Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the previous order with respect to H.R. 803 be modified as follows: that at noon tomorrow, Wednesday, June 25, the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 803, with the time until 2:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators Flake and Lee controlling 5 minutes each of the Republican's time; that the provisions regarding 10 minutes of debate prior to voting on the amendments listed in the order and on the bill be vitiated; and that all provisions of the previous order remain in effect.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, 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 later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 12 noon, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the final 30 minutes; and that following morning business, the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 803 under the previous order.

Madam President, there will be four rollcall votes at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 384, S. 2363, the Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2014.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:30 p.m. Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session and proceed to a series of four cloture votes on three U.S. district court judges from Florida and one from Vermont.

60-vote Threshold

We tried all last week--I am sorry to say unsuccessfully--to consider three very important appropriations bills. These bills are very significant because they provide this great government of ours with the resources it needs to serve the American people.

I think we have had enough sequestrations and government shutdowns, and I hope my Republican colleagues aren't headed in that direction again.

Given the importance of the appropriations legislation and the need to keep our government operating, I had hoped we could have a cooperative amendment process and participation from all Senators.

Our vote last Tuesday on the motion to proceed was promising, as 95 Senators voted to move forward on these three important bills. However, it is a shame we had to file cloture. If we had not had to file cloture, which resulted in 95 Senators voting to move forward on very important bills, we could have saved 3 days' worth of downtime and doing nothing. But that has happened for many years now with Republicans blocking, obstructing, and misdirecting basically everything we do here.

On the bill we had before the Senate last week, unfortunately, the Republican leader stalled the Senate's progress on these appropriations bills with his recent conversion to the idea of insisting on simple majority votes. He now insists on majority votes or nothing.

Over the past 5 years, virtually everything we have done here in the Senate has been subject to a 60-vote threshold. Why? Because the Republican leader has insisted on that.

Almost 50 times since President Obama took office, the Republican leader has employed the 60-vote threshold in order to block legislation--and good legislation. Bills pertaining to the treatment of 9/11 responders, funding our military, disclosure of campaign contributions, and small business jobs bills all received majority votes but were blocked at one time or another by the new McConnell rule. Under the McConnell rule, everything that comes before the Senate has to have 60 votes.

He has called himself ``the proud guardian of gridlock.'' He has even gone to great lengths in defending the use of the 60-vote threshold.

Allow me to share, as I did last week--and I will do it again because

I note the absence of a quorum.

I yield it back.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to yield back all time.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to honor and recognize the career of Dennis Van Roekel, whose term is ending as president of one of the Nation's largest labor unions, the National Education Association. Mr. Van Roekel is also a member of the U.S. Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission, which studies how students are affected by inequitable school finance systems. His leadership knows no borders, as he has also served as vice president of Education International for North America and the Caribbean to pursue means to raise student achievement and provide adequate funding in a way that could serve as a model worldwide.

Mr. Van Roekel has long been an honorable and fervent supporter of the rights of teachers and public education. Before becoming president of the NEA, he served two terms as NEA vice president and secretary- treasurer, and he has held key positions in all levels of the association, including Arizona Education Association president and Paradise Valley Education Association president. He established the Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching to examine the teaching profession on a national scale. As a recognized leader on education issues, he has testified before Congress, served on leading boards, such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Executive Committee and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Executive Board.

His excellence is unmistakable and has been recognized at numerous forums and national summits sponsored by the Coalition for Community Schools, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Council of Chief State School Officers, and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. He has been a leader in discussing education issues with leading publications and networks, including C-SPAN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Education Week, and TIME.

Mr. President, on behalf of the Senate, I commend Dennis Van Roekel on a lifetime of public service, and I wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 481.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to consider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 24, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 11 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; and that following morning business the Senate proceed to executive session under the previous order.

There will be five rollcall votes at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order following the 10-minute remarks from the Senator from Arizona Mr. Flake.

Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The Republicans will control the first half and the majority will control the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration on the motion to proceed to H.R. 4660.

There was a lot of conversation about how to move forward on this yesterday, but by late last night a way of moving forward was not obtained. We are still working on that. We expect to begin consideration of the bill around 12:45 p.m. today, something like that.