Floor Statements

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the wilderness bill, S. 22, with the time until 10:30 a.m. equally divided between the leaders or their designees. The Democratic time is given to Senator Bingaman of New Mexico. At 10:30 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a rollcall vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 22. The filing deadline for second-degree amendments is 10 a.m. this morning.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 12 noon tomorrow, Thursday, January 15, all postcloture time be considered yielded back except for 10 minutes to be equally divided and controlled between Senators Bingaman and Coburn or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the pending amendments be withdrawn, that the managers' amendments which have been cleared by the leaders and managers be in order, and that if cleared, the amendments be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that upon passage, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table; and the Senate then vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 181.

Mr. President, we are trying to work out a time agreement as to how much debate is necessary on the consideration of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

We understand statutorily there is 10 hours. We will finish this tomorrow. We will have a vote on this tomorrow. If the people want to use all the 10 hours, we will vote when the 10 hours is up.

Mr. 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 13 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Nelson of Florida amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, 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 statement relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until Thursday, January 15, at 10 a.m.; 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 the Senate then be in a period for the transaction of morning business until 12 noon; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 22, the lands bill; and that any time during any adjournment or morning business count against cloture. During the time we are in morning business tomorrow, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Biden, the new Vice President, be permitted to speak at 10 o'clock in the morning and that at 11 o'clock, the new Secretary of State be permitted to speak.

Mr. President, Senator Salazar is also going to be a member of the new Cabinet, and we will work out a time for him tomorrow to speak. Under the agreement, we have a vote at noon, so we will see how long the other speeches are. Maybe he can do his before noon; otherwise, we will work out a time tomorrow when he can speak.

Also, tomorrow Roland Burris is going to take the oath of office and become a U.S. Senator. That will be at 2 o'clock.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 minutes, and the Republicans will control the final 30 minutes. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 22, the wilderness bill. Yesterday, I filed cloture on the bill. The cloture vote is expected to occur an hour after the Senate convenes tomorrow. We will be in recess today from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for our weekly caucus luncheons. The filing deadline for first-degree amendments is at 2:30 p.m. today.

Mr. President, I have had a discussion with Senator Bingaman this morning. He is going to see if there is something that can be worked out to have a limited number of amendments on the wilderness bill. He will proceed to work on that. If, in fact, he can work something out with those interested on the other side, then we will have a number of votes on that. If they cannot work that out, then, as has been indicated in the past, we will go to cloture tomorrow. If we can work something out there, we can have those votes today and final passage of the bill this afternoon.

We are going to move to the Ledbetter issue dealing with pay equity, the statute of limitations--call it whatever we wish. That is something we will move to this week. The Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, is now here with us, and there is a very strict deadline when we must finish that. We must have a vote on that by this Sunday. So we have our work cut out for us. We have a lot to do.

These are very exciting times, as we know, for our country. We have a new Congress. We have a new President. Senator McConnell and I have done our utmost during these past many weeks to try to work together to get some things done here. We are now at a point where we have resolved, we believe, the issue relating to how committees are funded and what the ratios are going to be on the various committees, and it is easy for me to say that or Senator McConnell to say that, but it has taken weeks of work to get that done. But we are moving forward. We hope the work of this next week will be in keeping with how we intend to maintain a degree of bipartisanship in the Senate during this Congress. We hope that, in fact, is the case. We will do our utmost to comply with that.

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

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

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

Mr. President, I rise to call the attention of the Senate to the 80th anniversary of the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC. As a pioneer of the Latino civil rights movement, LULAC has long fought to better the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of Americans of Latino descent.

Eighty years ago, three organizations in south Texas united to combat the rampant discrimination faced by Mexican Americans. After decades of disenfranchisement, the Latino community in south Texas created a movement for equality that has contributed greatly to enhancing the livelihood of Latinos throughout the United States. LULAC's successes and achievements are many--ranging from the desegregation of schools throughout the American Southwest to improving access to jobs and government programs.

Today, as America's oldest national Latino organization, LULAC boasts continued service to America's Latino population through more than 48 employment training centers, 16 regional centers, and employs its great knowledge of the needs of the Latino community by advising private, nonprofit, and public institutions. Moreover, its unique charter structure allows this organization to disseminate important information and provide worthwhile services via more than 600 councils throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The need for LULAC's services has not subsided through the years and a new generation of Latinos calls upon the institutional strength that this organization can provide. The challenges we face as a nation can only be resolved by the inclusion of all American communities and I value the sage voice of LULAC on the strategies to empower Latino communities.

The organization's early efforts for political and social inclusion created a strong base which LULAC and other organizations now utilize to improve the quality of life for all American Latinos. I congratulate and commend the League of United Latin American Citizens for their long record of service to the Latino community and wish them continued success.

I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 14, S. 181, and send a cloture motion to the desk.

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

I now withdraw the motion.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with the time designated for tributes to the Republican leader.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 22. This is postcloture. A rollcall vote will not be necessary to adopt the motion to proceed. I appreciate Dr. Coburn allowing us to do that. There will be no votes during today's session of the Senate.

Mr. President, for more than 25 years, the State of Kentucky was represented in the Senate of the United States by a terrific man and a great legislator, Wendell Ford.

Senator Ford was known by all as a moderate, deeply respected by both sides of the aisle for putting progress ahead of politics. Senator Ford, some said, was not flashy. He did not seek the limelight. He was quietly effective and calmly deliberative.

In 1991, Senator Ford was elected by his colleagues to serve as Democratic whip, the No. 2 position in the caucus. For 8 years, he struck the perfect balance as an advocate for Kentuckians and also a national Democratic leader.

When Senator Ford retired from the Senate in 1998, I had the honor of replacing him as the Democratic whip.

Wendell Ford is not only a genuine Kentucky legend, he is a wonderful man, and I continue to enjoy his visits back to Washington, DC.

Until this week, Senator Ford was the longest serving Senator in the history of the State of Kentucky. We have had some outstanding Senators from the State of Kentucky.

Now that honor belongs to my friend, the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.

Senator McConnell came to the Senate 2 years after I came to Congress. In 1984, he was elected to the Senate in a historic election still famous for its advertising--the most memorable of the spots featuring some real bloodhounds, always in search of the opponent of Mitch McConnell, the incumbent Senator from Kentucky. Today, if you go to a seminar on politics, almost always they will show that ad as being one of

the classic political ads in the history of our country.

Senator McConnell won that first race by a razor-thin margin, but he quickly became a leader among his Republican colleagues in the Senate in general.

Senator McConnell chaired the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles, served as Republican whip following the 2002 midterm elections, and now has served as the Republican leader since 2006.

I became the Democratic whip in 1998 and have been the Democratic leader since 2004. Our careers in the Senate have been very similar. During this period of time I was majority whip; he was. Back and forth, there was a lot of changing going on. So I have had a lot of interaction with Senator McConnell because of our respective jobs.

It is well known that in our positions as minority and majority leaders--both as whips and as the leaders--he and I have had disagreements at various times. Behind the scenes, though, it is a different situation. In places where the cameras do not record our discussions, in private conversations, as we have to have, we are not only friends but determined partners in the legislative process. We get a lot of work done very quickly.

We just completed a meeting that took about 20 minutes, where I think the record will ultimately reflect that 20 minutes was truly well spent working out some of the problems of this Senate.

So I say, we are not only friends but determined partners in the legislative process of the Senate. That does not mean we always see eye to eye. Everyone knows that is not the case. But in the words of President-elect Obama, we are able to disagree without being disagreeable.

We respect each other's commitment to making our country stronger, and I think we have a special understanding of the unique challenges of keeping our respective caucuses together and striving toward the same goals.

At the University of Louisville, Mitch McConnell has worked with faculty to create a center for public service, to educate and prepare a new generation to answer the call of public service.

A little more than a year ago, Senator McConnell invited me to be a guest at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. After a terrific program with young and aspiring academics, he presented me with a real Louisville Slugger baseball bat, with my name inscribed on the ``sweet spot.'' That is where these great hitters have used these bats for generations to hit the ball as far as they can and as sharply as they can.

On that day at the McConnell Center, Senator McConnell and I spoke frankly and openly about the joys and difficulties of our jobs to these faculty members and these students. I, in fact, told the students an old story about President Lincoln that has been told many times, but it is always important because he sets the standard for what politics is all about as far as getting along with people, as finely written about in some detail in the ``Team of Rivals,'' this best-selling book. What President Lincoln said, when he was being criticized for being solicitous of members of the Confederacy, was: ``Am I not destroying my enemies by making friends of them?''

Well, Senator McConnell and I both understand that through friendship and mutual respect we can find common ground to achieve common goals and to reach for the common good of the American people--common ground, common goals, common good.

My wife Landra and I are pleased to call him and his lovely wife--and that, certainly, is an understatement--Elaine Chao our friends. Elaine, of course, is a national leader in her own right, having served for 8 years as our Nation's Labor Secretary and also formerly as the Director of the Peace Corps. I have such great respect for Peace Corpsmen and especially someone who is able to lead that very elite group. So I have only high regard for Mitch and Elaine. They are a wonderful couple and do so many good things for our country.

So I congratulate the Republican leader, a Kentuckian whose love of his State and its university athletic programs is well known and who now adds the distinction of being the longest serving Senator from the State of Kentucky to his long and impressive career.