Nevada Reno in 1972.

From an early age, Delia was attracted to the ideals of justice and equality for all. As a high school student, she became actively involved in the civil rights movement, and worked diligently to this end all throughout her life. Ms. Martinez later enjoyed the opportunity to act on the passion for equality she had obtained earlier in life, when she became the first Hispanic female executive director of the Nevada Equal Rights Commission. In

this position, which she held for over 10 years, Ms. Martinez honorably served the citizens of Nevada by overseeing the State's pursuit to ensure equal employment opportunities.

After her retirement from the professional world Ms. Martinez began serving in several organizations including the Henderson Democratic Club, Si Se Puede, the Clark County Hispanic Democratic Caucus, Clark County By-Laws Committee and the Clark County Democratic Black Caucus. Ms. Martinez understood the necessity of improving her community through public service and advocacy. For this reason, it is no surprise that she went on to serve in various leadership positions in many community-based groups. At the time of her passing, Ms. Martinez was serving as the president of the Henderson Democratic Club, treasurer of the Clark County Democratic Hispanic Caucus, and corresponding secretary for Si Se Puede.

Along with her dedication to serving her community, Ms. Martinez will also be remembered for the overwhelming love she had for her family. Ms. Martinez was married to Glenn Phillips with whom she raised their beloved son Benjamin. Prior to the birth of her child, she mentored four nieces and nephews, inspiring them to become active community leaders in Nevada. Ms. Martinez is preceded in death by her parents and is survived by her husband, son, sister, and a large extended family throughout southern Nevada and across several States.

I am humbled today to offer my profound gratitude to Ms. Martinez for her life of service to the citizens of the great State of Nevada, and with equal humility offer my deepest condolences to Ms. Martinez's family.