Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President of the Senate 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the Senate's recess, committees be authorized to report legislative and executive matters on Friday, May 29, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment of the Senate, Mr. Reed of Rhode Island be authorized to sign duly authorized bills or joint resolutions.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, while we are waiting tonight for the staff to get the necessary closing papers ready so we can go out for the recess, I wish to say a couple of things about someone I have gotten to know over the past decade--Joe Lapia. I am going to miss tremendously, when we come back next work period, Joe not being in the cloakroom. He has been there for 10 years. He is a fixture in the cloakroom.

He is someone who is dependable, a great sport, and he is somebody who is so much fun to deal with. I love to talk sports with him. He is from Pittsburgh. I had to tell him--and I spread it on the record here--that the Pittsburgh teams have never been one of my favorites, but they are his. He went to Penn State. They have also not been one of my favorite teams, but they are his. And the records of the Steelers and Penn State speak for themselves--the great Joe Paterno and the wonderful records the Steelers have made. And Joe went to the White House today to see the world champion Super Bowl winners--the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Another thing I am going to miss is every time he went home--which was quite often, frankly--his mom would cook stuff. And maybe she thinks he ate it all, but he didn't. He brought stuff back, and we shared treats Mrs. Lapia fixed. Brownies were my favorite, but there were other things she cooked.

I think I can speak for the entire Senate family, the people who are here who make this place work, when I say we will all miss Joe. He is going to go off into the private sector now, which disappoints me because it is always hard getting used to new things. No matter who replaces Joe, there is only one Joe Lapia. He is someone I will always remember and I will always consider my friend.

Mr. President, 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 move to proceed to Calendar No. 33, S. 146, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I now withdraw the motion to proceed.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 47, H.R. 1256, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I now withdraw the motion to proceed.

Mr. President, I now, as in executive session, ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, June 2, after a period of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 63, the nomination of Regina McCarthy to be an Assistant Administrator of EPA; that immediately after the nomination is reported the Senate proceed to vote on the confirmation of the nomination; upon confirmation, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and no further motions be in order and any statements relating to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the Senate then resume legislative session; that upon resuming legislative session, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 146.

Mr. President, I want the record to reflect the cooperation of Dr. Barrasso, Senator Barrasso. He had some concerns about this. We did our best to answer them. He has been very positive in his approach. He had some questions that needed to be answered. I think they have been answered, and I appreciate very much his being as courteous as he was through this whole process. He has been a real gentleman, and I appreciate it a lot.

Mr. President, let me express my appreciation to the Presiding Officer. All Senators are very busy, but you have been presiding for hours. That is a real burden. We all appreciate it, especially other Senators appreciate it. We have to have someone presiding.

I am so impressed with the skills that the Senator from Colorado has brought to us. I didn't know you before you were appointed by the Governor to come, but the people of Colorado should understand, using an overworked term, you hit the ground running. You have done so well. You adjusted so well to Senate life.

I say it twice tonight, I am very impressed, and I hope the people of Colorado understand what a good choice Governor Ritter made, choosing you to fill the seat of a terrific person, Ken Salazar.

Mr. President, I want all the staff to know of my appreciation. I speak for all of us. Every Senator would come and say the same thing, but I am the one here to express our appreciation for helping this process go forward. It is not easy.

As much time as I have spent over the years on this floor--and it amounts to, all added up--it has probably been years. As familiar as I am with everything, I couldn't do it without the help of the staff.

It is not only Lula Davis--she has been such a wonderful asset to the Democratic caucus--but also the help that I get from the Republican side, the staff. I think we were always very worried after Marty decided to go downtown. We wanted to make sure the same goodwill prevailed between David Schiappa and Lula Davis as we had before.

It is as good if not better. I am very happy with the cooperation we get. I wish I could express this personally to Senator McConnell, but I think he will get the word.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 133 until 2 p.m, Monday, June 1; 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 there then be a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; I also ask that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 33, S. 146, the railroad antitrust legislation.

There will be no rollcall votes on Monday, June 1. The next vote will be around 11 o'clock on Tuesday, June 2. The vote will be on the nomination of Virginia McCarthy to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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

Mr. President, first, I ask unanimous consent that today, May 20, I be authorized to sign any duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. There will be up to 2 hours for debate in relation to the Inouye amendment. That is the Inouye-Inhofe amendment. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes, the majority will control the next 30 minutes, and the final hour will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. Senator Inouye will control the final 5 minutes prior to the vote. Upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate will proceed to vote on the amendment. Senators should expect the first vote of the day to begin around 11:30 to a quarter of 12.

Yesterday, I filed cloture on this legislation. Under rule XXII, germane first-degree amendments must be filed by 1 p.m. today.

If we are able to reach an agreement, we will also consider the conference report to accompany S. 454, the procurement legislation, during the day.

Mr. President, I made a decision at the beginning of this Congress to go back to the way the Senate used to be, or at least the way I saw the Senate. I believed if we moved away from the past practices of the last 15 years of limiting the offering of amendments, for example, having more debate, not less, that a new spirit would develop in this historic body we call the Senate.

I believe that spirit has come--come slowly--but with the trust of the Republicans growing with the majority, amendments have come with the idea of improving or changing legislation, not the ``I gotcha'' politics, tactics of the past used by both Democrats and Republicans. The result has been legislation being passed of which we can all take credit:

The lands bill; Ledbetter, equal pay for men and women; the Children's Health Insurance Program, 14 million kids with health insurance; the economic recovery package, which is being felt now around the country; the omnibus spending bill, which was long overdue; national service legislation, allowing 750,000 men and women to become involved in public service, getting paid a little bit for that but help for their college education.

We did some things that needed to be done with the budget, reducing the deficit in 5 years by as much as two-thirds. We passed housing legislation, which will bolster the ability of regulators to do a good job of watching what goes on with housing, including

strengthening the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; passing the financial fraud legislation to stop some of the tactics cheaters use to cause the problems that were caused leading to this economic crisis. Yesterday morning, we passed the credit card legislation.

We have a long ways to go. But I think we are beginning to trust each other that amendments are being offered to take provisions out of legislation or to add to legislation to improve it in the mind of the person offering the amendment.

As a result of this, we can all go back to our constituencies during this recess saying we are working together now, we are getting some things done. This does not help Democrats or Republicans; it helps us both, and it helps our country.

Mr. President, I have conferred with the bill managers, and I am told this will be the last rollcall vote tonight. There is still opportunity for people to talk to the managers about amendments they wish to offer or try to work things out so they can accept them. Senator Inouye is willing to accept a number of amendments, but we need unanimous consent to do that.

We are going to have a cloture vote probably about 10 or 10:30 in the morning. We will decide what time we are going to come in tomorrow morning--9 or 9:30--and have a cloture vote 1 hour after that. The Parliamentarians will be working tonight to find out what amendments are germane postcloture.

Amendment No. 1191

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

Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.