Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 145.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; and that any statements relating to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 tomorrow morning, Wednesday, May 13; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate proceed to executive session, with 1 hour for debate, equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Hayes nomination.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon for a Democratic caucus.

Mr. President, we are going to come in tomorrow morning, and we will vote at approximately 10:30 on whether we are going to invoke cloture on the motion to close debate on the Hayes nomination. It is a very important nomination for Secretary

Salazar. We are going to recess from 12:30 to 1:30 for a caucus, where a number of the President's people will be giving us information that we and they feel is important.

Tomorrow night, at 6:30, everybody should be reminded there is a Senate spouses' dinner--both Democrats and Republicans with their spouses. We will have a nice dinner at the Botanic Garden. This is done every year following the First Lady's luncheon. It is a good night for us to meet in a nonadversarial role. The Botanic Garden at this time of year is a remarkably beautiful place.

Mr. 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 ask unanimous consent that we extend morning business until 3:30 rather than 3 o'clock.

After leader remarks, if there are any, we will be in a period of morning business until 3:30. Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of the credit card legislation. Under a previous order, Senators Dodd and Shelby will be recognized. Senator Dodd will offer the Dodd-Shelby substitute amendment. There will be no rollcall votes today.

While we are talking about the schedule, I haven't had the opportunity yet to speak to the Republican leader, but I will as soon as we can work out a time to visit today. It appears that we have no alternative but to have votes next Monday. We have a number of nominations. I have to file cloture on all of them. It doesn't work out otherwise. There are certain things we have to do before we go. We have the credit card legislation. We need to do the supplemental appropriations bill. I am confident we can work something out on that. That should go fairly quickly. The only thing that I see that could cause some concern is the closing of Guantanamo. Senator McCain, Senator Obama, during the campaign, indicated they thought it should be closed. I agree with them. The issue is what we do with the prisoners who are there.

What the House has done is just have nothing in the bill. What Senator Inouye and Senator Cochran have done, or they will do--I guess they will mark it up Thursday--Senator Inouye told me they were going to fence the money so it wouldn't be available until the President came up with a plan and that there be no prisoners brought to the United States during this fiscal year. But that looks like an issue that could cause a little bit of debate.

I have laid out what the two issues are and how we are trying to resolve them, but we are going to have to have votes next Monday. We have a number of nominations. I have tried lots of different ways to get them done. But it appears the only thing we can do is file cloture. There are three we have to do.

There is legislation that we need to complete because of what is happening in the financial world that deals with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and calls for setting up a bipartisan 9/11-type commission to take a look at what has happened, what caused the financial breakdown. It is offered by Senators Conrad and Isakson. We need to finish that legislation before we go. That would just be a message from the House, which is amendable, but it would only require one cloture vote.

So, anyway, I just wanted to alert everyone that unless we work something out in the next little bit, we will have to have votes on Monday. It was originally announced to be a no-vote day.

Mr. President, a former colleague of ours celebrates a milestone today. Jim Jeffords, who served his country in the military for many decades and the people of Vermont and Congress for 32 years-- and he did so on both sides of the aisle, over there and over here--was born 75 years ago today.

Jim Jeffords, of course, was a lifelong Vermonter. His father was the chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and Jim Jeffords graduated from Vermont public schools, Yale University, and Harvard school. He was a very smart man, as indicated with his academic background.

He served for 35 years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve until he retired as captain while still sitting as a Senator. During Jim Jeffords' time in the Senate, he did much to ensure children could get a good education, that they could get a job when they graduated from school. He cared deeply for the environment and for people with disabilities. He served during his last years in the Senate as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. He was one of the leaders who pushed the United States to lead a humanitarian mission to Rwanda during the country's terrible genocide. Of course, Senator Jeffords also single-handedly shifted the balance of power in this body when, in 2001, he became an Independent and caucused with Democrats. It was a very courageous thing for Jim to do.

As we have read in the history books, it wasn't easy for him to do this. It cost him friends, supporters, even some of his own staff. When he announced his decision, Senator Jeffords said:

The weight that has been lifted from my shoulders now hangs

heavy on my heart.

He knew the impact his decision would have on the people around him, and he cared deeply about that. At the time that he did this, it was a very popular thing with the American people to do. When Senator Jeffords was here in Washington and other places in the country, they would recognize him; people would stand and applaud.

Jim has been very ill since he retired from the Senate. He is in extremely bad health. We wish him well. Senator Jeffords' family threw him a small birthday party this past weekend. His son Leonard, his daughter Laura, his grandson Patrick, and his granddaughter Hazel were all there.

I don't have nearly the voice in any way that Senator Jeffords had. For many years he was a member of our very own barbershop quartet, the Singing Senators. So I will not break out in song, but on behalf of the entire Senate, we wish our friend Jim Jeffords a very happy 75th birthday.

Mr. President, when I was just a boy--as I look back, I really don't know how old I was, probably 10, maybe 11--one of my older brothers, 10 years older--a wonderful man; he died at age 47; he was a young man, not long out of high school--worked for the Standard station in Ash Fork, AZ, which was quite a ways from Searchlight. I had never really been anyplace. My brother, being the great big brother he was, wanted me to see someplace other than Searchlight. So I went and spent a couple weeks with him in Ash Fork, AZ. For me, it was a real eye- opening thing. I had never really traveled anyplace. He drove us over there.

The one thing he didn't bother to tell me is that he had a girlfriend, and so he spent a lot of time when he was not working with his girlfriend. He still kept an eye on me and took good care of me, but I spent most of my time with his girlfriend's brother. His girlfriend's brother was older than I was. We would play games. There wasn't much he could do better than me. But I rarely won anything because he kept changing the rules in the middle of the game. I have always remembered that. It is hard to win a game when the rules keep changing.

The reason I mention that little personal vignette is, what do you do when you play by the rules but the rules change in the middle of the game? There is a woman in Nevada named Shelley. Like millions of Americans, she pays her credit card bill in full every month. She has never been late. Whatever they say is the minimum payment, she at least makes that payment and sometimes more. She is the model of what credit card companies call ``in good standing.''

But Shelley recently was told that the interest rate on her card was going up from 9.5 percent to 17.5 percent; her rate was almost doubling. For reasons unknown to her, she could not understand this. So Shelley asked to close the account. But the bank told her the time to opt out of her contract had ended before she even knew it had started.

She played by the rules, Shelley did. But the rules changed in the middle of the game.

If we are truly to get our economy back on its feet, we must protect people like Shelley and the millions of Americans who use credit cards for everything from buying a sandwich to paying for college. Chairman Dodd and ranking member Shelby have drafted a bill that puts fairness and common sense back into credit cards and protects consumers from excessive fees, ever-changing interest rates, and complex contracts seemingly designed to do one thing above all--to keep people in the dark and in debt.

In short, this bill we will be taking up this afternoon at 3:30 cleans up the fine print so consumers can't get blindsided by the credit card companies.

More and more Americans sign for and use credit cards every day. Three out of five credit card users carry a balance on their card. There is nothing wrong with that. That balance averages more than $7,000. That is what the average is. But they are using credit cards that have misleading terms and confusing conditions.

A recent study by the Pew Trust Foundation found that 100 percent of credit cards came with policies that the Federal Reserve has determined cause harm to consumers--not 50 percent, not 60 percent, not 75 percent, 100 percent. And 93 percent of those contracts said the credit card company could raise the interest rate anytime for any reason. Here are just a few of the things the legislation that will soon be before the Senate does to fix that.

First, it protects consumers by establishing fair and sensible rules for how and when credit card companies can raise interest rates. Credit card companies must give a 45-day notice before increasing rates and can no longer do so on existing balances.

Second, it cracks down on abusive fees. For example, consumers no longer will have to pay a fee just to pay a bill. That happens. And credit card companies must mail statements 21 days before the bill is due so cardholders can avoid these hefty late charges.

Third, it protects young consumers such as college students from predatory marketers.

It strengthens oversight of the credit card industry to keep it in line.

For every greedy executive and devious con artist, there are millions of honest, hardworking Americans who struggle every day to simply make ends meet. They worry every morning about how much longer their job will be there and every night about how to keep their families healthy and keep a roof over their heads. They worry about troubles they did not create; and even though they are stunned about these troubles they did not create, they cannot cure them.

Too many hardworking Americans have already lost too much in this recession. It is our job to protect them from losing even more.

This legislation will not only level the playing field and keep the rules consistent from beginning to end, it can also save families thousands of dollars a year.

Shelley, the woman I told the story about--the Nevada woman who told me about her frustrations with her credit card company, wrote:

I feel like I am being robbed by a company that my tax dollars are trying to bail out.

Mr. President, I do not remember much from my trip to Ash Fork, AZ, other than my brother's future brother-in-law kept changing the rules in the middle of the game. That is what the credit card companies are doing, and that is what we have to stop. We must protect those who play by the rules because it is not just their credit at stake, it is our country's credibility. I think at this stage, it is the Senate's credibility. The bill that passed the

House arrived over here with 377 votes. This is a bipartisan bill. It is something we need to do. We need to do it as quickly as possible.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I am proud to once again have joined my friend, Senator Ensign, in introducing legislation that is good for Nevada and will help create jobs and contribute to rebuilding Nevada's economy.

The Federal Government owns 87 percent of Nevada's land. Nevada reaps tremendous benefits from this land--we have some of the most scenic areas and clearest skies in the country. This land is also blessed with some of the most valuable clean energy resources America has to offer-- these resources alone could power the entire Nation with the right investments in our transmission grid.

I could not be prouder that President Obama and Secretary Salazar are committed to using our public lands to develop solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy resources, and without harming sensitive areas. A week ago Saturday, Secretary Salazar came to Nevada to announce over $26 million in Recovery funding for Nevada--a large portion for expediting renewable energy projects on BLM land. This commitment is invaluable to Nevada's future as the Nation's leader in clean renewable energy.

To continue helping this very effort and to ensure that solar and wind projects on Federal land provide maximum value to the State, Senator Ensign and I have introduced the Renewable Energy Permitting Act, REPA. This legislation is very similar to provisions I included in the Clean Renewable Energy and Economic Development Act, S. 539, that I introduced in March of this year.

REPA will help solar and wind projects receive BLM approval more quickly so these projects can begin generating clean energy and creating jobs sooner, rather than later and sustainable economic development opportunities

It will also set aside a portion of the rental fees that are collected by the Government for the use of Federal lands by providing 50 percent of these revenues to the State and 25 percent to the county in which a project is located. Additionally, 20 percent will be placed into a renewable energy permit processing improvement fund for Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, and California. The last 5 percent will be responsibly set aside to augment the restoration and reclamation that will be needed if and when these facilities are removed from our public lands. Portions of this money will also be available to acquire and protect other sensitive lands. This is an important step since, during the operation of these beneficial renewable energy facilities, the American people will lose access to hundreds of thousands of acres of incredible open space and wildlife habitat.

Our goal, is to do this right from the beginning. That means responsibly developing our vast renewable energy resources and to give States and communities new economic development opportunities that will create sustainable growth and grow the clean energy industry locally.

Senator Ensign and I have a long history of working together to overcome the challenges Nevada faces because of the significant presence of Federal land in our State. Our efforts have made those lands work for Nevadans from all walks of life.

I look forward to continuing these efforts with my friend Senator Ensign.

Madam President, I now move that the Senate go to executive session to consider Calendar No. 31, the nomination of David J. Hayes to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior.

Madam President, I now send a cloture motion to the desk.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate return to legislative session.