Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the following resolutions which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 490, S. Res. 491, S. Res. 492, and S. Res. 493.

I ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles, where applicable, be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 494, submitted earlier today.

Madam President, I am told that S. 2562 has been introduced and is at the desk and is due for its first reading.

I ask for a second reading but object to my own request.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President

of the Senate, the President pro tempore, and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences, or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law, by concurrent action of the two Houses or by order of the Senate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment or recess of the Senate from Thursday, June 26, to Monday, July 7, Senators Levin and Carper be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn and convene for pro forma sessions only with no business conducted on the following dates and times, and that following each pro forma session, the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Monday, June 30 at 12 noon, and Thursday, July 3, at 1:30 p.m.; and that the Senate adjourn on Thursday, July 3, 2014, until 2 p.m. on Monday, July 7, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use until later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 5:30 p.m. with Senators permitted to speak therein for up 10 minutes each; and that at 5:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar No. 738; that all postcloture time be considered expired and the Senate vote on confirmation of the Krause nomination; further, that if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nomination, that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session; and, finally, that when the Senate resumes legislative session, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2363 and the Senate vote on the motion to proceed to S. 2363, the Sportsmen's Act.

Madam President, there will be two rollcall votes at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 7, 2014.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the provisions of S. Res. 494 as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 384, S. 2363, the Hagan sportsmen's legislation.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until noon, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes and the majority will control the next 30 minutes.

At noon the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 803, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. At 2:30 p.m. there will be three rollcall votes on amendments and passage of the bill.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Mr. President, this afternoon the Senate will consider and pass the bipartisan Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. While the unemployment rate has steadily declined since the recession and more than 9 million private sector jobs have been created, too many Americans are still unemployed or lack the tools necessary to compete for today's jobs. That is why this legislation, which updates and streamlines our Nation's job training and local workforce development programs, is so vital.

This legislation is very complicated, very complex, and it is vital. It proves the mere fact that even though this legislation is complicated, complex, and vital, we can pass it. This act will help improve training and educational opportunities for those Americans looking for a job or to advance their careers. It will also help businesses grow and strengthen local economies across the whole country. In Nevada tens of thousands have benefited from the job training placement and educational programs funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Many found their first job while others were able to reenter the workforce, and still others took advantage of the programs to improve their skills. For all of them it meant a paycheck, and for some of them it meant a raise to support their families. This legislation is also an example of how the Senate can and should function.

I repeat, this legislation is not a walk in the park. It is extremely complicated. It shows how Congress can operate when both sides are willing to compromise and work in good faith to craft legislation that will help improve the lives of Americans.

It has not been easy. This program was last authorized in 1998. Think of how much the world has changed over the last 16 years. Look at the Internet. It has transformed training and education programs and even the way most Americans look for work.

Over the past 16 years there have been several attempts to reauthorize this legislation, and they have all fallen short. After 16 years of attempts, it is even more impressive that Chairman Harkin, Senators Murray, Alexander,

and Isakson, along with their counterparts in the House, were able to forge a bicameral, bipartisan agreement. Congratulations to each of these Senators and the House Members who worked with them. They worked in a bipartisan, bicameral way, which resulted in successful legislation.

In basketball they say if you are not doing well, you just have a lot of off days and that the best way for a shooter to get his rhythm back is to sink a couple of baskets. I hope this theory proves true in the Senate. It is time we sank a couple of baskets. It is time for us to start working together so we can get things done. Hopefully, by witnessing the success of a good bipartisan bill such as this, the Senate will get its rhythm back.

Unanimous Consent Agreement--Executive Calendar

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of H.R. 803, which is the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 499, 501, and 787; and that the Senate proceed to vote on the confirmation of the nominations in the order listed; further, if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that no further motions be in order to the nominations; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record and that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. President, will my friend allow me to ask a question through the Chair?

I was in my office when I heard the statement by the Republican leader about Keystone. I direct this question to the Senator from South Dakota, who is a fine Senator and understands energy issues.

We agreed to have a vote on Keystone. My friend, the Republican leader, keeps misdirecting the matter. We can have a vote on Keystone. That was part of the deal we made. We had a bipartisan bill, Portman- Shaheen. They worked on that bill for months, since last fall. They put in amendments that people wanted.

Jeanne Shaheen came here yesterday and said: Let's have a vote on Keystone, but just as long as we can have a vote on energy efficiency. She even suggested we could have a vote using the McConnell rule--a 60- vote threshold--on both of them.

This is so transparent that my friend the Republican leader is doing the bidding again of the Koch brothers, who own the first or second largest tar

sands holding which exists in the world.

I say to my friend from South Dakota: Why can't we just have a vote on both of those--energy efficiency and on Keystone?

Mr. President, I say to my friend from South Dakota, it is so transparent what is going on here. They are hung up on procedure. If this Keystone vote is so important to them, let's have a vote on it. That is what I was told when we brought up, for the second time, the energy efficiency bill. In fact, I was told by our Republican leader who was pushing that bill to go ahead and fill the tree; we have already worked out all the amendments. The bill is different when we first brought it; we put all the amendments in it.

So, again, we get right where we need to be to pass substantive legislation and here they come. The Republicans walk in here dealing with procedure. If this Keystone is such a big deal, let's vote on it. Let's vote on energy efficiency which is a bipartisan bill. But, no, they can't do that. They can't do that because we wouldn't be able to offer more amendments.

Now, remember, the Republicans, who were part of that arrangement on the energy efficiency bill, Shaheen-Portman, thought it was a good bill. But again, I repeat, if this is such a big deal to the Republicans, why do they get hung up on procedure? Let's vote on both of them. Let the cards fall where they may.

Mr. President, no one needs to take my word for it. Take the word of one of the most senior Republicans in this body, the senior Senator from Tennessee. He came to the floor a few days ago and said-- on the appropriations bills we hear this plaintive plea: Let's have some votes. So the Senator from Tennessee said: Why don't we have the votes? What has been established around here is that we have 60 votes on anything that is controversial and 50 votes on everything else, and that is what the Senator from Tennessee said. Let's just go ahead and work through the bills.

There is no better example of that than Dodd-Frank, a bill that the Republicans hate. It passed. On the 24th amendment that we voted on, on that bill, Senator Durbin offered an amendment on swipe fees, and he was told it was going to be 60 votes. Everything else had been 50. So he had to do his with 60 votes. That is how things work here.

The Republicans don't want to have votes. They want to have issues on procedure. We could finish every one of those appropriations bills-- every one of them--if we followed what Lamar Alexander suggested and what we Democrats have suggested.

So it is interesting. It is interesting. Energy issues--it is just a buzzword for ``let's take care of the oil companies some more.'' That is what this is all about. They want to protect big oil. Now, if they want to have all the appropriations bills pass, let's pass them. All we have to do is follow what I have suggested and what Senator Lamar Alexander has suggested. That is what we should do.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object to my friend's suggestion, I would ask that it be modified to have a vote on Keystone and have a vote on Shaheen-Portman--60-vote threshold, of course.

Yes.

Mr. President, let's not have revisionist history. Let's have real, valid history.

Shaheen-Portman was worked on for weeks last fall. Shaheen and Portman worked on this new version of the bill for months, and they worked out many amendments in the committee. They came to me and said they have all this worked out--Shaheen and Portman and a number of other Senators. I said: Great.

So before one of our recesses, the day we were getting ready to leave, they came to me and said: What we need to know and what would be even better is if we had a sense-of-the-Senate resolution on Keystone.

I said: We already agreed to what we are going to do. The bill is different with all of this input, such as the Workforce Investment Act, which we will take up this afternoon. So I came back and said: OK, we will have a sense-of-the-Senate; that is fine. And we are going to do this as soon as we get back.

We came back and then I was told: Well, we don't want a sense-of-the- Senate resolution; we want an up-or-down vote here.

I said: OK, let's do it. And that is when that still wasn't good enough. That still wasn't good enough because they want the issue.

The energy efficiency bill is a good bipartisan bill. It is like the one we are going to work on this afternoon. It is a complex bill, but the differences have been worked out, and we should go ahead and vote on it.

So if they really care about Keystone--if this is such a big deal-- the Republican leader said we have been working on this for 5 years. The time has come. Let's belly up to the bar where we vote, and let's vote on it. But in the process, let's also do the bipartisan energy efficiency legislation that Jeanne Shaheen has put her heart into.

So that is where we are: another obstruction, diversion to keep us from really voting on things. They want the issue. They are focused on procedure. And what the American people want is for us to do things. They want the minimum wage raised. They want unemployment benefits extended for the long-term unemployed. They would like it so that a man working doesn't make more money than a woman who does the same work. The American people believe they should not be burdened with college debt which is larger than any other debt. It is $1.3 trillion now. They have stopped us from doing that based on procedure. Why don't we work on things that will help the American people?

I agree to that. That is fine.

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

Is there a motion now pending to proceed to S. 2363?

Mr. President, 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 ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business, and during that time Senators be allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 1:45 p.m., on Thursday, June 26, 2014, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 897, 896, 654, 557, 620, and 503; that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on each nomination; 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; that all rollcall votes after the first be 10 minutes in length; 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; 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 executive session to consider the following nominations: Nos. 600, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 877, 878, 879, 880, 881, 882, 883, 884, 885, 886, 887, 888, 889, 890, and 891, and all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, and Navy, that the nominees 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 the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.