Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 140.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 12; that following the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, 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 be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each and the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the second half. Further, I ask that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights legislation. I further ask that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons.

Madam President, before that is approved, I hope that Senators who wish to make opening statements or statements regarding this legislation would do so. I also hope that people who wish to offer amendments would offer amendments. We are going to move this bill as quickly as possible. This is a bill that has wide support. The two managers will be Senators Dodd and Shelby. They have worked long and hard to come up with their amendment that is now pending. We have the example set by the House of Representatives, where 377 Members voted for this totally bipartisan bill, and it is something that is badly needed.

It is interesting, Madam President. Senator Dodd, the manager of this bill, was talking to the pages today. These young boys and girls, who are juniors in high school, have received numerous preapproved credit cards. So I think this legislation is necessary. I think this has gotten way out of hand, just as subprime lending for houses got out of hand. We are not trying to punish any of the people who offer credit cards. This is something that has become a way of life. But there has to be some control over the way they are handled.

So I have a unanimous consent request pending.

Madam President, in short, I would hope people with amendments to offer would do so. We need to get this done as quickly as we can. We have important things to do before the Memorial Day recess.

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

Madam President, as if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate action of May 6, 2009, with respect to Calendar No. 85 be vitiated.

Following remarks of the leaders--I understand that the Republican leader will be a little bit late getting here; he had a meeting that is taking more time than he expected--there will be a period of morning business until 10:30, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans will control the second half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 454, the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act.

Last night we were able to reach an agreement to limit the number of first-degree amendments to the bill. We hope to vote on the remaining amendments and on passage of the bill today. I am confident there will be votes throughout the day.

Last night cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to the credit card legislation. After having done that, I received a call from the chairman of the committee, Chairman Dodd. He and Senator Shelby have worked out language on the credit card legislation which would make it easier to proceed.

I am confident we will not have to have that vote tomorrow to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, or at least I hope not.

The work done by Senators Levin and McCain is exemplary. This is a complicated piece of legislation. They worked on it together. They worked with the White House, they worked with the minority staff, the majority staff, and they were able to get this agreement with exemplary work. I commend and applaud both of these fine Senators for allowing us to move to this extremely important legislation. As we heard from the opening statements of Senators Levin and McCain, huge amounts of money have been wasted in years past. We all want to do the very best we can for the Pentagon and the U.S. military, but we

have to be able to tell the American people that we are being as frugal as necessary. And this legislation will allow us to have the strongest military in the world, as has been the case in the past many years, but also to have one that is not wasting money.

So we, as I said, appreciate the work done by Senators Levin and McCain.

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

Madam President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 1:45 p.m. today, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 64, the nomination of R. Gil Kerlikowske to be Director of National Drug Control Policy, with the time until 2 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees; that at 2 p.m., the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination; that upon confirmation, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that no further motions be in order; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and that the Senate then resume legislative session.

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until 1:45 p.m. today. We have the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan here today. They are important meetings. We have a number of things, and it would be better if we are not in session. I appreciate everyone allowing this consent to go forward.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 3 p.m. Monday, May 11, the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 55, H.R. 627; and that once the bill is reported, Senator Dodd or his designee be recognized to offer the Dodd-Shelby substitute; further that the cloture motion on the motion to proceed be withdrawn.

Mr. President, Senators Dodd and Shelby have done very good work on this bill. This is a bill that passed the House with some 377 votes. It is a very important piece of legislation. It is bipartisan in nature. I had a press event this morning--actually it was 12:30--with Senator Durbin, Senator Schumer, and Senator Murray.

There I made the best case I could to talk about how much we have been able to get done with the help of the Republicans. We have done some good work, and more indication of that is what we have been able to do with this piece of legislation. It is important that we get this done, that we finish it.

We are not going to go to tobacco until we come back. We are going to finish the work we have to do on the supplemental appropriations bill. We hope to get some nominations done. But we have had some real good work. I am very happy with the way we have worked together. We have a lot more work together we need to do, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

This will be the last vote of the week. We will not have another vote until Tuesday.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 57, S. Res. 84.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 125.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 138 submitted earlier today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it adjourn until 2 p.m., Monday, May 11; 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; that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; that following morning business, the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 627, as previously ordered.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 1010 to and including 128, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy; that all the nominations be confirmed en bloc, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; that no further motions be in order; that any statements relating to the nominations appear at the appropriate place in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.